Image via Adobe Stock
Image via Adobe Stock
You get the feeling that the implementation of a smoking ban during lockdown – and the subsequent public reaction – will one day feature as an exam question, perhaps ripe for the fields of history or social studies. Cigarettes are off the shelves, and people have been forced to seek alternative avenues.
Technically, you can beat the cigarette ban
The truth is, it is only the purchase of cigarettes that has been outlawed until (at the earliest) our next stage of lockdown. The act of smoking them remains perfectly legal, as long as you don’t contravene social distancing rules.
These are your best choices until that date. Yes, you can make your own cigarettes – and you might even be able to indulge in to-baccy of the wacky variety – but it requires South Africans to already possess the right tools.
The closest we can get to our cigarette fix
Can you make your own cigarettes?
If you at least have cigarette tubes and clean paper, you could make a start. But in reality, you’ll need tobacco and a tobacco injection machine. One is banned, and the other is hardly an item laying idle in our cupboards.
Grow your own tobacco
A shallow container, a sunny spot to grow the plants, a small knife a bucket could do the trick. But you will need to find tobacco seeds from somewhere. Again, we’ve hit a brick wall. And despite this nine-step process being super easy to follow, it really would take weeks to reap the rewards. Strike two.
Maybe sample some dagga…
Remember how exciting it was when the Constitutional Court said cannabis should be decriminalised? And then, we heard nothing about the actual law ever again? Well, as it stands, you’re permitted to grow your own weed if you already have the correct equipment. You can’t purchase it from anyone though, that’s still illegal. Let’s change tack…
Smoking tea has been touted
We’re giving up on tobacco at this point. Unless you’ve got Adriano Mazzoti on speed dial, the game is up. But you can smoke tea leaves by rolling them up in cigarette papers, and they will have a similar feel to the rich, smooth draw of a genuine ciggy. Black tea leaves give off a stronger taste, but green and herbal teas can also hold their own as alternatives.
Different ways to get that nicotine fix
It’s probably not the cigarette you miss, but rather, the nicotine it produces. If you are coming off the cigs and had a rough time of it recently, stores like Clicks and Dischem market nicotine gum and patches which slowly release the stuff into your body. For those of you ready to bite the bullet, you can score the gum for R90 and the patches can be bought for about R250 – they’re also available to order online.
Don’t go on the black market, though
Die-hard smokers won’t be giving up the ghost just yet, and the illegal cigarette trade is booming. Smokes are selling at massive prices on the black market, and those who “know a guy that knows a guy” are hanging in there. But if you get caught out, you’re breaking the law and face arrest. Seriously, just don’t bother.
