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Nicotine and Addiction

P

pj_rage

Novice Cigar Smoker
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
63
This is probably a stupid question, but why are cigarettes addictive and cigars aren't. Or are cigars? I know plenty of people smoke alot of cigars (most of you :whistling: :laugh: ) but do people really get "addicted" in the same sense that they do with cigarettes. I mean, I don't really know of anyone trying to quit cigars and just can't do it.

But, they both have nicotine, right? So what gives?

I'm not up on my cigar/cigarette chemistry and composition, but I had thought that nicotine was added to cigarettes on purpose to make them addictive? But if cigars have it too, then I guess it is a naturally occuring chemical in tobacco?

Does it have something to do with the fact that you don't (or at least I don't) inhale cigars? If you were to inhale them, would you become addicted in the same sense as cigarettes?

Does anyone know what I'm getting at or am I asking the wrong question(s)?
 
This is an interesting topic. What causes addiction to cigarettes? I would beleive it is nicotine. Cigars contain nicotine, so why would you not have an addiction to cigars? I think I am addicted to cigars. I can go a day or two without smoking but that craving is there. Although that craving is far different then it was when I was a cigarette somker. I don't know why there is a difference between them, but there is. Who knows what really goes into a cigarette anyway. I know I don't trust anything that comes out of a cigarette manufacturer regarding their products. I will be interested to see what others have to say on this topic.
 
The difference is the inhale.


the lungs are the absolute "best" way to induce drugs into your system. Most cigar smokers get nicotine only through the saliva we anadvertantly swallow and secondarily through the beverages we consume with the cigar. the stomach is a very inefficient way to get the nicotine into your bloostream.

So the short answer is that we generally don't inhale cigars so the nicotine doesn't get to your brain in the concentrated manner it does from cigarettes.
 
It is also much easier and convenient to smoke a cigarette than a cigar most of the time which allows more to be smoked in any period of time. That coupled with the inhalation make a potent combo in my opinion. I also agree that the manufacturers probably put a ton of other garbage in there as well which might add to addiction.
 
I'm going to preface this by saying I used to smoke cigarettes. A pack a day for 7 years. I quit cold turkey, in the middle of the day, with a few left in the pack just because I was told I couldn't do it. That was a little over 6 years ago. In that time, I have had 3 - all at my bachelor party.

I believe the true addiction is mental, not physical. Fly Fish said that the lungs are the best way to introduce drugs, I believe the mind is the only thing ahead of the list. I catch a lot of flak from smokers when I say this, but I believe it to be 100% true. Just by telling myself I was done with cigarettes, I was. Before that point I had tried quitting a couple times, but never really had a reason or the desire to, so I failed at it.

I know the overwhelming majority won't agree, but that's my $0.02
 
From my own experience, I believe that the nicotine is the sole cause of the addiction whether it be in the form of cigars, cigarettes, or otherwise.

To my understanding, nicotine is one of the most potent substances known and can be addictive in small dosages and deadly in large amounts along the lines of nightshade, hemlock, etc. However, other than causing addiction and possibly killing you, the available information seems to imply that it is not harmful directly, at the customary dosages.

As a background, I smoked about a pack a day of cigarettes for over 35 years. I tried many ways to quit and was uniformly unsuccessful. However, when I finally did quit cigarettes it was due to gaining a different understanding about nicotine. I read the American Cancer Society website information and it struck me that they did not accuse nicotine as a cause of cancer, but only as an addictive agent. I inferred from this that the nicotine had caused me to crave cigarettes as they were the delivery mechanism. I had never knowingly craved the nicotine, but rather the cigarettes (although smokers often use the terms nicotine and cigarette interchangeably). This knowledge helped me to quit cigarettes and I have not looked back since. I passed this information to my wife, several friends, and a few co-workers who had all smoked cigarettes for many years. Every single one of those people were suddenly able to successfully quit cigarette smoking despite many previous failed attempts.

I now smoke anywhere from 0 to maybe 6 cigars a week. Usually 1 to 3. When I smoke a greater number of cigars, I notice I crave cigars a greater amount. I presume if one were to treat premium cigars like big cigarettes and smoke one whenever you get the urge then you might become addicted to the cigars, as people do with cigarettes, because of the nicotine. I don't think inhaling vs. not inhaling makes much difference in this. I do think that the relatively recent trend of cigar makers to produce so many "kick your a$$" stogies these days reflects more nicotine addiction occurring amongst cigar smokers.

