Me Smoking

Smoking and Cigarettes in Egypt

Some people divorce due to irreconcilable differences, others on adultery. But imagine being able to divorce your husband based solely on the grounds of his habit of smoking. Hard to believe, but this is quite possible in Egypt. In 2000, a fatwa was issued legitimizing divorce based on having a spouse who smokes. What exactly has caused the country to authorize such a decree in regards to smoking? In the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt has the highest consumption rate of cigarettes, smoking over 46,000 million cigarettes in 1999 alone (Economics of Tobacco in Egypt). Cigarettes and smoking in Egypt is like the sands of the Sahara, the both are inescapable and many smoke cigarettes as early as the age of 15. While the United States was experiencing a decline in the consumption of cigarettes in 1999, Egypt experienced an increased in consumption (tobacco education). What are the reasons behind this enormous smoking trend in Egypt? In Relli Shechter’s, Smoking, Culture, and Economy in the Middle East: The Egyptian Tobacco Market 1850-2000, he explains the reasoning behind the massive exploit of tobacco in Egypt as well as the country’s citizens’ motivation in smoking. Shechter’s book is broken down into three parts. The first describes the introduction of tobacco into the Ottoman Empire, in which Egypt was apart of. Then he illustrates the growing market of the Egyptian cigarette and the course it took towards becoming a product sold only nationally but also globally. Because of this profitable market in the tobacco industry, the cigarette became a staple for the upper class citizens. The second part of his book focuses more on the economic perspective of the tobacco market in Egypt. It describes the supply and demand relationships between consumers and producers in the market and how the government influences the condition of it as well. Finally, the last and third part of Shechter’s book concentrates more on the actual marketing of tobacco products through advertising and how the entire process of doing so created a type of “new” middle class, an “effendi” group, who classified themselves as “modern, but authentic Egyptians” (Shechter 10). Providing background to the tobacco situation in the country, Shechter historically details the use of water pipes to the modern day’s widely used cigarette. The author believes that the country’s consumption of tobacco is due to the trends of its societal and lucrative culture and Shechter explains mostly the sociological and economical factors that contribute to the growing numbers in this consumption. The socioeconomic factors behind the tobacco use are largely attributed to the unchanging characteristics for its market from the historical Ottoman Empire period to today’s market; the market catering to satisfy the demands of the different social layers of the country who wish to secure societal status through tobacco.

Shechter begins his book by describing the tobacco economy of the Ottoman Empire. Since Egypt was apart of the empire and tobacco was introduced by the French into the market in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt relished and soon became one of the highest consumers of the tobacco, especially with the creation of the cigarette as it also created a new, lucrative industry in the country. Consumers’ preferences quickly shifted from their long standing practice of using the water pipe to the new cigarette. Why did smokers change their preferences? As a whole, the human race tends to prefer the more advancing technology over the outdated one. Therefore, switching from a glass water pipe that required maintenance to a small, portable, and light cigarette is easily understood. Also, Shecheter states that:

The physical difference between the cigarette and the pipe also influenced the meaning of their use. While the pipe was a popular pastime, the cigarette represented the opposite: the enhancement of work and at the same time condensation of leisure…The mobility of the cigarette allowed the user to smoke while engaging in other activities (Shechter 28).

By allowing smokers to participate in other activities while smoking, the cigarette combined business and leisure together whereas the water pipe was mostly a form of leisure. It was also convenient as the cigarette was both the tobacco and the device to smoke it out of. The cigarette was proved to be a work enhancing substance unlike opium and hashish which would slow productivity. Thus, for consumers, cigarettes became more enjoyable as it boosts concentration on work and provides a type of relaxation at the same time in the form of a portable, miniature pipe-like device. The cigarette relieves any insecurity about status in society. By increasing concentration on work, smokers could therefore increase profits and as a result move up in social status.

Before cigarette production boomed, the market was mostly comprised of small entrepreneurships. But soon enough the demand for cigarettes increased so greatly that factories were built to appease the high production demands. This quick growth in the tobacco and cigarette industry allowed the economy to grow as well. This expansion in the industry signified an increase in the number of workers to be hired and soon enough, a new relationship was established between management and workers in the industry.

The cigarette industry was the first in Egypt in which workers organized and engaged in collective bargaining. Worker consciousness stemmed from the large concentration of workers in huge production halls that separated them from the management and gave them opportunities to communicate among themselves (Shechter 43).

Through these production halls, workers were able to come together and exchange ideas and discuss the economy of Egypt in regards to tobacco. They became financially aware of what was happening and soon enough demanded that they themselves receive a portion of what their work has contributed to. Developing a struggle between workers and management, the cigarette industry prompted unionized labor in other industries as well as in its own. Through doing so, the industry unconsciously distinguished classes of upper and working middle classes. Not only did the act of smoking determine what social level one would belong to, but also the production of cigarettes would further the gap between the levels.

Shechter also describes the market for cigarettes outside of Egypt. Because of Egyptian travelers, soldiers and diplomats, word began to spread about the new Egyptian product of tobacco rolled in paper. Because of the fact that the Egyptians were the only producers of cigarettes