Desperate South Africans turn to smoking Rooibos tea, to quench their tobacco carvings.
Continued ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco related products lead smokers to desperately turn to alternatives like smoking Rooibos tea.
It has been illegal to buy and sell cigarettes since the start of the national lockdown, on 27 March.
Illegal cigarettes are being sold to averagely R165 per pack and many do not afford them.
“We know the dangers of smoking tea but we continue doing it because it’s an available alternative. Rooibos tea doesn’t stop cravings but tricks the mind,” a 28 year old chain smoker, Soweto resident said.
A group of smokers revealed that a transition to tea (Rooibos) was easy despite the difficulties in rolling tea leaves.
“Rooibos tea leaves are very dry and the texture and smell is not ideal but we have to stop cravings,” they said.
They pleaded to government to allow the sale of cigarettes and tobacco related products as smokers are more disciplined and can maintain social distance.
“We want to believe that non-smokers constitutes a larger percentage of COVID-19 deaths compared to us smokers. Smokers are more disciplined that the government think, we are able to maintain social distances, also we just want to purchase and smoke at our homes. Failure to do so will expose us to more harm, many of us are addicted and we will go places we shouldn’t be going, smoking substances we shouldn’t to stop cravings”
Dangers of Smoking Rooibos Tea
Professor Keertan Dheda, director of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity and head of the division of pulmonology at the University of Cape Town, says he is not aware of research studies that examined the safety of smoking rooibos tea.
“However, smoking tea will result in the inhalation of several substances, including caffeine and particulate matter, which is likely to be harmful in the long run. Chronic inhalation of particulate matter is often associated with subversion of immune responses and structural lung damage and therefore, as a general rule, I would advise against it.”
Studies are required to explore this further and unequivocally demonstrate the dangers of smoking tea leaves.
He says that various other substances (including nicotine products) are often shredded and mixed with tea leaves to gain the effect of nicotine. One study showed that this could release a number of harmful substances and toxins including formaldehyde.
South Africans now smoking Rooibos tea due to cigarette ban.