South Africa
Smoking rooibos a bad idea, warns expert─── 10:58 Tue, 19 May 2020
Some smokers have resorted to smoking rooibos tea as it's illegal to buy cigarettes under lockdown Level 4.
Apparently the tea smells like veld fire and tastes quite strong. People are also smoking chamomile tea as an option and surprisingly burns quite easily, just like a cigarette. Tea smokers roll the leaves up in Rizla paper.
But an expert warns against inhaling rooibos tea as it contains tar and carbon dioxide.
Professor Keertan Dheda, Head of Pulmonology at UCT, explained the inhalation of those pollutants could lead to teeth staining, respiratory inflammation and long-term damage.
"I would not advise smoking rooibos tea on a regular basis because when you smoke any type of tea, you inhale many different things.
"Whenever you inhale particulate matter, it corrupts the defence mechanism of the lung."
It has been illegal to buy and sell cigarettes since the start of the national lockdown, on 27 March.
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