• Hi Guest - Sign up now for Secret Santa 2024!
    Click here to sign up!
  • Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

are cigars better for you than cigarettes

O

[OT] ykm loki

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2006
Messages
136
Are cigars better for you (or at least less harmful) than cigarettes? I've seen several posts where long time cigar smokers say that they have become sick when someone starts smoking a cigarette around them. Is this because our sticks don't have additives in them or what is the deal here?


Sorry if this has be beaten to death but I'm a newbie to cigars and I'm just wondering what the deal is with this.

forgot to add email notifcation to my first post
 
I was a long time 2 pack a day Marlboro reds smoker (about 20 years...man time flies). I took up cigars not too long ago, maybe 8 months.....but only on a part time basis....one here ...one there yanno? When I started to really appreciate the nuances of cigar smoking...the relaxation, the in-your-own-mind-review as you smoked a certain stick, I noticed that cigarette smoking really REALLY cut way down. I finally can claim taht I quit the cigarettes totally about a month ago....granted I upped my cigar smoking to supplement the nicotine loss, but even that has come down to just one or two/day sometimes even skipping days.

Another thing that I noticed is that smoking cigarettes was more or less just a "thing to do" at work when you had the extra time. Sometimes I wouldn't even really want one, but found myself lighting up just because. I am glad that is over. I notice that my lungs don't hurt in the morning when I wake up, I just feel BETTER, I don't inhale my cigars.

Some may say that cigar smoking is just as bad/worse than cigarettes. I think that it is totally based upon the smoker. Sure if you start lighting up a gar as often as a cigarette smoker lights up, you're gonna have problems in the long run. But if you treat them as something to be enjoyed....not lighting up because you NEED nicotine every every 20-30 minutes..... I don't think that you're going to have too many problems.

I am so glad that I found this hobby....it provides me with the means to ease the craving by a much more enjoyable method.

Sorry for being so long winded.
 
Well put, bombtek. I still smoke cigaretts occasionally when I drink, but I've cut down drastically. I explained to my dad that cigar smokers should not be put in the same catagory as cigarette smokers. The next time you get a chance, check out the smoking areas at your work place. Generally speaking, people who smoke cigarettes do so out of habit...they seem rushed and in a hurry to puff the thing down. Cigar smokers seem to be more relaxed. Coincidence? I think not. Besides, has anyone started a CigarettePass lately?
 
Based on what I have read and found out on my own, is that one cigar generally has a lot more nicotine compared to one cigarette. I guess the trade-off is that most don't inhale the cigar (that has more nicotine) and most inhale the cigarette (with less nicotine). But at the same time, the high-nicotine cigar smoke is coming in contact with your mouth as well so...

I would say cigars are less harmful than cigarettes because most don't smoke as many cigars in one day as a cigarette smoker would. How many cigarettes are in one pack? I have no idea but my guess would be 20-30? I don't know anyone who smokes that many cigars every single day. If you did, you would probably have problems in the longrun as Bombtek said.

edited for redundancy and grammar.
 
I was thinking along the lines of the toxins in the cigs that make them smell worse than our sticks and also leads to cancer
 
That's another good point...don't cigarettes have all kinds of added, un-natural chemicals and toxins in them?
 
Denial is such an effective defense mechanism. Tobacco ain't good for you. It's a vasoconstrictor, it inhibits healing and causes cancer, it raises your blood pressure. But then so do a lot of other things. You pick and choose your vices, but to deny their ill effects is just plain stupid. As my MD says anything is ok as long as it's in moderation. A cigar or two a day isn't going to kill you or is it? You just don't know. Life is too damn short to worry about it.

Doc.
 
Devil Doc said:
Denial is such an effective defense mechanism. Tobacco ain't good for you. It's a vasoconstrictor, it inhibits healing and causes cancer, it raises your blood pressure. But then so do a lot of other things. You pick and choose your vices, but to deny their ill effects is just plain stupid. As my MD says anything is ok as long as it's in moderation. A cigar or two a day isn't going to kill you or is it? You just don't know. Life is too damn short to worry about it.

