Your boweb will have one between his fingers while he helps you unlock your door.
Your taxi driver will be holding one while he takes you all the way to Maadi.
Even your own Arabic teacher will be sucking on one during your break, seemingly cursing his luck that it’s not allowed indoors.
You’re going to run into it, whatever you do, and if you don’t get over yourself, your time in Cairo might just end in disaster.
…..
Smoking is common in Egypt.
From the early morning shisha of old men all the way down to getting high off of hash with your Egyptian roommates, taking puffs of fire is one of the country’s main pastimes.
But there’s something special about cigarettes.
Egyptians (almost always men) are smoking them like there’s no tomorrow, and the easy accessibility of cigarettes (go check out your local koshk) spreads the habit like wildfire.
Smoking is so ingrained in daily Cairo life that to hate it will cause you endless frustration.
And that’s a problem.
There are certain conditions we won’t argue against.
We know cigarette smoke isn’t the best if you have asthma, and we’re not about to get all “fake news” on you and claim that inhaling smoke might actually be healthy.
Without a doubt, smoking (and sometimes just being around people that are) is one of the worst things you can do for your body.
Doing it enough can, and almost inevitably will, kill you.
We won’t say any different.
What we will say, however, is to not be a douche bag about it if you’re a non-smoker yourself.
To complain about something you can’t change (smoking in Cairo) is insanity.
It will also alienate people that do smoke, make you look like a bit of a jerk, and at the end of the day, kill a ton of chances to speak the language.
You might not like smoking, and that’s perfectly OK.
Just don’t be so insistent on letting everybody know it.
Whether that means taking a chill pill, or even taking a few drags yourself.
I had smoked about five cigarettes in my entire life before moving to Egypt.
I eclipsed that within the first month.
Sure, I’m probably a couple minutes closer to the grave now than I otherwise would have been.
But I also guarantee that my lax attitude was quite beneficial to my Arabic. I didn’t insist on leaving the room when somebody lit up, I didn’t stop a conversation short when my roommate pulled out his pack, and I sure as hell didn’t let a few cigarettes get in the way of making Egyptian friends.
Priorities, man.
…..
Cultural acceptance. That’s what we think it really comes down to.
Smoking is everywhere in Egypt, but unless you have some allergic reaction to the sight of cigarettes, just let it go.
We don’t recommend picking up the habit in the slightest…..but a monthly cigarette conversation with your Arabic teacher might just take you to a whole new level of fluency.
