Types of tobacco

Smokeless tobacco
Smokeless tobacco is usually consumed orally or nasally. There are two main types of smokeless tobacco: snuff and chewing tobacco.

Dry snuff is powdered tobacco that is inhaled through the nose and absorbed through the nasal mucosa or taken orally.


Moist snuff is a small amount of ground tobacco held in the mouth between the cheek and gum. Moist snuff products are known as khaini, snus, shammaah, nass, or naswa.


Oral smokeless tobacco products are placed in the mouth, cheek, or inner lip and sucked or chewed. Smokeless tobacco causes cancer in humans and leads to nicotine addiction similar to that produced by cigarette smoking. There are many varieties of smokeless tobacco, including plug, loose-leaf, chimo, toombak, gutkha, and twist.

Smoking tobacco
Tobacco smoking is the act of burning dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant and inhaling the smoke. It releases biochemically active compounds such as nicotine and allows them to be absorbed through the lungs.

Manufactured cigarettes are the most commonly consumed tobacco products worldwide.

Cigars are made of air-cured and fermented tobaccos with a tobacco-leaf wrapper. Cigars come in many shapes and sizes.


Bidis consist of a small amount of sun-dried, flaked tobacco hand wrapped in dried tendu leaf and tied with string. Despite their small size, bidis deliver more tar and carbon monoxide than manufactured cigarettes because users are forced to puff harder to keep bidis lit. Bidis are found throughout South Asia and are the most heavily consumed smoked tobacco products in India.

Water pipes, also known as hookah, operate by water filtration and indirect heat. Flavored tobacco is burned in a smoking bowl covered with foil and coal.