On my recent trip to Isaan I discovered local thai "pouch tobacco" which many of the Isaan villagers smoke.

Sold in clear plastic bags, I was more than surprised at how inexpensive they are at 5B per pouch.

Even cheaper if bought in a string of 5 or 10 pouches.

I'm not a smoker but was asked to return to Australia with 250gm of duty free Drum tobacco.

I was considerably troubled over this as I see myself enabling my sisters 35 year habit which I'm sure has already caused permanent damage. To make matters worse, she smokes without filters. She doesn't realise that other smokers atleast afford themselves some level of protection with low tar filtration.

She indicated she'd still be smoking regardless and she'd be appreciative of the savings.

She had no concept of my concern of becoming directly involved by facilitating her habit.

Duty free Drum in 50gm pouches amounts to 240B duty free.

Local Thai roll your own "Pouch Tobacco" sells for 5B a packet.

How does the local product compare to commercial brands such as Drum?

How rough is it to smoke?

Would customs treat it differently by demanding expensive quaranteen procedures?

Edited May 17, 200818 yr by rockyysdt

On my recent trip to Isaan I discovered local thai "pouch tobacco" which many of the Isaan villagers smoke.

Sold in clear plastic bags, I was more than surprised at how inexpensive they are at 5B per pouch.

Even cheaper if bought in a string of 5 or 10 pouches.

I'm not a smoker but was asked to return to Australia with 250gm of duty free Drum tobacco.

I was considerably troubled over this as I see myself enabling my sisters 35 year habit which I'm sure has already caused permanent damage. To make matters worse, she smokes without filters. She doesn't realise that other smokers atleast afford themselves some level of protection with low tar filtration.

She indicated she'd still be smoking regardless and she'd be appreciative of the savings.

She had no concept of my concern of becoming directly involved by facilitating her habit.

Duty free Drum in 50gm pouches amounts to 240B duty free.

Local Thai roll your own "Pouch Tobacco" sells for 5B a packet.

How does the local product compare to commercial brands such as Drum?

How rough is it to smoke?

Would customs treat it differently by demanding expensive quaranteen procedures?

The difference is that there is no chemicals is more of a natural product.

I smoke TraMeow "Green" and find it superior to Drum. In fact, I prefer it to well known brands of factory cigarettes. I add a filter when I roll my own. The other brands of raw tobacco are a bit rough for me and I leave that to my cattle farmer brother in law.

There are probably at least five different tobaccos available at our local fresh market. They range from very dark colored to very light colored. I asked for the mildest they had and it turned out to be a light color. It was actually quite mild even with no filter. I am too lazy to roll my own but I could easily smoke that tobacco. A baggie full of light colored fine cut cost 10 baht.

Thai tabacco is quite nice to smoke, but i like it more with rizzla's or mascotte skins. on the other side the man in our family are allways very happy when i bring some tabacco ( like Drum ) from Holland, espacialy the more heavy kinds like van Nelle Extra or Brandaris, they make friends for live.

I am a "roll your own " smoker and when in Thailand I have smoked plenty of that.

When I was there last it was only 3 baht and I got the medium strength stuff.

I used papers that I had bought from home because the Thai ones dont have glue on them and I also used filters.

I found that it made me feel a bit sick in the morning and asked the wife if they put any drugs in it.

She said no.

I pondered on the sprays that they may use but have been told that tobacco doesnt need spray.

I took a large bag of it back home but it dried out very fast ( no humidity ) and became very harsh.

So I would say, get the Drum,

All the best.

Mother or family sends me my favorite english baccy, Old Holborn, its a lillte moist but its my favorite rolly baccy, has good smell and flavour, the dutch and thai baccys are so dry, they burn my throat, also the papers are so thick, its like smoking the BKK Post!!!!

For the last year or so, ive been smoking thai baccy, 10bht,50gramme, one weeks rollys,

I put the baccy in a tupperware container with a small new banana leaf, this adds a bit of moisture, I can buy rizzla blue papers and filters from a corner shop in Udon Thani,

Also its good to know that this baccy doesent have chemicals in it, or does it???

I never thought of using filters with this stuff before, I've tried it the traditional way, but in truth, I could taste the paper more than the tobacco. Maybe using proper papers and a filter might taste pretty good.

Hmmm.. Filters in Surin, anybody know where I can get some?

I never thought of using filters with this stuff before, I've tried it the traditional way, but in truth, I could taste the paper more than the tobacco. Maybe using proper papers and a filter might taste pretty good.

Hmmm.. Filters in Surin, anybody know where I can get some?

