Interesting, reminds me of my childhood : D I googled it and look what I found:
Paan, is an Indian/Pakistani and Southeast Asian tradition of chewing betel leaf (Piper betle) with areca nut and slaked lime paste, with are many regional and local variations.
"Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf is a tradition, custom or ritual which dates back thousands of years from India to the Pacific. Ibn Battuta describes this practice as follows: "The betel is a tree which is cultivated in the same manner as the grape-vine; … The betel has no fruit and is grown only for the sake of its leaves … The manner of its use is that before eating it one takes areca nut; this is like a nutmeg but is broken up until it is reduced to small pellets, and one places these in his mouth and chews them. Then he takes the leaves of betel, puts a little chalk on them, and masticates them along with the betel.
It constitutes an important and popular cultural activity in many Asian and Oceanic countries, including Myanmar, Cambodia, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam. It is not known how and when the areca nut and the betel leaf were married together as one drug. Archaeological evidence from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines suggests they have been used in tandem for four thousand years or more"
Types of paan depends on the variety of this leave as well as the popular one in Pakistan there is Meetha Paan, Sada Paan and the tobacco one but I dun how are they made, But I remember, we used to eat Paans in childhood when we visited Karachi, I guess it's like a tradition there, especially in memon community. but now I don't eat it, I dun like it : P
And it is dangerous for health : O
http://doctor.ndtv.com/storypage/ndtv/id/2484/type//%E2%80%9CPaan%E2%80%9D_chewing_can_cause_throat_cancer.html
Sources:
http://www.theoriginof.com/paan.html
http://www.epistola.com/sfowler/scholar/scholar-betel.html
Wikipedia