Doc.
Click to expand...
I'm not trying to say that cigars have no ill effects. I'm only trying to determine if one is slightly less bad than the other
 
Devil Doc said:
Life is too damn short to worry about it.

Doc.
Click to expand...

Nicely stated Doc!

ykm loki' date='May 26 2006, 06:53 PM' post='325944']
I'm not trying to say that cigars have no ill effects. I'm only trying to determine if one is slightly less bad than the other
Click to expand...

I would confidently say cigars are "slightly less bad" than cigarettes, however as Doc said tobacco is unhealthy and if abused will get you in the long-run.

Nick
 
Generally, things that produce smoke aren't healthy. Even barbequed and smoked foods have a great potential to cause cancer. The sheer size and strength of cigar tobacco is enough to match a cigarette in un-healthiness, but -- entirely a guess -- like it's been said, one doesn't often inhale cigars. That has to mean something. I hope, at least.
 
:laugh: Doc dammit, don't try and break down my wall of denial. I've spent a lot of time constructing it and its a good wall...I like it...leave it alone LOL
 
I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.

For example...

Arturo Fuente, 85 years old.

Stanford Newman, currently 89 years old.

George Burns, 100 years old, 1896-1996, smoked 10-15 cigars a day. ("If I'd taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.")

Milton Berle, 94 years old, 1908-2002.

Winston Churchill, 90 years old, 1874-1965.

Zino Davidoff, 87 years old, 1906-1993.

Groucho Marx, 86 years old, 1890-1977.

Red Auerbach, currently 87 years old.

Alejandro Robaina, currently 85 years old.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

J.P. Morgan, 76 years old, 1837-1913, more than a dozen cigars a day.

Sigmund Freud, 83 years old, 1856-1939, averaged 20 cigars a day.

Alan "Ace" Greenberg, currently 77 years old.

Henry Clay, 75 years old, 1777-1852. (WOW, I wonder what the life expectancy was back then)

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

Avo Uvezian, currently 78 years old.

Jose Padron, currently 78 years old, smokes 14 cigars a day.

Fidel Castro, currently 78 years old.

Compay Segundo, died at 95 and said he smoked cigars since he was a child, lighting his grandmothers puros for her.

Albert Levin, previous owner of Holt's Cigar Company, died at 92.

Dr. Ernst Schneider, President and Chairman of the Board at Oettinger Davidoff Group, currently 84. (smokes 3-4 cigars a day)

Angel Oliva, Oliva Tobacco Co, died at 89.

Many of these men lived 10,15,20 years past the statistic average of their time.

Personally, I think that stress and anxiety is the number one cause of disease and cigars definitely make me more relaxed and carefree.

Here are two good articles for leisure reading...

http://www.ourhouseblog.com/?p=214

http://www2.cigarweekly.com/magazine/lifes...eral_200601.php
 
jabba said:
I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.

For example...

Arturo Fuente, 85 years old.

Stanford Newman, currently 89 years old.

George Burns, 100 years old, 1896-1996, smoked 10-15 cigars a day. ("If I'd taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.")

Milton Berle, 94 years old, 1908-2002.

Winston Churchill, 90 years old, 1874-1965.

Zino Davidoff, 87 years old, 1906-1993.

Groucho Marx, 86 years old, 1890-1977.

Red Auerbach, currently 87 years old.

Alejandro Robaina, currently 85 years old.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

J.P. Morgan, 76 years old, 1837-1913, more than a dozen cigars a day.

Sigmund Freud, 83 years old, 1856-1939, averaged 20 cigars a day.

Alan "Ace" Greenberg, currently 77 years old.

Henry Clay, 75 years old, 1777-1852. (WOW, I wonder what the life expectancy was back then)

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

Avo Uvezian, currently 78 years old.

Jose Padron, currently 78 years old, smokes 14 cigars a day.

Fidel Castro, currently 78 years old.

Compay Segundo, died at 95 and said he smoked cigars since he was a child, lighting his grandmothers puros for her.

Albert Levin, previous owner of Holt's Cigar Company, died at 92.

Dr. Ernst Schneider, President and Chairman of the Board at Oettinger Davidoff Group, currently 84. (smokes 3-4 cigars a day)

Angel Oliva, Oliva Tobacco Co, died at 89.

