An Indian firm has launched a paan-flavoured condom designed to evoke the pungent taste of the betel nut and tobacco concoction chewed and then spat out by millions of South Asians, newspapers reported on Tuesday. Hindustan Latex Ltd. is targeting the new condom range at prostitutes, who are among the most vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, the Hindustan Times reported. The company ran taste tests with sex workers, including prototypes with chocolate, banana and strawberry flavours, but the paan flavour came out tops. “The community loved it as most of the sex workers chew paan,” Sanjeev Gaikwad was quoted as saying at the launch in Mumbai.
| If you've never been to Southeast Asia, betel nut stains the lips, teeth, tongue, and front of the shirt bright red. It's mildly narcotic. The teeth eventually lose the red color and turn black. I always found betel chewers rather disgusting, but maybe that was just me. I never developed a taste for fermented duck eggs, either. |
Gaikwad is a director at Family Health International, a public health organisation that helped develop the condom. Paan is a mildly intoxicating preparation wrapped in a leaf, usually containing tobacco, betel nut and flavourings, and is hugely popular across South Asia. It is chewed to a mouth-staining red pulp before being spat out. The condoms will at first be made available only to prostitutes, but will we launched to the general public in a few months, the newspaper said. |