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Smokers in Gaza are now using dried jute leaves, also known as molokhia or ewedu, as a cheaper substitute for tobacco, whose price has surged amid Israel’s blockade of basic goods in the war-torn territory.
Abu Yahya Helles, a Gaza resident, now coats crumbled dried jute leaves in liquid nicotine as a replacement for cigarettes, which have soared from 1 Israeli shekel to between 30 and 40 shekels (from 33 cents to $10-13)
“This is in no way a substitute for cigarettes because at the end of the day, this is molokhia with nicotine added to it”, he told AFP while preparing a batch.
Helles, who has a makeshift stall on a busy Gaza City street, uses a syringe to inject liquid nicotine into a bag of dried jute leaves, using a large one-kilogramme bottle of the type often confiscated by the Israeli military from trucks entering Gaza.
The street, where his stall is situated, is often busy despite being filled with massive piles of broken concrete from apartment buildings destroyed during over two years of war in Gaza.
53-year-old Nivin Samir told AFP she smoked a pack a day for 20 years, but recently switched to molokhia cigarettes.
“They taste and smell awful. I smoke several a day, maybe to vent my anger, or to live out my fantasy of enjoying them with a cup of coffee,” said Samir, who has lived in a tent in the southern city of Khan Yunis since her home was razed in an air strike.
Another Gaza City cigarette seller, called Mohammed Helles, said people weren’t smoking molokhia out of choice.
“We’ve resorted to smoking dried molokhia leaves laced with nicotine as a substitute for imported cigarettes. We want cigarettes to be imported again so we can smoke normal tobacco,” he said.
The supply of jute in Gaza is not guaranteed because Israel controls all access points, as well as about half of the territory.
Some smokers, like 47-year-old Abu Muhammad Saqrin, indulge in the activity to find solace in post-war Gaza.
“I’ve been smoking since I was 13. Now I smoke molokhia cigarettes and leaves. If they gave me poison, I’d smoke it. I have no life or future to save my health for,” Saqrin told AFP.
But Gaza City resident Walid al-Naizi told AFP he was wary of such homemade products.
“These cigarettes are made from herbs such as molokhia, castor leaves, and other varieties, and we don’t know whether they are toxic or not,” he said.
“Unknown liquid substances are added to them; we can’t tell if they are actually nicotine, poisons or even cockroach insecticide,” he added.
