JOHANNESBURG – May 31 marks World No Tobacco Day, where people are encouraged to abstain from all forms of tobacco consumption for a total of 24 hours.

The form of tobacco to draw the most attention is cigarettes. But one nicotine product, commonly known as snuff or smokeless tobacco, is gaining traction among black South African women.

“I snort snuff in the morning before I start my work, I snort it before I eat and again before I sleep,” says 39-year-old domestic worker originally from Lesotho, who asked to conceal her identity.

Snuff is a smokeless form of tobacco made from ground or pulverized tobacco leaves that can be consumed through the nasal or oral cavities. A 20 gram container of snuff typically costs four to six Rand compared to around 30 Rand for a pack of cigarettes.

“When I do have six rand, I know that when my snuff runs out I’ll get a headache,” says 25-year-old domestic worker from Lesotho. “Therefore I’d rather not buy things such as airtime, instead I buy snuff.”

There are different types of snuff products sold in South Africa, which vary in strength. These products include Babaton Menthol Green, Babaton Plain Blue, Magnet Menthol, NTSU Black, Singleton&39;s Original, Swedish Match Taxi Blue, Swedish Match Taxi Green, Swedish Match Taxi Red and Swedish Match Taxi Red.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the consumption of tobacco is the largest risk factor that causes cancer and estimates that on a global scale tobacco causes around 20 percent of cancer deaths and 70 percent of lung cancer deaths. They state that the continuous use of snuff can cause pancreatic, oral and esophageal cancers.

“The dangers of snuff are first and foremost that it contains nicotine; therefore, it can be addictive,” said Kenneth Wilson, counselling psychologist at the Houghton House Group Addiction Rehabilitation Centre.

A large number of snuff users often claim that they use snuff as a method to cure headaches, unaware that the drug is a highly addictive substance.

The South African Medical Research Council says snuff usage accounts for about six percent of all tobacco use. It also found that women are twice as likely to choose snuff over smoking cigarettes.

“The epidemic of tobacco use is one of the greatest threats to global health today,” said WHO in a tobacco and oral health publication from 2003. They stated that approximately one-third of the adult population in the world use tobacco in some form and tobacco uses leads to nearly 6 million deaths worldwide each year.

“I wouldn’t advise someone to start using snuff because I know that you will use it because of problems, but once you want to quit it, it’s not so easy to quit it,” says the 25-year-old domestic worker.

- Busisiwe Lethole and Medha Imam