What is a cigarette?
Cigarette is a tube-shaped tobacco product that is made of finely cut, cured tobacco leaves wrapped in thin paper. It may also have other ingredients, including substances to add different flavors. A cigarette is lit on one end and smoked, and the smoke is usually inhaled into the lungs. Cigarettes contain nicotine and many harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) to both smokers and nonsmokers. In April 2012, US FDA established a list of 93 HPHCs found in tobacco products and tobacco smoke and categorized them in five: carcinogen, respiratory toxicant, cardiovascular toxicant, reproductive or developmental toxicant and addictive.
List of chemicals and chemical compounds identified by the US FDA as harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) in tobacco products and tobacco smoke: List of HPHCs
Who is a smoker?
According to the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), anyone who has smoked 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime and who currently smokes cigarettes is a “current smoker”. If the person smokes every day, he/she is called “every day smoker” (previously called a “regular smoker”). If the person does not smoke every day, he/she is called “someday smoker (previously called a “occasional smoker”). Anyone who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime, but who is no longer smoking, is called “former smoker”. Anyone who has never smoked, or who has smoked less than 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime, is called “never smoker”.
What is worse, nicotine or tobacco?
Burning tobacco and inhaling its smoke, or in simple terms, smoking is more dangerous than nicotine use. Most of the dangers of smoking are due to the hundreds of toxic chemicals in the cigarette smoke, not the nicotine. Using nicotine is unlikely to cause cancer or lung diseases like smoking. Using nicotine is much less likely to cause heart disease than continued smoking. Nevertheless, nicotine is highly addictive and not safe – especially for the youth, pregnant and people with underlying health conditions.
What country does not sell tobacco? Where is tobacco completely banned?
Tobacco is sold in every country around the World. Bhutan is frequently cited as the country where tobacco is not sold or completely banned. However, this information is outdated. It is true that Bhutan became the first country in the world to ban tobacco sales in 2010. However, the ban lasted for over a decade until the re-legalization of tobacco sales in the country.
Bhutan issued a nationwide ban on the sale of tobacco in 2004 and imposed a comprehensive ban on the cultivation, manufacturing, supply and sale of all tobacco products in 2010. However, tobacco consumption was not banned and importation of tobacco products for personal consumption was permitted, but taxed. The law levied a sales tax of 100% for imported tobacco products from India and an additional custom duty of 100% for tobacco products from other countries. Despite the existence of a robust legal and regulatory framework for tobacco control, smuggling and a black market for tobacco continued to be rampant in Bhutan. Moreover, tobacco use prevalence remained fairly stable around 24-25%.
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased smuggling of tobacco across the international borders had raised concerns on the cross-border transmission of COVID-19. In response, the Bhutanese government amended the 2010 Act in July 2021, lifting the decade long ban on tobacco sales and permitting the sale of tobacco products in groceries and ‘pan shops’.
Nevertheless, Bhutan maintains the ban on cultivation of tobacco and manufacturing of tobacco products. Moreover, the Bhutanese Government continues to suggest that the overhaul of the ban on tobacco and tobacco products in the country is a temporary measure.
Is there a country that fully covers cigarette packs with pictorial health warnings?
Soon, there will be one. As of August 17, 2025, Nepal will become the first country in the world to completely cover the front and back of cigarette packs with pictorial health warnings. New directives also mandate that such warnings cover 100% of bidi and chewing tobacco packaging. According to the new provision, the background color of the pack, warning message and the picture will be drab dark brown. Brand names will only appear on the underside of the packs and not on the front or back.
Canada became the first country to introduce graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging in 2001. Today, 138 countries and territories, covering two-thirds of the world’s population, require pictorial warnings on cigarette packaging. Some 127 countries and territories require warnings to cover at least 50% of the package (on average); 76 countries and territories mandate at least 65% (on average), while 11, including Nepal, mandate at least 85%.
According to the 2023 World Health Organization report1, 29% of adults aged 15–69 are current tobacco users in Nepal, with a notable gender disparity: 48% of males and 12% of females use tobacco. 18% of adults use smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco in combination. A smoker must spend 22.3% of GDP per capita to buy 100 packs of the most popular cigarettes in a year.
Nepal’s literacy rate is 76.2% In the light of high levels of illiteracy, the Nepalese Government aims to prompt intention to quit smoking and reduce daily intake of cigarettes among the smokers. Nepal first adopted large pictorial warnings covering 75% of the pack in 2011 and became a global leader in 2015, when it became the first to implement graphic warnings on 90% on front and back of packs.
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