Tue 28 Feb 2006
While listening to the radio the other day, there was a news report about smoking in the Middle East. The figures were very interesting, but unfortunately I couldnt find the link on the BBC arabic website even though they say that you can usually find all their programs and reports online!
From what I remember, two things were most interesting -
- 20% of Arab children smoke!! Im assuming children include teenagers up to the age 19, because I refuse to believe that 1 out of every 5 person under the age of 13 smokes!
- Contrary to what I expected, smoking is more popular and widespread within the richer classes in Egypt when it comes to females! They say its because a rich family’s girl is more accepting to their daughter smoking a cigarette or sheesha than the poorer families.
Thankfully, only 1 or 2 of my close friends actually smokes, but I have many other friends who smoke like crazy! I had to cut down on my visits to certain places because of the amount of smoking! I used to smoke sheesha once in a while, now I practically stopped.
I still want to see how many of you people smoke?
If you have an occasional cigar or sheesha like once every two weeks or so, that doesnt count as smoking!
12 Responses to “Smoking Surveyٍ”
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February 28th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
SHOTGUN!!! (AKA Scattergun)
20% of Arab children smoke!! I believe It’s under the age 15 or 16!!
Q, Do you smoke? Or consider yourself as a smoker?!
February 28th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
nunu, I know its a scary stat!! And no I dont smoke, I used to smoke sheesha a while back but I stopped it.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Q, you stopped the sheesha? Kudos bro..
In two weeks, I’ll have my two year anniversary, I have been smoke free for two whole years now..
February 28th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
WOW!! That’s really good.. Keep it up Q and Congrats Don =)
February 28th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
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February 28th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I would love a survey asking kids why and how they started smoking
February 28th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
Q, I heard that the percentage of tobacco/nicotine in the Middle East is slightly more than it is in Western countries i.e. more of an addiction. I’ve scolded my friend’s younger cousins for smoking. A huge factor that leads to them smoking is, believe it or not, peer pressure, especially with adolescent Kuwaiti males (13-17). It’s considered as “cool.” Because almost every adult, Kuwaiti male smokes, smoking -in the eyes of these teenage boys- is considered as somewhat of an initiation into adulthood. There’s also the lenient distribution and convenience of obtaining a pack of cigarettes in Kuwait i.e. from a friend.
March 1st, 2006 at 3:28 am
Q,
I started smoking regularly when I was 14!
I will not reveal how many years ago that was!
However, my smoking habits have become worse مع العهد الجديد
…and propbably because of it!
Unrelated: Bro…Thank u so much for your support…it means a lot to me.

Watch for the next post..I think you’ll like it too.
March 1st, 2006 at 11:05 am
I was hoping someone brings up the topic of smoking le’anna fee salfa etgarge3 eb galbi abee agoolha, la o bagoolha in details le’anna 7add-ha 7arratniiiii fa ba-barriiddd chabdi!
I teach a yoga class for children and the other day my husband thought it would be nice to take them out for lunch, so he picked me up along with the 14 children (ages 4-10), his friend and wife came along with their lovely boy. They recommended marinas food court ( its not the best choice I admit but we didn’t think we can handle all the children in another place) anyway, we scanned the place for a big table we were a very large group carrying 2 babies and 14 lively kids, jackets, bags, trolleys and other ashya. Finally we found our table, away from that smoking guy with wife. We sat down o 6alla3na el baby food and started feeding the 2 babies, after we settled down shway my husband went back to the car to get something, the friend went to order food from paul in the ground floor, his wife ran to the ladies room to change her baby’s diaper. SO SUDDENLY THAT SMOKING GUY AND HIS WIFE DECIDED TO SWITCH TABLES AND