My sister says the usie of filters makes your smoke taste like hot air.

Non filter smokers are getting the full hit of tar and nicotine.

If you initially feel your filtered smoke is too light, persevere, as eventually you'll become accustomed to it.

The long term benefits to your health can't be overstated.

Good luck sourcing your filters.

On the subject of moisture, as raised by Lickey, my sister sometimes adds a small wedge of lemon into her tobacco pouch.

Edited May 20, 200818 yr by rockyysdt

On my recent trip to Isaan I discovered local thai "pouch tobacco" which many of the Isaan villagers smoke.

Sold in clear plastic bags, I was more than surprised at how inexpensive they are at 5B per pouch.

Even cheaper if bought in a string of 5 or 10 pouches.

I'm not a smoker but was asked to return to Australia with 250gm of duty free Drum tobacco.

I was considerably troubled over this as I see myself enabling my sisters 35 year habit which I'm sure has already caused permanent damage. To make matters worse, she smokes without filters. She doesn't realise that other smokers atleast afford themselves some level of protection with low tar filtration.

She indicated she'd still be smoking regardless and she'd be appreciative of the savings.

She had no concept of my concern of becoming directly involved by facilitating her habit.

Duty free Drum in 50gm pouches amounts to 240B duty free.

Local Thai roll your own "Pouch Tobacco" sells for 5B a packet.

How does the local product compare to commercial brands such as Drum?

How rough is it to smoke?

Would customs treat it differently by demanding expensive quaranteen procedures?

champ ruby thes better one

Hmmm.. Filters in Surin, anybody know where I can get some?

This is what I do having a lot of time on my hands: Take a ball of cotton wool. Make it in smaller balls of cotton wool (~0.5cm diameter). Put this small ball on the one side when you're rolling. Fold the paper inwards on the completed rolly to avoid the cotton wool sticking to your lips and voila! One filtertipped ciggy.

It's amazing what you will get up to when you have the time. (Intellegent people are never bored, my mom used to say.)

I tried similar to the above, even threading cotton wool in to drinking straws and cutting into 1/2 in lenghts, ok if you got the filling at the right compression, another way is use a screwed up paper as a filter till you can get new supplies of proper filters,

Its been about 20 years ive been using filters in rollies, mainly because of a new years resolution, to give up smoking, my dad said at the same time, ok, i wont drink anymore, he caught me smoking, i said, i cant give up but ive cleaned up, im using filters, he said thats ok boy, im not drinking anymore or any less!!

Enjoy your rollie with a filter, Cheers, Lickey.

In the picture, a neighbor is spraying tobacco with something. Judging by all the protective clothing, whatever he is spraying can't be too good. That year, 2004, some of the farmers contracted with a large American cigarette company. I'm guessing that anyone might use pesticides. It's odd though, nicotine is itself supposed to be a pesticide.

Why don't you guys grow your own if you have some land or even a large yard? I don't smoke, but I'll bet you could really grow some premium quality stuff if you did some research into proper soil, etc., and put some care into it.

Hi Byran, a good reply and a good pic, i would think pic was october/november, looks like the rice has finished and the tobacco plants are very small, so he is probaly spraying a weedkiller, Paraquat is very popular.

The plant is ready to harvest in mid February, on the road from Thai Bot to Nong Khai beside the Mekong, there are so many ground leaves on trays drying out in the sun, I have never actually thought of stopping and buying some, perhaps next year?

Will look up about tobbaco growing, I havent seen it in our area, 50ks south of the Mekong, and if it dosent require to much chemicals, might give it a go,

Cheers, Lickey.

Good luck Lickey. Let us know how it goes. I just like gardening. I would even grow some for the inlaws or let them grow a little patch on our farm just to avoid the pesticides or weed killer, whatever the stuff is.

You're probably right about the season - just after harvest. I too remember all the tobacco drying racks around the village. Some years everyone grows corn, some years tobacco, or something else. The farmers get orders from the local co-op, which is probably dealing with the wholesalers.

Edited May 31, 200818 yr by Bryan in Isaan

Why don't you guys grow your own if you have some land or even a large yard? I don't smoke, but I'll bet you could really grow some premium quality stuff if you did some research into proper soil, etc., and put some care into it.

It's interesting to see how laws like tobacco growing differ so much internationally.

In Australia tobacco can only be grown by those who are in receipt of an expensive tobacco growing licence.

Those caught with illegally grown tobacco are subject to heavy penalties.

If I smoked and lived in Thailand home grown would be very appealing. It's bad enough to subject your lungs with cigarette smoke without also inhaling pesticides.