Naswar

[Musafira]

Parts taken from the article "Snuff tobacco of the Pashtuns" Snuff Tobacco of the Pashtuns, Karachi | Demotix.com

Whether we like it or not the tobacco known as "naswar" is associated with Pashtuns. Naswar is primarily used in Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Sweden and India. In Pakistan though it is is predominantly used by members of the Pashtun ethnic group. Some of the many varieties of naswar are produced in different parts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkwa Province of Pakistan and the city of Bannu is especially famous for producing the best naswar.

Naswar is held in the mouth for 10 to 15 minutes. If it is chewed it produces a bad taste in the mouth. Usually, the consumption varies but mostly people take it on an hourly basis as it is highly addictive. Nowadays most of the educated Pashtuns are against the use of this product because of it's detrimental health effects.

An assortment of naswar.




A worker crushing dried Tobacco for converting it to Naswar. Naswar or dried Tobacco is used mostly by Pashtuns but it is also popular among many others. Naswar could be found in two colors i.e green or Black, and the use of Naswar is by placing a small portion like a small tablet inside the mouth and then extracting the juice out of it without bringing down the material of naswar to the stomach, and after few minutes the Naswar is then thrown out.

Naswar waiting to be sold in Karachi.

[Saifullah]

Its a disgusting habit to be honest....whenever my relative tells me to buy naswar i make sure i dont touch it...coz the smell is rotten....

Spitting naswar, throwing it on the floor and once i was in dubai airport and some pashtun guys were tryin to spit naswar in the bin, but it was those bins with a lid like a flap, they didnt figure how to open it so they just spat naswar on the top of it....wat wud ppl be thinking

[Levanaye Zalmaye]

My dad's elder sister used to have it. She'd hide her naswaar "packets" under her foam, in her drawers, underneath her pillows... like if you were in her room, you'd inevitably run into some naswaar no matter what you did. I've never tried it though.

Musafira, have you ever tried it? I've heard it's a pretty decent high.

By the way, our own village is a very famous hub for naswaar production.

[Musafira]

I have never tried it and don't intend to

[Master Khan]

my dad do alot of naswar and i hate it.
he puts about 5 chun dai in his mouth a day

[eyeliner]

i read some where that naswar is opium laced tobacco is that true?

[Zarawar]

what about the association of Chars with Pashtun culture? let's dig deeper.

[Feroza_Banu]

it is just disgusting!

[Saifullah]

yea wen its in their mouth they speak and they have a bump on their upper lip....really uncivillised

[Zarawar]

yea wen its in their mouth they speak and they have a bump on their upper lip....really uncivillised

thats only if they dip a certain way. Most just toss the naswar into their mouth like you toss a fever pill.

[Toramana]

yea wen its in their mouth they speak and they have a bump on their upper lip....really uncivillised

Friend, you are suffering from kind of low self-esteem. Or have been taunted by a Desi or are yourself a Desi trying to be a Pashtun. It is not civility to give blanket judgement on the cultural symbols of an entire people.

You alone cannot decide what is civilized and what isn't. And when you wear that despicable "dhothi" of yours, it might seem as uncivilized to a Pashtun as Pashtuns taking naswar to you.

[Master Khan]

when they use thier fingers and pull it out and spit its really annoying, my dad does it and he doesn't even bother washing his hands afterwards.

[eyeliner]

when they use thier fingers and pull it out and spit its really annoying, my dad does it and he doesn't even bother washing his hands afterwards.

oh for gods sake don't give us the gory details. Btw.....does naswar have opium in it?

[AnGaaR]

Naswar is our sad logo. The minute a punjabi or sindhi wants to insult us they talk about our naswar.

good post Musapira.

so tell them pan khor have they seen their orange mouths? full of pan

i read some where that naswar is opium laced tobacco is that true?

naswar is made from tobacco and chona or tanor ashes.


In some ways its good caz it keeps pashtoons away from sharab lol




Naswar is widely used in Sudan,Tajikistan,Yemen,Somalia and someother african nations.
Americans use it too but call it chewing tobacoo



Its funny that many US soldiers in Afghanistan use naswar and call it Good Sheit lol

[eyeliner]

oh because in a book called the sewing circles of herat, the author mentions naswar and says its opium laced tabacco.