Anyway, these are my humble thoughts about this and believe me I have thought a lot about these things. There are certainly other positions on this. I like a nice nicotine buzz along with my cigar at times. But, again my opinion, cigars have enjoyable aspects that cigarettes just cannot achieve.

Cheers,
antaean
 
I agree with the whole mental aspect of cigarettes. I was a slug for a week in Jan. and was under the weather a little , my wife was out of town for a week and I didn't have a cigarette at all. I then realized that and thought to myself I might as well quit and did. My wife smokes and every time she would light one up I would repeat to myself how much I hated cigarettes and after awhile the smell is nauseating to me. I can't stand em.

I think one thing about cigarettes is how people smoke em when "they are stresed" if you think about it a cigarette forces you to slow your breathing and take deeper breaths which is a natural cure for stress, however the nicotine puts your body in a stress like mode, faster heart rate, constricting of the blood vessels and so on. It is a viscious cycle.

I also believe there is a physical aspect, it seemed like everytime I tried to quit I would get cranky except for the last time, don't know why.


Glad I quit
 
Last night on modern marvels (TLC i believe was the channel) was about tobacco,mostly butts, but they were at the Fuente's in the DM to talk and show cigars. There is more nicotine in butts, during the curing process for cigars, nicotine is actually disapated, and the tobacco is very different from the tobacco in butts. A cigar is 100% tobacco, where as butts are about 40% tobacco and the rest is fillers. I am sure the program will be re-run, catch it if you can. great show.
Rob
 
his is mostly correct. The best way to introduce drugs is the blood stream. The lungs supply O2 to the blood stream. If nicotine is present... BAM, into the blood stream it goes.

Addiction is a funny thing. I believe personally it strikes in the three ways. The physical, like the way a smoking monkey will freak out if not given cigarettes. Or even squirrels who attack park goers for crack, yes this does happen.
The other way I believe is directly tied to memories. People don't really start smoking because they want to hurt themselves. They do it because they think its cool. Then those fond feelings of being cool keep you smoking. For me, I started smoking cigarettes in my last year in college when I really started to bar hop ALOT (2003-2004). My buddy was a bartender and still a smoker. I have great memories of those days. I think back to those nights of drinking in the cool nights in Long Beach Ca. and I think about smoking again. I still smoke now and then though.
The last and I think one of the most powerful for alot of people is the oral stimulation. People love to do stuff with their mouths. Smoking is a pleasurable thing for the nerves on your lips and mouth. It sounds odd, but it really goes to the core instincts of all people. Our mouths are, for most people the most stimulated thing on our bodies. Unless your a young teen boy who just learned a new fun thing "to do". Cigars I find MUCH more pleasurable and nicotine be damned they helped me stop smoking cigarettes as much.

With that said, don't dismiss the cigar as not being addictive. They still are, they just have a harder time delivering the payload to the blood stream (however the payload in a cigar is alot more). For example I was eating a sandwich with hard crusty bread at lunch yesterday, it cut the roof of my mouth. Later when I was smoking a cigar while driving home I could feel the nicotine MUCH more then normal. That instant delivery system that cut provided was the reason.

Conquer those three things and you can pretty much quit anything. Replace the oral with whatever physical thing involves your person you want to quit.

Edit:: Read the Crack Squirrel story, when I first heard it I almost fell over laughing...
 
Sorry, unless someone has a bit more evidence than a squirrel digging around in a garden as proof it was on crack I have to throw the BS flag. Nothing stated in that article is out of the ordinary of what squirrels do. I about choked on my coffee when the one person said the squirrel had bloodshot eyes. LOL yea, right... wonder what that person was smoking? Talk about printing a story with absolutely nothing to back it up. :rolleyes: Just as well wrote the article about the ants and grasshoppers in the garden. :D

As for nicotine and addiction. Make no doubt about it that nicotine addiction is physical as well as psychological. As a former smoker of some 25+ yrs I would agree that the psychological aspect of the addiction is as hard to get past as the physical. Today, after some 8/9 years of not smoking, the psychological addiction is totally gone but the physical one still lingers... especially after a drink or two.
 
Allofus123 said:
... Sorry, unless someone has a bit more evidence than a squirrel digging around in a garden as proof it was on crack I have to throw the BS flag. Nothing stated in that article is out of the ordinary of what squirrels do.
Click to expand...

Umm,

"Crack squirrels are a recognised phenomena in the US.

They are known to live in parks frequented by addicts in New York and Washington DC.

