Cigar Smoking Risks.
The risks of cigarette smoking are very well published. Warnings are everywhere, on the cigarettes, billboards, signs, you cannot go anywhere without someone or something telling you about the harms of cigarette smoking. Unfortunately, the harm in cigar smoking is rarely talked about or even mentioned. The risks associated with cigar smoking are actually more dangerous than cigarette smoking. Results published by the National Cancer Institute has shown that regularly smoking cigars poses just as great of a health risk as cigarette smoking and in some cases a larger one. Cigar smoking can cause the same types of cancer as cigarette smoking such as larynx, lungs, esophagus, and oral cancers. There has been some inconclusive evidence that cigar smoking may lead to pancreas cancer. Also, even though inhaling while cigar smoking is rare however, if you do your chances are greater of developing heart and lung disease.
Also, the health risks seem to increase for people who smoke cigars regularly and inhale while smoking them, compared to others that only smoke them occasionally. For example, a person smoking three to four cigars a day will increase their risk of cancers or other diseases by eight times compared to a nonsmoker. There is not definitive evidence of what the health risks are of someone smoking the occasional cigar. What is clear is that smoking cigars regularly or daily does pose a definite health risk, same as it would if you were to smoke cigarettes daily.
There has also been speculation about whether cigars are as addictive as cigarettes. The idea that people only become addicted to cigarettes and not cigars is actually not true. Any tobacco product is addictive and can cause harm to your health. Tobacco of any kind contains nicotine which is the main reason that the addiction develops in the first place. Just as chewing tobacco is addictive because of the nicotine that is contained in the chew, so are cigars. Cigar smokers do not inhale typically and the nicotine is really only inhaled superficially, however any cigar smoker is still taking in the nicotine and it does have addicting effects.
Furthermore, many times people wonder why if nicotine is so addictive why cigar smokers not smoke more often. Partially because the addiction is less with cigars because cigar smoke is typically not inhaled, which means less smoke is going into the lungs and being absorbed into the body. Secondly, cigars are much larger and take longer to smoke. One cigar is equal to approximately 10 cigarettes, so only one cigar is needed to get the nicotine the body wants.
Smoking anything with nicotine is not good for you. Knowing the risks are the same when you smoke cigars as it is when you smoke cigarettes at least gives you an informed decision. Always remembering that there is a risk to smoking cigars or cigarettes in mind will at least keep you informed and remind you that maybe lessening how much you smoke might be a good idea. Cigars are a relaxing treat to have occasionally and should be kept that way, never smoking too many in a day will begin causing the same serious health risks as smoking any other tobacco product.
Darren Williger is a guitar playing, tea drinking, meditating, low carbohydrate eating, wine making sales maker who writes for CigarMaven.com, SmokersWebsite.com, and SavoryTea.com.
