I came across this article by AFP describing Lebanon as a smoker’s paradise, where you can work, dine and have your hair styled in a cloud of smoke. Too bad for us, the non-smokers.
Even teenagers can afford the average one dollar per pack, compared to an average seven dollars (five euros) in France or nearly nine dollars in Britain.
“The minute you land in this country you start huffing and puffing,” said Ghazi Zaatari, a physician and chairman of the department of pathology at the American University of Beirut as well as head of a WHO study group on tobacco regulation.
“As far as tobacco is concerned, Lebanon is a health disaster.”
You can read the full article here.
One of the few things I dread when I return to Lebanon: smelling like an ashtray at the end of the day.
Like I’ve told my fiancee, there are No Smoking Signs at Beirut International but you are likely to miss them due to all the people puffing away in front of it.
There’s another article identifying the gender of smokers across the Middle East. Lebanese Women top the Female List: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=32401
thats the part I hate the most in Lebanon, being the smokers paradise… i like the article’s title, tells it all.
el 7amdellah (and i wrote about that) if you’re in a restaurant. and the other table are smoking (even though they came after you to the restaurant) bi ouloulak iza inta maz3ouj mnil dekhan inta oum ghayyir ma7allak 🙂 2 female smokers told me that.. heh 🙂 polite women indeed