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When it comes to smoking or tobacco use in general, it is a known fact that it is harmful to health and a leading curse of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
Over the years, smoking cessation programmes, awareness, and laws have recorded significant successes as the number of smokers in Qatar has impressively decreased.
Globally, tobacco remains one of the biggest public health threats, killing 7 million people a year from direct tobacco use and a further 1.2 million from the effects of second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
However, tobacco has long represented a serious challenge to ongoing efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases in many countries. Non-communicable diseases, mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are a leading cause of premature death.
Qatar case study
In Qatar, at least one in four people use tobacco (smoking, smokeless tobacco, and electronic cigarette), and more young people tend to take up the habit. The National Health Strategy 2018-2022 sets a target of reducing the prevalence of tobacco use.
This includes law enforcement on tobacco control, which is designed to reduce tobacco consumption in Qatar and protect non-smokers such as children exposed to harmful second-hand smoke.
Qatar is a member of the Global Convention on Tobacco Control and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products and its active participation in the Conference of the Parties to the Framework on Tobacco Control. Qatar became a member on 23 July 2004.
In 2021, Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Tobacco Control Center was re-designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a collaborating center for treating tobacco dependence for four years (until August 2025). This re-designation has uniquely placed Qatar and Hamad Medical Corporation on the map of WHO Collaborating Centers regarding tobacco dependence treatment within the EMRO region, knowing that it is currently the only kind in both regions.
WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities or academies, which the Director-General designates to carry out activities supporting the Organisation’s programmes.
Despite all these policies targeting a reduction in usage and dependence, there has been a gradual shift from traditional tobacco products to new trends and products.
In this report, The Peninsula spoke with experts at the Tobacco Control Center to find out about the prevalence and associated factors of tobacco use in the country.
Smoking decline?
In the past few decades, the rates of cigarette smoking have steadily declined in Qatar, according to studies. The prevalence of tobacco smoking is 21.5%; it is significantly lower compared to the survey in 2000, which showed the preponderance at 36.7%.
“A combination of many factors has contributed to the decrease of smoking in the country,” said Silva Kouyoumjian, Clinical Research Officer II at Tobacco Control Center.
She and her colleagues at Tobacco Control Center said the Ministry of Public Health had taken many measures to create awareness among the public about the negative impacts of smoking and reduced the number of people continuing the habit. Also, through a law issued in 2019, Qatar increased cigarette taxes by 100%.
The ban on smoking in public places has also contributed hugely to decreasing the number of people smoking.
“Smoke-free environments in public transportation, malls, public and private institutions, schools, universities, and stadiums have been in place since 2002, and it becomes more comprehensive each year,” said Kouyoumjian.
“Qatar has taken a great initiative by banning smoking in public places,” she added.
Another factor in the decrease in smoking is the expansion of services at Hamad Tobacco Control Center; it has become a unified entity that includes training for clinicians to ensure the best quality of care, health awareness and promotion, and scientific evidence-based research.
Changing patterns
According to the Center, there are changing patterns of tobacco use in Qatar. The latest findings show that e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are emerging tobacco products, especially for youth and vulnerable populations.
Community Medicine Associate Consultant at the Centre, Dr. Maha Almohannadi, said that a population-based study conducted in 2019 among Qatari and non-Qatari individuals had shown 25.2% tobacco use among adults. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) study was conducted with a sample size of 7,921 individuals.
The most common method of tobacco use is smoking cigarettes, followed by sheesha, medwakh and e-cigarettes.
Dr. Almohannadi was joined by Smoking Cessation Specialists Dr. Muslem M. Muslem, Dr. Jamal Basuhai, Dr. Ahmed Abdalla Elhassan.
“There are two types of smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco), the traditional one, which has nicotine and tobacco; it is banned in Qatar according to law no 10 issued in 2016,” said Dr. Basuhai.
“The new one is a flavoured nicotine product called ‘nicotine pouches’ which is increasing in popularity in the country. They contain nicotine, flavourings, sweeteners and plant-based fibres. We have seen cases of the young and elders in the centre using nicotine pouches, which present with many complications,” he added.
Patients at the Tobacco Control claim that they buy nicotine pouches from online platforms.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are many different types of e-cigarettes in use, also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and sometimes electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS).
