TIMB Supports Shisha Production

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed Cavendish Lloyd Tobacco to contract and support manufacture of shisha in Zimbabwe, reports New Zimbabwe.

“We have licensed Cavendish Lloyd Tobacco to contract and support shisha production in Zimbabwe,” the TIMB said. “Shisha is different from the known traditional flue-cured Virginia tobacco. Unlike cigarettes, this type of tobacco is consumed using a device called a hookah or waterpipe.

“A hookah or waterpipe is a single-[stemmed] or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking the tobacco. An individual pulls from a pipe, and then the smoke is passed through a water basin, often glass-based, before inhalation. This is the reason why shisha is referred to by others as pipe tobacco.”

“It is important to note that shisha is not burley tobacco, neither is it a cigar wrapper,” the TIMB stated. “The cured leaf has to have low nicotine content to protect the smoker from inhaling huge amounts of nicotine since shisha tobacco is about constant smoke inhalation in huge quantities.

“The cured leaf is preferred light and thin textured necessitated by low basal fertilizer applications.”

Shisha has potential for cultivation across all regions in Zimbabwe since the crop has similar agronomic practices and the same curing facilities as Virginia tobacco.