Product Code Database
A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu ( Diospyros melanoxylon) or Piliostigma racemosum leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It originates from the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Marwari language word beeda—a mixture of betel nuts, herbs, and spices wrapped in a leaf. It is a traditional method of tobacco use throughout South Asia and parts of the Middle East, where beedies are popular and inexpensive. In India, beedi consumption outpaces conventional cigarettes, accounting for 48% of all Indian tobacco consumption in 2008.
The commercial Indian beedi industry saw rapid growth during the 1930s probably driven by an expansion of tobacco cultivation at the time but also helped by Gandhi's support of Indian industry and Indian products. Perhaps due to this, educated classes in India grew to prefer beedies to cigarettes although this is no longer the case. Muslim leaders, calling cigarettes foreign products, have also endorsed beedies at times.
By the middle of the 20th century, beedi manufacture had grown into a highly competitive and profitable industry. This stage of commercial production—at the height of the beedi's popularity—saw the creation of many new beedi brands as well as beedi factories employing upwards of one hundred, primarily male, beedi rollers.
Factory-based beedi production declined as a result of increased regulation during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and beedi-making became a cottage industry with a home-based women workforce predominantly employed only in the beedi rolling. In contrast, males continue to be employed in other aspects of beedi production.
Beedi smoking tends to be associated with a lower social standing, as these tobacco-filled leaves are inexpensive when compared to regular cigarettes. Those with a high social standing who do smoke beedies often do so out of the public eye; however, the cultural trend is changing.
Workers roll an average of 500–1000 beedies per day, handling of tobacco flake. Handling tobacco and inhaling its dust is an occupational hazard for beedi workers as an increased level of chromosome aberrations was found in a scientific study.
The production of beedies is also popular in Bangladesh. According to the 2014 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor published by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the informal sector in these countries employs underage children in the production of beedies "in response to consumer preferences".
Frequency of ventilatory abnormalities was highest in the cigarette smokers. A lower prevalence of chronic bronchitis and abnormal ventilatory measurements in beedi smokers, as compared with cigarette smokers, was thought to be primarily due to low total consumption of tobacco. Some added influence of smoke produced by burning of the wrapper leaf and type of tobacco used in beedies could not be ruled out.
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