Many of these men lived 10,15,20 years past the statistic average of their time.

Personally, I think that stress and anxiety is the number one cause of disease and cigars definitely make me more relaxed and carefree.

Here are two good articles for leisure reading...

http://www.ourhouseblog.com/?p=214

http://www2.cigarweekly.com/magazine/lifes...eral_200601.php
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that these people also enjoy top of the line medical care. And if you are trying to suggest, even tongue-in-cheek, that cigar smoking allows you to live a long life, you are sorely mistaken. As Doc said, know your vices and accept the consequences. Don't go trying to validate yourself via self-serving statistics (ie. there are at least 10 or 100 heavy cigar smokers that lived significantly shorter lives for every one on your list).

Bottom line is, don't delude yourself. Cigar smoking is scientifically proven to increase cancer risk, however, a lot of things do, if you want to live the longest, healthiest life possible, then cigar smoking is not for you. But, if you enjoy smoking cigars, and can stomach the consequences, then go ahead, JS Mill built a self-harm principle into Western liberal thought for that very reason (well not cigars exactly, but other narcotics).
 
ThankYouForNotSmoking said:
jabba said:
I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.

For example...

Arturo Fuente, 85 years old.

Stanford Newman, currently 89 years old.

George Burns, 100 years old, 1896-1996, smoked 10-15 cigars a day. ("If I'd taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.")

Milton Berle, 94 years old, 1908-2002.

Winston Churchill, 90 years old, 1874-1965.

Zino Davidoff, 87 years old, 1906-1993.

Groucho Marx, 86 years old, 1890-1977.

Red Auerbach, currently 87 years old.

Alejandro Robaina, currently 85 years old.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

J.P. Morgan, 76 years old, 1837-1913, more than a dozen cigars a day.

Sigmund Freud, 83 years old, 1856-1939, averaged 20 cigars a day.

Alan "Ace" Greenberg, currently 77 years old.

Henry Clay, 75 years old, 1777-1852. (WOW, I wonder what the life expectancy was back then)

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

Avo Uvezian, currently 78 years old.

Jose Padron, currently 78 years old, smokes 14 cigars a day.

Fidel Castro, currently 78 years old.

Compay Segundo, died at 95 and said he smoked cigars since he was a child, lighting his grandmothers puros for her.

Albert Levin, previous owner of Holt's Cigar Company, died at 92.

Dr. Ernst Schneider, President and Chairman of the Board at Oettinger Davidoff Group, currently 84. (smokes 3-4 cigars a day)

Angel Oliva, Oliva Tobacco Co, died at 89.

Many of these men lived 10,15,20 years past the statistic average of their time.

Personally, I think that stress and anxiety is the number one cause of disease and cigars definitely make me more relaxed and carefree.

Here are two good articles for leisure reading...

http://www.ourhouseblog.com/?p=214

http://www2.cigarweekly.com/magazine/lifes...eral_200601.php
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that these people also enjoy top of the line medical care. And if you are trying to suggest, even tongue-in-cheek, that cigar smoking allows you to live a long life, you are sorely mistaken. As Doc said, know your vices and accept the consequences. Don't go trying to validate yourself via self-serving statistics (ie. there are at least 10 or 100 heavy cigar smokers that lived significantly shorter lives for every one on your list).

Bottom line is, don't delude yourself. Cigar smoking is scientifically proven to increase cancer risk, however, a lot of things do, if you want to live the longest, healthiest life possible, then cigar smoking is not for you. But, if you enjoy smoking cigars, and can stomach the consequences, then go ahead, JS Mill built a self-harm principle into Western liberal thought for that very reason (well not cigars exactly, but other narcotics).
Click to expand...


Maybe you have a problem reading...

I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.
Click to expand...

How was I trying to validate myself? Did you not read...

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.
Click to expand...

Did I write anywhere that smoking cigars extends life?

I think you'll find that these people also enjoy top of the line medical care.
Click to expand...

So top of the line medical care balances out the negative affects of tobacco?

In the future, you may want to read the posts a few times before you get on your high horse.
 