The squirrels have attacked park visitors in their frenzied search for their next fix." - From the end of the article.
 
I quit smoking cigarettes when I started getting serious about cigars. It was working great. Until I found ISOM cigarettes. Now I smoke a pack of RyJ cigarettes everyday. I do not believe that Cuba puts a bunch of chemicals and crap in thier cigarettes. I have not had a chest cold since I started smoking them. Used to get them all the time when I smoked Marlboros.

As far as addiction goes, that runs in my blood. My family is a family of addicts. Addiction is a disease that can affect you genetically and Socially. But it also helps that nicotine is one of the most physically addicting drugs that there is.
 
There is no doubt that Cigars, just like cigarettes, have an addiction, both physical and mental.

There are a few basic differences between the two though that ultimately will make quiting cigars, if you so wish, a lot
easier.

Nicotine from cigar smoke is absorbed through the tissue in the mouth, assuming of course you don't inhale cigars - yuk!
Cigarettes are absorbed through both the mouth and the lungs - bad news for your chest. There are numerous additives in
cigarettes, this is no mistake, they have been put there to hook you. Cigars have no additives.


Any habit is not a good thing and cigars are no exception. The only good thing is that far less people have problems from
smoking cigars then they do from cigarettes. The main reason, IMO, is that cigars are not inhaled. Any form of inhalation, whether
it's pure or not (as Alan points out), is bad.

Brian
 
I started smoking cigarettes when I was 9 years old...both my parents were smokers. It was very easy to steal cig's and smoke in the living room before they got home from work and they would never even know...they couldn't smell it on my clothes or my breath. Through high school and the first 2 years of college I smoked at least 1 pack a day. I started to ease off with the urging of my girlfriend (now my wife) until I did quit...except for the pack or two when out with the buddies bar hopping and binge drinking!! But I really didn't get into cig's again...then I discovered cigars...and the wife said "OK"!!!

Now for me it's more of a psychological addiction...I just love to smoke cigars! I can go weeks without cigars without an urge or shiver like I got when having a "nicotine fit". But the thought of how great it will be to sit down and smoke a great cigar with a single malt just makes me smile!

I don't think I'm addicted...just really love the damn things!

-Fetter
 
I'm just glad that now I have an addiction that wont eat my brain cells :whistling: .

I love being addicted to cigars!! :thumbs:
 
Nicotine is readily absorbed through the skin of the mouth, but certainly not at the level it's absorbed through the lungs. Why do you think they tell you to put nitroglycerin under your tongue?

I like the relaxation of the cigar smoking setting as much as the cigar, for me it's usually on the deck just chillin'. I never ever smoke cigars while doing everyday things, yet anyway...
 
pj_rage said:
This is probably a stupid question, but why are cigarettes addictive and cigars aren't. Or are cigars? I know plenty of people smoke alot of cigars (most of you :whistling: :laugh: ) but do people really get "addicted" in the same sense that they do with cigarettes. I mean, I don't really know of anyone trying to quit cigars and just can't do it.

But, they both have nicotine, right? So what gives?

I'm not up on my cigar/cigarette chemistry and composition, but I had thought that nicotine was added to cigarettes on purpose to make them addictive? But if cigars have it too, then I guess it is a naturally occuring chemical in tobacco?

Does it have something to do with the fact that you don't (or at least I don't) inhale cigars? If you were to inhale them, would you become addicted in the same sense as cigarettes?

Does anyone know what I'm getting at or am I asking the wrong question(s)?
Click to expand...

Cigars ARE indeed addictive. The nicotine is absorbed through your mouth. Chewing tobacco is also addictive.

I know LOTS of people who are addicted to cigars. I also know people who have paid hypnotists to rid them of their cigar addiction.
 
Putting aside crack addicted squirrels, cigars ARE addictive, but much less, and don't forget cigarette companies try to artificially boost the highly addictive nicotine by use of chemicals, which generally add ammonia to increase the "nicotine kick". here is an articel of interest:

complete link: chemically altered tobacco


  • [*]Additives are used to make cigarettes that provide high levels of 'free' nicotine which increases the addictive 'kick' of the nicotine. Ammonium compounds can fulfil this role by raising the alkalinity of smoke
    [*]Additives are used to enhance the taste of tobacco smoke, to make the product more desirable to consumers. Although seemingly innocuous the addition of flavourings making the cigarette 'attractive' and 'palatable' is in itself cause for concern.
    [*]Sweeteners and chocolate may help to make cigarettes more palatable to children and first time users; eugenol and menthol numb the throat so the smoker cannot feel the smoke's aggravating effects.
    [*]Additives such as cocoa may be used to dilate the airways allowing the smoke an easier and deeper passage into the lungs exposing the body to more nicotine and higher levels of tar.
    [*]Some additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic or pharmacologically active.
    [*]Additives are used to mask the smell and visibility of side-stream smoke, making it harder for people to protect themselves and undermining claims that smoking is anti-social without at the same time reducing the health risks of passive smoking.
 
