Here’s What You Need To Know Before Trying To Chew Fire Paan

Chewing paan is not a popular habit in the United States. However it’s more popular throughout India and Southeast Asia.

It involves different preparations of betel leaf, sometimes with berries, other times with spices.

It is usually used as a stimulant and as relief for things like headaches and coughs. They work by chewing on and often swallowing the leaves and their fillings.

However there is a new paan ingredient that has captured the Internet’s attention and creativity: flames.

What Is Fire Paan? 

It was allegedly invented last winter at a paan shop called Galaxy Paan and its creator claims it took 45 days to figure out.

The dish involves, as one might expect, a clove-stuffed betel leaf lit on fire. It was easy for it to go viral. It did not take long for videos showing paan makers shoving tiny fireballs into people’s mouths to start circulating.

There have been no serious injuries yet but one person who has sampled it warned anyone who might want to try it to avoid moving as you eat the flame, or else there will be burns.