Overview
What is Kuber?
Kuber is a smokeless tobacco product originating in India, typically sold in small foil sachets. The contents resemble tea leaves and the packaging often presents it as a mouth freshener, which conceals its true nature. It contains approximately 25% nicotine by weight, far higher than a cigarette, along with 28 documented cancer-causing agents.
NACADA first raised the alarm about kuber in Kenya in 2019 and attempted to have it banned. Despite this, it remains widely available and has reached significant prevalence particularly among young people and students.
A 2025 NACADA survey of over 15,000 university students found kuber at 23% prevalence, making it the most commonly used tobacco product in that demographic, ahead of cigarettes.
What it does to the brain and body
How does it work?
Why people use it
What draws people to it?
Its packaging as a mouth freshener normalises its use and makes it easy to conceal. Students can use it in classrooms, libraries, or during exams.
The small sachets are extremely affordable, often cheaper than a single cigarette.
Many users, particularly young people, do not know they are using a tobacco product or understand the health risks. The pleasant flavour and discrete format encourage experimentation.
Short-term effects
What happens when someone uses it?
These effects can occur even with first-time or occasional use.
- Rapid nicotine hit: alertness, mild euphoria, and stress relief
- Burning or tingling sensation in the mouth
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Nausea in new users
- Mouth sores with regular use
Long-term effects
What happens with regular or prolonged use?
- Oral cancers: mouth, gum, throat, and oesophageal cancer
- Leukoplakia (white patches in the mouth that can become cancerous)
- Severe gum disease and tooth loss
- Nicotine dependence at a higher level than most other tobacco products
- Cardiovascular disease
Recognising a problem
Signs that use may have become a problem
These signs apply to the person using the substance and can also help family members or friends recognise when help is needed.
- Using kuber multiple times a day
- Using it in situations where smoking would not be possible (examinations, lectures)
- Mouth sores or white patches that do not heal
- Irritability or difficulty concentrating without it
- Concealing use from others
Addiction and dependence
How addictive is it?
The extremely high nicotine content of kuber makes it one of the most addictive tobacco products available. Users can develop significant nicotine dependence after a very short period of regular use.
The oral absorption route delivers a sustained nicotine level throughout the day, creating a constant level of dependence rather than the pulsed dependence of smoking.
Overdose and acute danger
When does it become immediately dangerous?
- Nicotine poisoning from kuber can occur, particularly in young or inexperienced users
- Symptoms: severe nausea, vomiting, dizziness, rapid pulse, and in serious cases, seizures
- If a child ingests kuber, seek emergency care immediately
Withdrawal
What happens when someone tries to stop?
Who is most affected
Groups particularly at risk in Kenya
University students are the primary affected group, with 23% prevalence in the 2025 NACADA survey. The product is actively marketed to this demographic.
Young people in secondary schools are also affected. The small, concealable sachets make it easy to use on school premises without detection.
In Kenya
What the data says about Kenya
NACADA identified kuber as an emerging threat in 2019 and attempted a product ban. Despite this, enforcement has been insufficient and kuber is now one of the most common tobacco products among university students.
The 2025 NACADA university survey found 23% of students used kuber, compared to lower rates for conventional cigarettes. This makes it the highest-prevalence substance in this specific demographic.
Kenya's Tobacco Control Act prohibits tobacco products that appeal to youth, but kuber's disguise as a mouth freshener has made regulatory action difficult. Enhanced enforcement at point of sale is an urgent need.
Across East and Central Africa
How is it used in the wider region?
| Country | Local name(s) | Context and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Uganda | Kuber, Smokeless tobacco | Uganda explicitly banned kuber by government order after WHO classified it as an emerging new tobacco product targeting youth. |
| Tanzania | Kuber, Tumbaku ya kusaga | Present and growing. Regulated as a tobacco product but enforcement of restrictions on youth-targeted marketing is limited. |
| India | Kuber, Gutka, Pan masala | Origin country. Most Indian states have banned kuber but production continues and exports to Africa remain significant. |
Getting help
Where to turn in Kenya
NACADA Helpline
Free, confidential counselling and referral to treatment centres near you. Available 24 hours a day.
Mathari National Hospital
Kenya's main national psychiatric and substance use treatment facility in Nairobi. Inpatient and outpatient services.
County referral hospitals
Every county in Kenya has a mental health and substance use service. Ask at your nearest hospital or health centre.
Tobacco cessation support
Available through Ministry of Health facilities. Ask your nearest health centre about nicotine replacement therapy and quit support programmes.
Sources
References
- National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA). (2025). Status of Drugs and Substance Use among University Students in Kenya 2024. Nairobi: NACADA.
- World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. (2025). World No Tobacco Day 2025: Unmasking the appeal, protecting Uganda's youth. Brazzaville: WHO AFRO.
- International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2007). Smokeless Tobacco and Some Tobacco-Specific N-Nitrosamines. IARC Monographs Volume 89. Lyon: WHO IARC.
- Robertson, L., et al. (2023). Capacity of enforcers and level of enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act 2015 in Kampala, Uganda. (PMC10516420).
- NACADA. (2019). Trends and Patterns of Emerging Drugs in Kenya. Nairobi: NACADA.
- World Health Organization. (2023). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2023. Geneva: WHO.