Teenagers move from cigarettes to nas

Some Russian teenagers are quitting cigarettes for a type of chewing tobacco popular in Central Asia, according to a BBC Online story.

Nas or nasvai is made of tobacco mixed with slaked lime and wood ash to form a pellet that, when held under the tongue, packs a powerful nicotine hit.

It has been banned in Russia, but migrants from Central Asia import it and the authorities are concerned that, because it sells at a fraction of the price of cigarettes, it ends up in the mouths of young people.

The Ferghana news agency, which covers Central Asian stories from Moscow, says nas is still flying off trestle tables at street-corner markets to the general indifference of local police, four months after the ban came into effect.