E-cigarettes heat nicotine, flavourings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that users inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic. E-cigarette aerosol can contain chemicals that are harmful to the lungs. Moreover, youth e-cigarette use has been associated with the prevalent use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes.
“The clinic patients claim they buy e-cigarettes online or bring them from abroad. Sometimes e-cigarettes can be more dangerous than traditional cigarettes. Those who use e-cigarettes within two years may develop sudden traumatic pulmonary disease, leading to ICU admissions or other complications in the lung. Where traditional smokers may not develop such conditions in five or more years of smoking,” said Dr. Basuhai.
Banned but prevalent
In Qatar, Article 7 of Law No. 10 of 2016 on controlling tobacco and its derivatives states that importing, circulating, displaying, selling, distributing or manufacturing chewing tobacco, in any form and under any name, shall be prohibited. Importing, circulating, displaying, selling, distributing or manufacturing electronic cigarettes, shisha or simulators of smoking tools shall be prohibited. Importing, circulating, displaying, selling, distributing or manufacturing Sweika, in any form or under any name, shall also be prohibited.
Despite this law, vaping devices are everywhere in the country. This can be attributed to the law not explicitly banning people from owning these devices; it simply says they can’t be sold.
While it can’t be sold, people have exploited the loopholes in the law, especially by using social media to meet their needs. Others buy when they are out of the country, and Customs officials don’t seize them because they aren’t technically breaking any laws.
“I think most people, what they do, they buy vapes when they travel,” a Doha resident, Max, told The Peninsula.
“However, there are coded pages on Facebook that sell those e-cigarettes also. So you have to apply for this group membership, then they’ll vet and approve before making you a member.”
Chewing tobacco
Besides e-cigarettes, banned chewing tobacco products are still being sold by vendors in some places, especially near Asian workers’ accommodations and in the Industrial Area.
Few grocery shops and supermarkets also sell these harmful products, but secretly. They do not keep the tobacco products on display in the shop but in adjacent stores to avoid being penalised during raids by health inspectors.
“I have used chewing tobacco regularly for many years. A tobacco product which suits me is available at one of the grocery shops in my area,” said a customer at a shop in Matar Qadeem.
“When I go to buy tobacco, the shopkeeper signals his assistant to bring the product from storage adjacent to the store,” said the customer.
Speaking about availability and price, he said that he gets tobacco easily unless there is a shortage which means the prices are doubled and sometimes tripled.
“A packet of tobacco normally costs QR20, but I paid over QR50 during a severe shortage, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the customer.
Main point of sale
The Peninsula observed that some vendors sell chewing tobacco products near the accommodation of Asian workers and the Industrial Area.
In the Industrial Area, the vendors are usually low-income earners, and they do this to earn some extra income. Users of chewing tobacco products are mainly Asian workers because it is a prevalent practice in their countries, according to them.
The sales of tobacco products usually increase at weekends when most workers gather for leisure activities or at shopping malls.
Enquiries by The Peninsula revealed that these products are brought by individuals who sell for lucrative margins. The vendors sometimes solicit new buyers, but they mainly have a steady line of customers they sell to, and at the same time, they are always on the lookout for law-enforcement officials.
Different chewing tobacco types include ‘Khaini’, ‘Gutkha’, ‘Pan Masala’, ‘Nashwar’ and ‘Swika’.
The most popular form of chewing tobacco among Asian workers residing in Qatar is ‘Khaini’ of the Afzal brand.
A vendor on the street in the new Industrial Area was selling a packet of chewing tobacco (Afzal) at QR15, Gutkah QR2 and QR3 per packet as per the quality of the product. A small box of lime was available at QR10. He was also selling ‘Pan’ at QR2 per packet.
The vendor said, on condition of anonymity, that the supplier regularly delivers the stock to him. He said that the prices of tobacco products fluctuate according to supply and demand, rising many folds during shortages induced by any reason.
An Asian worker in Industrial Area said he used to buy his tobacco stock from vendors behind a shopping centre on Fridays.
“We see many vendors there in the evenings, especially during weekends – Thursday and Friday. I buy a packet of ‘Afzal’ chewing tobacco which is enough for me for a week. Usually, I use this brand, but when it became costly, I opted for another cheaper one available at QR5 per packet,” said the worker. He added that his friends also use other types of chewing tobacco.
