The hospitality of Myanmar is seldom complete without kun-hsay-laphet (betel, tobacco and tea) when it comes to entertaining guests at home. Traditional culture and custom require that guests be offered these three items regardless of whatever other food or delicacies may have been pre offered. Kun or betel takes priced of place among these three "musts" and to this day a betel box is places before guests in many homes. The habit of chewing betel is ingrained in many Myanmar however diverse their ethnic background may be. Betel is chewed and the resulting red juice expectorated along with the remaining pulpy mass. Betel is the fresh leaf of a vine belonging to the botanical family piperaceae and is cultivated in India, Myanmar, the Malaysian Peninsular, Indo-China and Indonesia. A quid is the triangular-shaped, leaf-wrapped form containing the required ingredients ready for consumption. It is prepared by thinly smearing a fresh betel leaf with slaked lime, adding thin slices of betel nut and some cutch, then folding the leaf so that the ingredients are wrapped and enclosed. For a tastier and more elaborate chew, condiments like cinnamon, cardamom, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, camphor, clovers, licorice and dried coconut may be added in small quantities. Such delicious concoctions are indeed fit for the connoisseur. It is apparent that the habit already existed in Myanmar before the Bagan period. In 1147 Queen Saw inscribed a stone tablet to the Kunmi Pagoda, decreeing that paddy she donated be used as payment for betel nuts for monks in a monastery. Other inscriptions also provide concrete evidence that both clergy and laity consumed betel in this period. During the monarchy it played an important role in administration matters, especially in connection with court rulings. Litigants gathered to consume betel together to show their satisfaction with the ruling and absence of animosity. Rank, status and office of individuals could be distinguished by the right and privilege of using betel and related paraphernalia. It is widely claimed that betel chewing sweetens the breath and this is undeniable true, but dental health can be adversely affected.