Also need to figure in the effect of all the chemical doping that most cigarettes have had done to them. Companies added chemicals to the tobacco so that they could act as carrier molecules to allow the nicotine to cross the blood/brain border more readily so that the effect would be more immediate and stimulating.

The nicotine patch allows for the nicotine to arrive at the brain just not as fast so not as many receptors are stimulated at the same time they allow for satisfaction but not the craving (In theory)

I believe that with cigars and the route that they take the same kind of process happens.

I think that without the lungs to spread it to the bloodstream and the doping to make it more readily available to the brain. it is in the system but just takes longer to reach the receptors and by then much of it has broken down and does not function in that respect.

I think regular smokers are addicted. If you go two or three days and you really want a cigar, I can't believe that its just because you like them. I am quite certain that part of your brain is missing the stimulation that it desires as from the dopamine molecules that it would release if these receptor sites were filled with nicotine.

So yes nicotine is addictive. Cigars are just a slow release formula instead of the quick high from cigarettes.


Just my .02
 
I have been studying this very topic for a few months now and it is actually very interesting. I still smoke cigarettes and some cigars. From my research, I have no desire to smoke factory made cigarettes any more so I make my own. Why? Because the cigarette manufacturers do put so much "Junk" into them--like the stems and byproducts as well as chemical additives for various reasons. Now I buy pure tobacco made by a small company in North Carolina. They have some of the best products in the world. So now I am smoking so of the best tobacco money can buy for about 1/3 the price of storebought cigarettes made with reconstituted tobacco with flavorings to mask the bogus taste. Are they safer? That is open to debate but at least I know now what I am actually smoking. I have heard many stories that quitting smoking the make your own cig's is much easier than commercial made cigarettes. I do smoke less now because they are more satisfying and enjoyable, just like a good cigar.

So what is the real truth? It is generally accepted by unbiased researchers that the truth lies somewhere between what the tobacco companies say and the anti-smoking nazis say. They both tell plenty of lies, and actually I believe that the anti-smokers twist the truth and lie more than the tobacco companies.

Nicotine is the addictive compund in tobacco. The tobacco companies do manipulate the level of it by blending the tobacco mixture for a particular brand so that each pack has basically the same level over time. Is more added to make them more addictive? I don't think so. It is basically like cigars, some are stronger than others in nicotine. The tobacco is manipulated so that one batch is not different from the next. So the anti's say "The tobacco is being manipulated for nicotine content". True, but it is not a bad thing.

They say "cigarette smoke contains hundreds of chemicals". Well so does a piece of apple pie or perhaps a candy bar. Tobacco is a plant just like any other plant that you might eat except for one thing--it contains nicotine. Nicotine is not what causes cancer. They talk about ammonia doing bad things. But guess what--it is not added to tobacco, it is a naturally occuring chemical in it. So my point is that the anti's often leave out facts like that and makes it look like the tobacco companies are doing evil things when they are not.

Do the tobacco companies put chemicals into cigarettes, sure. Most on the list are basically food grade flavorings, much the same as put in food. But they also add things to keep up humidity, adjust the burn rate, and some other things that may be nasty. These are the kinds of things that worry me and that are missing from what I smoke now. I had a friend that commented that he missed the additives when he started making his own, he missed the sick feeling.

But the fact is that all tobacco products are bad for you health-wise, I think we all know that quite well. I do think that smoking natural tobacco in cigarettes and premium cigars is probably much better for you than store-bought cigarettes.
But anyone even doing that is taking somewhat of a risk of course. Like everything else, moderation is the key.
Take some time to read some articles from both sides of the issue and you will begin to see the real truth. One was pretty good when the anti's said that the secondhand smoke at a cigar party had about the same level as driving down the freeway at rush hour. HuH?

Just a side note, has anyone else noticed that these old cigar guys seem to live into their late 80's and 90's? Seems a little curious to me.
 
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