Everyone knows by now how risky it is
to smoke cigarettes, but few know what effect smoking a cigar has. Is
cigar smoking less or more dangerous than cigarettes are? Smoking
cigars on a regular basis is dangerous for your health. Studies have
shown that cigar smoking can cause cancers of the lungs, oral cavity,
larynx and esophagus. More recent studies seem to indicate that
pancreas cancer is also caused in some instances by cigar smoking.
Heart and lung diseases have an increased risk of happening when you
enjoy cigars by inhaling the smoke.
If you smoke
cigars on a regular basis and you usually take in the smoke, your risks
of having health problems increase a lot. Smoking just a few cigars
each day will increase your risk of getting oral cancer by eight times,
compared to a nonsmoker. If cigars are smoked just on special occasions
however, we still don't know if there are any significant risks. But,
the effects of regular smoking are well documented and known by
everyone.
Another thing that people wonder about is
how addictive are cigars when compared with cigarettes. A lot of people
are curious why people that smoke cigars are less likely to get
addicted than those that smoke cigarettes. Since all tobacco products
have nicotine in them, they can all produce addiction. You can use
chewing tobacco for example, and you can get addicted just as easily as
you would with cigarettes, since it contains nicotine. In the case of
cigars, the truth is that a lot of its users aren't used to take the
smoke deeply in, so they are less likely to get addicted to them. In
the case of cigarettes, the effect is opposite, with smokers inhaling
the smoke, which makes it absorb faster. But, even if you inhale cigars
superficially, there is still a good chance that they will become
addicted.
You might be wondering why cigar smokers
don't do it more often if it's so addictive. First of all, people take
in the nicotine superficially when they smoke cigars, which cause a
smaller absorption of the nicotine in the body. Second, you can't find
cigars as easily as you find cigarettes. In most cases they are
considered luxury items, taken out and smoked during special occasions.
But, if people smoke cigars regularly, they will surely become
addicted. It doesn't matter in which form the tobacco is smoked. As
long as there is nicotine in it, it's addictive. Smoking causes serious
health problems in the long term.