COME SIT RIGHT NEXT TO US to get a better view of el me6a3em ta7at. O he was smoking some kind of weird long thin yellow ciggeretes that smelled even worse that the regular ones! I MEAN COME ON! DIDN’T YOU SEE ALL THESE CHILDREN! ( btw his wife is pregnant), anyway fa I didn’t know wht to do ?! wait for my husband to come back wella switch tables and risk them not finding us?! Enzain eshloon asheel kel hal gash ebroo7i? I felt so alone I can cry but I still have to keep entertaining the kids and feed my son! Anyway I decided to put my most beautiful smile on and teach the kids a lesson on being friendly when asking others for a favour, so I said ” law sama7t ? law sama7t?” with my cutest smile and most etyanin akser el kha6er look ever! He turned to me, ” bet’dakhen? Betkammel tadkheen?” fa he just stood there looking at me, fa gelt ana khal asseer extra sweet 3ashan el yahhal yet3allemoon enna if you are nice to people people love you, o ham a3allemhum shloon yakseroon 3ain el awadem, ya3ni if u r too nice people ma ra7 yadgeroonek, fa I thought if I offered to leave my table he will go like laaa eshda3waaa la la aasef khalas arid my table laa laa sheysheelech entay o hal googash elli ma3ach la la khalleech merta7a ana aasef! I seriously thought that’s how it will go, anyway, geltla, ” ya3ni etha betdakhen 3ayal mo meshkela mo meshkela endawwer 6awla e7na engoowm 3adi” . TARARARARARRARA
Chan eb qemmat el waqa7a o goweee el baas eygool, EEE BADAKHEN o ya36eeni thahra!!! Anyway enkesar kha6ree o baghait abchee bas mesakt 3umri o 7assait eb e7sas ghareeb awal marra eb 7ayati a7ad yadgerni aw yakser eb kha6ree 7asait ” abee rayli abee obooy abee khali 3bdlrazzag” o gumna o ta3abna o yamma3nalena cham 6awla lezagnahum eb ba3ath wana a3aaabel eb hal yahhal o eb weldi o bel gash. Ba3dain 3ogob ma ga3adna, one of the kids said, khalti ony khalti ony, chan agoolah na3am 7abeebi? Chan eygooli sheftay hatah el rayyal? Chan agoolah ee, chan eygooli hatha shireeer! Allah yajber eb kha6rek gool amen. 6ab3an ashwa ham kaan fee lesson enna fee naas ashrar. 3ala ayyami lamma ana kent koborhum ma kan ako nas ashrar. Anyway bas I will end here and im not going to tell u 3an el mana7a elli sarat ba3dain when everybody came back and how ma 3endi salfa thaak elyoomm ghair galbi el maksoor o theegat khelgi o my sleepless weekend o cham marra 7alamt eb hathak el rayyal lail7een.
Too long too long.
March 1st, 2006 at 11:12 am
i felt so guilty sending such a long and uninteresting post, ma3a enna at least barradt chabdi.
Fa I had to send something “useful”. Our welovekuwait.com team r currently working with a number of doctors and specialists, along with ex-smokers, new parents and teachers on a mini anti-smoking campaign. We r not concentrating on why people smoke, but on educating the people on wht smoking really does to the body you will be surprised how little people know. The best method to quit is to basically educate yourself. When you know better you do better. please feel free to send us any info!
March 1st, 2006 at 3:28 pm
welovekuwait: (sorry Q, I know we’re not supposed to comment on other commentors but…) I like Zaydoun’s suggestion: Ask kids why and when they started smoking and they probably cannot give you a straightforward answer. Their answers may be interesting. And that guy sounds horrible, but then again, you were in Marina so assume the unexpected.
March 1st, 2006 at 7:46 pm
DonMan, thx man! And congrats to u too, I remember reading ur post about the one year smoke-free and feeling good, now im even more impressed and feel better! Chan zain ba3th ilnaas illy ib baaly take u as an example ;P
Zaydoun, I would assume at school, and I would also guess that an older member of the family smoking would be even more of a reason to follow in their footsteps!
erzulie, not just tobacco and nicotine addiction, alcohol is also a major addiction here in Kuwait! I think its just a reaction by ppl bcz of our closed society.
zort, how much do u smoke? do u feel its effects? and how many times did u try to quit? And keep up the great posts!
welovekuwait, walla lil asaf haatha sha3bich
inshalla these kids still take ur lead as an example regardless of the result! Also, Id love to know more about ur campaign!
erzulie, u said - (sorry Q, I know we’re not supposed to comment on other commentors but…)
On the contrary! The whole point of posting a subjet is to start a discussion