UP IN SMOKE

ATLANTA -- They're shaped like marijuana joints, but they're perfectly
legal.

They're flavored with mint, vanilla and cinnamon. But when lit, they
smell like burning garbage.

And while anti-smoking forces wage their uphill battle against tobacco
- -- symbolized by today's annual Great American Smokeout, an invitation
for smokers to quit -- the demand for these obscure little cigarettes,
called "beedies," has been booming.

Like clove cigarettes, which touched off a craze in the 1950s, beedies
are becoming the countercultural smoke of choice among young people
who mistakenly think they're healthier than the standard cigarettes
their parents have been trying to kick for years.

Densua Williams, 17, has been smoking beedies for two years. Waiting
for a bus here with friends recently, Williams pulled out a
cone-shaped pack, fired up a beedie, cocked her head and blew a neat
column of smoke into the air.

"I don't even know anybody who smokes cigarettes. They give me a
headache," said Williams.

"I don't smoke a lot, but I enjoy the taste of beedies. They calm my
nerves and give me a little buzz. They're easier to get than
cigarettes and they help relieve my stress."

Beedies, also spelled "bidis," are not new. Considered the poor man's
cigarette in India, where they are made and sold for pennies a pack,
beedies have been available in the United States for decades. But
they've suddenly become the latest smoking fashion.

About half the size of a typical cigarette, beedies are usually
unfiltered. Tapered at one end, they're packed with finely flaked
tobacco, hand-rolled in dark-brown ebony leaves and tied with a short
length of thread.

Beedies cost about $2 to $3 for a pack of 20 and are available at
Atlanta convenience stores and tobacco shops where specialty
cigarettes, pipes and cigars are sold. Several metro tobacconists said
beedies have a relatively small, but loyal, following, especially
among teenagers and young adults.

Kretek International in California is one of the largest makers and
distributors of beedies in the United States, selling about 1 million
cartons a year.

Company director Shawn Ulizio says beedies have a trendy cachet among
younger people who haven't been swept up in the better-known cigar
craze.

"We don't advertise them at all, and we don't have any billboards, but
beedies have their own little following and demand for them is
increasing," Ulizio said.

Ulizio speculated that many of his customers are looking for a
"healthier" smoke and are puffing beedies under the false impression
that they are somehow less harmful than American brands.

"Beedies contain about one-tenth the tobacco as a regular cigarette,
so it's a shorter smoke," Ulizio said. "Some people say it's
all-natural because in India they don't process . . . the tobacco like
they do here. But there's no such thing as a healthy cigarette."

Actually, in the case of beedies, less is more.

Suresh Ralapati, an ATF biochemist in Washington, tested several
brands of beedies in 1994. He found that the tobacco in beedies
contains up to four times more nicotine than American-made cigarettes.

Ralapati suggests that's probably why many beedie smokers report a
noticeable buzz."It's smaller, but the tobacco is a different species
that has a higher level of nicotine," Ralapati said.

The beedie mini-boom comes as smoking rates have been rising after
years of promising declines. From 1991 to '97, the percentage of high
school students who smoked jumped from 27.5 percent to 36.4 percent.
And from 1993 to '97, the smoking rate among college students
increased from 22 percent to 28 percent.

It is trend that puzzles anti-smoking advocates.

"The more I work with teen-agers, the less I know about them," said
Linda Lee, chair of the tobacco prevention project for the American
Cancer Society of Georgia. "Any new little trend in smoking, teenagers
pick up on it."

Damien Moulden had heard about the dangers of smoking, but that didn't
stop him from lighting up his first beedie four months ago. "I don't
pay attention to ads. I already know that smoking cigarettes is bad
for you," said Moulden, 18. "Beedies have a better taste than
cigarettes, and I don't think they're as bad for you.

"Even if they are, I'm definitely going to stop when I get
older."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry