Chantix
The Hazards Of Cigar Smoking – Are They Better Than Cigarettes?
By Brian Welsch
As anybody around and they’ll tell you that smoking anything is a bad idea. They’ll explain how it’s not healthy and that it can cause cancer and a whole host of other serious health problems. But many people don’t stop to ask which is healthier, a cigar or a cigarette, because they don’t think there’s much of a difference. In some aspects though there are differences between cigars and cigarettes.
Cigars, for instance, are larger than cigarettes so they usually last longer. Cigarettes can be smoked within minutes but cigars take longer to finish. They even have different blends of tobacco – cigars are usually smoked for their taste while cigarettes are smoked because of the nicotine buzz they give the smoker. Cigars also lack the filters that regular cigarettes contain.
Cigar smoking has its hazards, just like smoking cigarettes. However, cigar smoking hazards are rarer than cigarette smoking hazards because cigars are smoked differently than cigarettes. But that doesn’t mean there are no cigar smoking hazards at all – you can still end up with lung cancer, for instance. You can get esophageal cancer, bladder cancer or oral cancer.
Some people who smoke cigars end up with heart disease or erectile dysfunction. Even pancreatic cancer is listed as a cigar smoking hazard! So you can end up with the same kinds of cancers no matter what you smoke; smoking cigars has hazards too!
Smoking cigars is healthier than smoking cigarettes for several reasons. First, people who smoke cigars rarely inhale the cigar smoke. Because of this, the smoke from cigars never really reaches a person’s lungs. Smokers, though, inhale and often go through many cigarettes a day.
It’s also healthier because while a cigar does contain nicotine, if you do not inhale the smoke, you won’t become addicted. Plus, cigars are not wrapped in paper. They are making “organic cigars” where the binder and filler paper do not allow the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. That means there are no extra chemicals going into the smoker’s mouth. Cigarettes, however, use machine made paper that contains both additives and even preservatives.
When it comes down to it, smoking is not really “healthy” – but there are healthier options available. While smoking a cigar is hazardous, smoking a cigarette is more likely to be hazardous to your health.
