India's Real Tobacco Problem

Starting next month, the government of India will require that cigarette packs be largely covered in graphic warning labels. That's smart; in other countries, such warnings have effectively pushed smokers to quit. The trouble is that cigarettes aren't India's biggest tobacco problem.

Most Indians who smoke, smoke a much cheaper, unfiltered product called a bidi: shredded tobacco wrapped in a "tendu," or ebony, leaf and tied with a string. Popular among the poor -- a pack can cost as little as 10 cents -- bidis in 2009 accounted for 85 percent of smoked tobacco in India. Bidis have lower tobacco content than cigarettes, but more nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide. Stick for stick, they're deadlier.