Smokin'

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do to have a good smoke! Manitobans are creative thinkers! They also bring new meanings to the expression, 'Holy Smokes"

Manitoba jail bans tea

WINNIPEG (CP) - A Manitoba jail has stopped serving tea because some inmates were using tea bags to make cigarettes.

Smoking has been banned at the Headingley Correctional Centre near Winnipeg since November 2003, but that hasn't stopped some inmates from finding creative ways to get their fix. All they need is a dried-out tea bag and some nicotine chewing gum.

"The gum is boiled and there's a nicotine residue that's removed and dried and then sprinkled on the redried tea bag leaves, and then rolled," jail superintendent Cathy Sandney said Monday.

Jail officials were surprised inmates would go through the painstaking process to get a smoke, Sandney said, because it can take up to two days to make one cigarette.

The jail stopped serving tea last week, but is looking at offering instant tea - which has no bags.

The inmates' creativity already caused a stir earlier this year when officials discovered some were using the thin pages of Bibles to roll homemade cigarettes.

That prompted the jail to stop making the book widely available in living quarters. Inmates wanting a Bible must now ask for it from chaplains, who assess whether the Scripture will be read or burned.