Mumbai, Jan. 11 -- Sometime in late-2021, 40-something Mumbai-based film writer Abhishek found in a routine checkup that his haemoglobin was higher than normal. His doctor told him it was because of his smoking-Abhishek was getting through 20-40 cigarettes a day-and told him to quit. He didn't, although he brought it down to six cigarettes a day. "It was enough to bring my haemoglobin back to normal," he recalled. "But I only quit completely in 2023, when I realized you can really stop smoking if you want."

Abhishek tried many things in his mission to quit smoking, including herbal cigarettes. But, he said, they were useless. "The main selling point of these herbal cigarettes was they were in a very attractive wooden box," he told Mint. ...