I smoked cigarettes for many yrs (15 to be exact)... Marlboro Medium, I still catch myself asking for a pack every now and then when I am in a store, simply out of habit.

Cigarette "tobacco" is processed, many other "food additives" are added to cigarette tobacco. All of these additives have been cleared by the FDA as safe for consumption by humans. The problem is that they have not been tested for human consumption as they are burning, which changes the chemical compounds. One of the "additives" that would be common to most people is the one they use to keep a cigarette burning. Notice that when someone puts a cigarette in an ashtray it will continue to burn until it reaches the filter. What happens when you put your cigar down for a while.... it needs to be re-lit.

I have never heard that cigar tobacco was processed in any way, but here is a list of the 599 additives approved by the government...... 599 Additives
 
jabba said:
ThankYouForNotSmoking said:
jabba said:
I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.

For example...

Arturo Fuente, 85 years old.

Stanford Newman, currently 89 years old.

George Burns, 100 years old, 1896-1996, smoked 10-15 cigars a day. ("If I'd taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.")

Milton Berle, 94 years old, 1908-2002.

Winston Churchill, 90 years old, 1874-1965.

Zino Davidoff, 87 years old, 1906-1993.

Groucho Marx, 86 years old, 1890-1977.

Red Auerbach, currently 87 years old.

Alejandro Robaina, currently 85 years old.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

J.P. Morgan, 76 years old, 1837-1913, more than a dozen cigars a day.

Sigmund Freud, 83 years old, 1856-1939, averaged 20 cigars a day.

Alan "Ace" Greenberg, currently 77 years old.

Henry Clay, 75 years old, 1777-1852. (WOW, I wonder what the life expectancy was back then)

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 75 years old, 1835-1910, 22-40 cigars a day.

Avo Uvezian, currently 78 years old.

Jose Padron, currently 78 years old, smokes 14 cigars a day.

Fidel Castro, currently 78 years old.

Compay Segundo, died at 95 and said he smoked cigars since he was a child, lighting his grandmothers puros for her.

Albert Levin, previous owner of Holt's Cigar Company, died at 92.

Dr. Ernst Schneider, President and Chairman of the Board at Oettinger Davidoff Group, currently 84. (smokes 3-4 cigars a day)

Angel Oliva, Oliva Tobacco Co, died at 89.

Many of these men lived 10,15,20 years past the statistic average of their time.

Personally, I think that stress and anxiety is the number one cause of disease and cigars definitely make me more relaxed and carefree.

Here are two good articles for leisure reading...

http://www.ourhouseblog.com/?p=214

http://www2.cigarweekly.com/magazine/lifes...eral_200601.php
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that these people also enjoy top of the line medical care. And if you are trying to suggest, even tongue-in-cheek, that cigar smoking allows you to live a long life, you are sorely mistaken. As Doc said, know your vices and accept the consequences. Don't go trying to validate yourself via self-serving statistics (ie. there are at least 10 or 100 heavy cigar smokers that lived significantly shorter lives for every one on your list).

Bottom line is, don't delude yourself. Cigar smoking is scientifically proven to increase cancer risk, however, a lot of things do, if you want to live the longest, healthiest life possible, then cigar smoking is not for you. But, if you enjoy smoking cigars, and can stomach the consequences, then go ahead, JS Mill built a self-harm principle into Western liberal thought for that very reason (well not cigars exactly, but other narcotics).
Click to expand...


Maybe you have a problem reading...

I agree with Doc. Any tobacco isn't good for you but when done in moderation the long-term effects aren't as bad.
Click to expand...

How was I trying to validate myself? Did you not read...

What I found strange is that a lot of heavy cigar smokers live very long lives... many years more than the national average.
Click to expand...

Did I write anywhere that smoking cigars extends life?

I think you'll find that these people also enjoy top of the line medical care.
Click to expand...

So top of the line medical care balances out the negative affects of tobacco?

In the future, you may want to read the posts a few times before you get on your high horse.
Click to expand...

The general feeling I got from your post was that smoking cigars isn't that bad for you - but, you realize, it is. Anyways, you also have to realize that my horse is so high, it takes a while to get down from...besides, I like the view from up here ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top