Curious, What was Buk smoking in the Bukowski Tapes? (1 Viewer)

Now that doesn't sound right, but it is.
I just remember him smoking a very thin small 'cigarette'
although i'm not sure what exactly it was..
if anybody knows,
it cure me of this curiousity.

Thanks,

keep the change.
 
Yes.
I smoked them, the taste is good and strong.
They're now forbidden over here.

beedi.jpg
 
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Thanks for the information, both of you.
They actually look thicker in the picture, like kingsized or something.
I would really like to try some, and get off of these chemically seducing smokes.
I found one place to order, it says worldwide
but i'm still unsure if they're banned in the U.S or not.
 
in the US, no. you can get them at any store with a large smoke selection or a smoke shop. Ponder doesn't live in the US (i'm assuming that that's what you were referring to).


also, isn't mangalore one of the characters from Ham on Rye?
 
They actually look thicker in the picture, like kingsized or something.

They're actually thinner than a cigarette. They taste fine too. Only problems is they go out if you don't take a drag regularly. That's why we see Buk light them again and again at his readings because he waits too long before he takes another drag.
 
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He was smoking them when I met him in '86. He said that Linda had got him started on them to help him stop smoking cigarettes. I doubt that they are any better for your health, but at least they don't have the nicotine content to keep you coming back for more.
 
... non-tobacco ...

well, beedies don't have cut-tobacco inside as cigarettes do. They consist of the leave being rolled. That's all. No additives or anything.


They are not forbidden in Germany (that is, they are legal to smoke) but you can't buy them here. In Switzerland they used to have them.

They smell a little like a mix of clove-cigarettes and shit.
And they guarantee you the attention of people around smelling that:

"Linda Lee and I were accused of smoking dope." (from: 'Shakespeare never did this', chpt. 2)
 
Sorry, I mean they're banned, not forbidden.
Banned because they refuse to mention the nicotine and tar precentage on the package.
 
I found this info on http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/teensmoking/f/bidi.htm but I don't know how reliable it is since it's an anti-smoking site. I certainly did'nt know Bidi's contained nicotine and even three times more than a regular cigarette. I still have a hard time believing that. How can they contain nicotine when they're not made out of tobacco? Hmm...

"Bidi cigarettes gained popularity in the United States in the mid-1990s, and by 1999, there was a call to action against bidis by the State Attorneys General urging Congress and federal officials to stop the import of this toxic product geared specifically toward children.

From Attorney General Tom Miller:

"Bidis are more damaging to health than traditional cigarettes, and they are flavored to make them attractive to children. That's a lethal combination."

Bidi Cigarette Facts

* Bidi cigarettes contain more than three times the amount of nicotine and carbon monoxide as traditional cigarettes.

* Bidi cigarettes contain five times as much tar as regular cigarettes.

* Since bidis don't have chemicals added to aid in combustion, the smoker must draw on a bidi cigarette more often and with more force in order to keep it from going out. This results in higher concentrations of toxins breathed in than with traditional cigarettes. Smokers puff on a bidi cigarette approximately 28 times as opposed to 9 puffs on a regular cigarette.

* Bidi smokers have a greater risk of heart disease, lung cancer and other cancers than do people who smoke traditional cigarettes."
 
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Interesting. I thought that bidis were nicotine free.

I don't buy that "Smokers puff on a bidi cigarette approximately 28 times as opposed to 9 puffs on a regular cigarette" though. What smoker only takes nine hits per cigarette? None I've ever known (except maybe when drunk and you forget that you lit it).

These are a lot more difficult to find anywhere
than I had previously thought.

Try an Indian market if you have any in your area.
 
"Smokers puff on a bidi cigarette approximately 28 times as opposed to 9 puffs on a regular cigarette" though. What smoker only takes nine hits per cigarette? None I've ever known (except maybe when drunk and you forget that you lit it).

I agree. This was obviously written by someone that has never smoked. I need to count it some time, but it is probably closer to 20 times for a regular and probably 28 for those people that smoke the 100's...

Bill
 
Interesting. I thought that bidis were nicotine free.

Me too. And I still believe Bidi's are nicotine free, at least until I can get it verified.
As far as I know Bidi's are not made out of tobacco leaves so how can they contain nicotine? Hmm, another little mystery that needs solving.
Nicotine is addictive but not dangerous in any way, as opposed to carbon monoxide and tar.
I've read about weed on the net and 'they' claim it's more dangerous to smoke than tobacco. I guess they're thinking about the carbon monoxide and tar.
 
