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November 16, 2004

Bhutan: Bidi Ban, Badmash!News

The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has decided to ban all tobacco products from Wednesday, a government notification says.

Shops, hotels, restaurants and bars selling tobacco products have been ordered to dispose of existing stocks before 17 December.

Those who violate the ban will be fined $210 and owners of shops and hotels will lose their business licenses.

Are you a tourist who desperately wants to go to Bhutan, but who can't go a few days without a smoke? Don't worry, you're OK as long as you don't sell your stash to the locals:

The tobacco ban will not apply to foreign tourists, diplomats or those working for NGOs.

[However] Foreigners selling tobacco to locals will be severely punished.

"If any foreigner is caught selling tobacco products to Bhutanese nationals, he will be charged with smuggling. Tobacco will be treated as contraband," Karma Tshering of Bhutanese Customs told the BBC.

Now what puzzles me is why people at high altitudes are smoking at all? I mean, isn't the air thin enough? Apparently, Sherpas in Nepal do so all the time, as they lead expedititions up the mountain. And I remember reading about cases where mountaineers would suck in oxygen from a tank, then inhale their cigarette (dangerous!), and then get more oxygen, etc. (like this: "Meanwhile, Finch had been staving off the effects of altitude with regular gasps of oxygen — between puffs on a cigarette!"). However, the best quote I found on the subject was:

"This is the fucking life, no ?" — Jean Afanassieff, first frenchman on Everest (on the summit of which he smoked a cigarette waiting for the others).

ennis on November 16, 2004 07:21 AM in News · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post



3 comments

 1 · Manish Vij on November 16, 2004 12:09 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

I suppose it's not a good time to ask 'em about legalizing pot, is it.

That Frenchman on Everest-- was he thin and well-dressed, and did he disparage Sir Edmund Hillary while he waited? ;)


 2 · Manish Vij on January 21, 2005 01:35 AM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

Slate says:

This is a country that has elevated contrariness to a national trait... Convention says that gross national product is the best measure of national progress. Yet Bhutan is aiming for another mark: What it calls "gross national happiness." If Bhutan were a celebrity, it would be Johnny Depp—reclusive, a bit odd, but endearing nonetheless.... Thimphu is the world's only capital city with no traffic lights.


 3 · sonam on August 30, 2006 02:19 AM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

wel the only change i can see that this so called ban did bring about was to raise the price for a pack of smokes to twice as much as before. ha.


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