The Logistics of Settling In 177hotels are now advertising non-
smoking rooms. Most cruise
boats prohibit smoking in the
cabins. Other than that, the
only non-smoking zones are the
Metro, some museum areas, the
occasional elevator (not all) and
a few other special sites.
Smoking etiquette requires
anyone who is smoking in
a meeting or group to offer
everyone else in the group a cigarette. Foreign cigarettes are
particularly preferred, so be prepared. If you do not smoke,
do not feel compelled to accept a cigarette when offered.
Egyptians do not mind if you don’t smoke; however, they
expect to be able to smoke in your presence in any event.
Expect your guests to smoke, whether in a business meeting
or when visiting your home. Your personal preference for
non-smoking may not count.
Smoking is a man’s prerogative in Egypt. Egyptian women
who smoke rarely do so in public. Other than cigarette
smoking, which is done everywhere, the preferred method
is the water pipe. Water pipes are smoked in restaurants,
at home, and in the myriad of small street cafés where
men congregate, drinking coffee or tea while playing table
games. Water pipes are called shisha pipes in Egypt, a word
derived from the Arabic term meaning ‘hashish’. The tobacco
smoked in these pipes is not hashish. It is a gummy mixture
of molasses and tobacco, sometimes with a flavour, such as
apple, added.
Noise
Many people find the high noise level in Egypt to be quite
bothersome. To me, Cairo seems to be much quieter than
it used to be. I remember seeing a video once where the
person was asking for a ‘quiet room’ at an Egyptian hotel.
Laugh and forget it! If you are looking for silence and solitude,
I recommend going to the desert alone or another country,
although suburbs are much quieter than central Cairo. The
A Favourite Pastime
Unless there are overriding
reasons for not smoking in a
particular place, for example
sensitive equipment that might
malfunction with too much
smoke (such as computers) or
explosive chemicals, people
smoke. The best efforts of
health ofÄ cials are making only a
minimal impact toward stopping
or limiting one of the favourite
Egyptian pastimes.