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And I still believe Bidi's are nicotine free, at least until I can get it verified.
As far as I know Bidi's are not made out of tobacco leaves so how can they contain nicotine?
The beedi "cigarette" IS just 1 single tobacco leave. A "natural" cigarette.
At least that's what I've been told.
 
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I see! That may very well be the case. I always thought the leave came from some other plant than tobacco. I guess I was wrong about that.
 
I don't buy that "Smokers puff on a bidi cigarette approximately 28 times as opposed to 9 puffs on a regular cigarette" though. What smoker only takes nine hits per cigarette? None I've ever known (except maybe when drunk and you forget that you lit it).

Actually, as a cigarette smoker, on average, I take between 7-12 drags on each cig. Most of these are taken at work as I try to have a two-three minute refuge from the latest cluster-fuck I need to solve. I've also regularly taken 5-6 drags and hit the road.

Of course, as my wife says "Damn, you burn a hot rock."

Edited to add: I just went outside and tested this. Result: 9 drags. Just about where I usually end up in terms of ~1/3 left.
 
this thread seems to have gone on for a long time without reaching any conclusive answer, so allow me to provide one. beedies are quite lovely rolled leaves -- i believe of the actual beedie or bidi tree -- and people who've been to india have told me that they're sometimes even being made right there by the side of the road. now i used to smoke beedies for years -- until i found them too too difficult to come by in vienna, austria. then after i'd given them up -- cold turkey -- fasting, drinking hot water etc -- i gave up smoking, full stop -- i stopped by in singapore one time and there you could get all these wonderful fresh ganesh beedies and different brands. and i cursed the fuckers, cos i wasn't going to start up smoking again, not in that scorching hot place, either. so if there's any tobacco in them, it hardly figures. i was sent a packet from the US recently with a sticker that said, for sale in the US, so I doubt if they're banned. if a billion indians are smoking them, they can only be as bad as the stuff that 400 million north americans are smoking, and they go out, which means they haven't got those chemicals in them that make paper cigarettes smoulder on all by themselves. but of course smoking isn't good for you and didn't bukowski die of lung cancer? so there. but they taste nice and smell nice -- people always say -- what's that burning? they get all worried, because they smell dry leaves burning and they wonder what might be going on. i've been stopped by rookie cops too, "excuse me sir, what's that you're smoking?" well, ha ha. not marihuana, not a DRUG, as such, either. it's easy to go through a couple of packs of beedies in a day, and you can always tell a beedie smoker -- because of the burn holes in his t-shirt or jacket ir whatever. women rarely smoke them, because they like something elegant in their hands, and because they mistake beedies for cigars or little cigarillos, which they barely qualify as. it's a very pleasurable smoke, even so, but like egyptian cigarettes, they're something the big tobacco people don't like to see around. even in india they are considered a proletarian pleasure, and the classy people prefer american cigs. in pakistan they make a larger and pretty disgusting beedie -- awful taste. so stick with the ganeshi you can see in the picture somewhere around here.
 
Hi Tom. No, Bukowski didn't die of lung cancer. He died of leukemia.

Thanks for the input. So do they contain thrice the amount of nicotin of a normal cigarette? Or no nicotin at all?
 
nicotine in beedies? oh there must be some, or you wouldn't be smoking them. i used to smoke pretty ghastly cigarettes, camels, gitanes, sobranies, and then at some point switched to the beedies because they were soo much nicer. so i don't think they were "rougher" than any of the regular brands you get. given that smoking is not a healthy thing to do, i'd still much rather smoke a beedie than most paper-and-tobacco cigarettes. if i was going to smoke, which i did but which i gave up. most cigarette packs now offer you a disease of your choice, so what cancer gets you or whether your teeth fall out, you still get a rough deal. but be that as it may, beedies are a very enjoyable smoke, though like real cigars they need to be kept in some kind of humidor. a dried out beedie tastes just like seagrass matting would taste if you were going to smoke it, i.e., pretty horrible. it does not, as a rule, contain any hashish, so whatever you imagine is happening, it's just happening in your imagination. and no, i don't think you'll be getting a massive dose of anything, just a rough throat, if you smoke a couple of packs a day.if you're a smoker anyway, you should try a beedie. if you're not a smoker, forget it.
 
I checked mine yesterday and it was 14. Of course, I drive all day, so I can smoke 'em down to the end....

After reading this, I had to try for myself! Bill, I'm right with ya, it took me 13, however if I really wanted to I could have taken one last drag off of what was left making 14. Prior to trying this I would have said 15-20. I know a guy at work who always seems to smoke his marlboro light in under 60 seconds everytime! It's an exaggeration, however the dudes quick, so I'm putting him on the project. I'm really curious to see how many it takes him.
 

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