Tobacco: Teens to elders, falling prey to a deadly habit

AMMAN — Hajar Kaakani, who turns 90 in January 2020, still remembers her first puff at the age of 18.

“I was in Jericho at the time, and a pack of cigarettes only cost about 1.5 piasters,” Kaakani, who lives with her son in Zarqa, told The Jordan Times.

Kaakani said that when she was younger, smoking was very common among women, and she used to gather with the neighbours and her mother-in-law to prepare hookah to smoke at home.

When asked if men were against women smoking back then, she said: “Not at all. They actually encouraged us to smoke — the ones who did not smoke were considered strange.” 

Kaakani noted that, although she does not smoke nowadays “like before”, she still needs to smoke at least two cigarettes a day.

Lena Fahed, a 24-year-old master’s student majoring in political science, said that she began smoking when she was around 20.

“I started smoking as a way to create my own identity and rebel against society and its ideals and taboos, but honestly also because of peer pressure, as everyone around me used to smoke,” Fahed, who resides in Madaba, said.

Fahed believes that as both of her parents are smokers, she has a genetic tendency to be addicted as well, noting that the sensation that she is burning something has “helped her blow off steam” during difficult times.

“I’m addicted — I like the way it feels in my hand, I like the taste and I like the ritual of waking up in the morning and smoking a cigarette while drinking coffee.”

Fahed said that although it is difficult, she wants to stop smoking because she wants to become a mother one day and she does not want her habits to affect her ability to bear a child. 

“Smoking causes health problems and nicotine addiction regardless of gender,” said Abdelmonem Sharara, an Amman-based consultant pulmonologist.  

“Addiction to smoking differs from person to person, but to this day, we do not know what genes are responsible for this habit and for each individual’s different level of addiction,” he said.

The physician added that genetics sometimes help doctors determine how to treat smoking-related illnesses.

“We ask a patient if a family member suffered, for example, from a blockage in their trachea, commonly known as the windpipe, and if the answer is yes, it could mean there is a higher chance that the patient is suffering from the same issue as well,” the pulmonologist said.

When told about Kaakan’s age and her long-term habit, the doctor said that some people’s genetics may allow them to not have health problems for a very long time, but the consequences are “inevitable” and eventually, regardless of their age and gender, people will develop smoking-related health conditions.

Around 200 million of the world’s 1 billion smokers are women, 1.5 million of whom die every year from tobacco use, according to figures provided by the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), citing a World Health Organisation report published in 2010.

At the time, the report, titled “10 facts on gender and tobacco”, stated: “Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco use could kill up to 8 million people every year by 2030, of which 2.5 million would be women.”

Hadeel Al Khatib, a 30-year-old frequent-hookah smoker, said that she goes out with her friends to smoke almost every day.

“We frequent five different cafes that serve hookah, and alternate between them,” she said, noting that she always sees more women smoking than men.

KHCF figures revealed that hookah contains 72 times the tar, 11 times the carbon monoxide (CO) and four times the nicotine of a normal cigarette. 

Tar causes cancer, CO causes toxicity and nicotine causes addiction, according to the foundation.

When Al Khatib was informed of the figures, she said the information might make her smoke hookah less, but she “cannot stop”.

“Hookah has its own mood. I would not know what to do at a cafe without it. The numbers are scary, but honestly, I cannot stop it completely,” she admitted.