Smoking tobacco, whether it is in cigarettes, cigars or pipes, can cause a variety of health problems. The most commonly known disease that is associated with smoking tobacco is lung cancer, but there are others that may develop. Tobacco smoking still is common throughout the world, despite national and international efforts to curtail it. There are treatments available for most smoking-related diseases.
Lung Cancer
Cancer that starts in the lungs, the Mayo Clinic reports, is the most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States. While lung cancer has many causes, smoking tobacco products is the best known. Lung cancer is more common among cigarette smokers than other users of tobacco, but it can affect all smokers. It may be recognized by such symptoms as a continual cough, shortness of breath, pain in the chest or in the bones, and unexplained loss of weight.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is an overarching term for several diseases of the lungs that also may be caused by things other than smoking tobacco. The National Institute of Health, however, states that the most common risk factor for COPD is smoking cigarettes. Such illnesses as emphysema and bronchitis are common forms of COPD. Both of these may be caused by smoking. Symptoms of emphysema and bronchitis are similar to those of other smoking diseases, such as a chronic cough, less ability to perform physically, wheezing and shortness of breath.
Mouth Cancer
Mouth cancer also may have many potential causes, the Mayo Clinic reports, but most are not understood by medical researchers. This form of cancer is more typical of those who smoke pipes or cigars because these tobacco products generally are not inhaled into the lungs. However, the smoke and its carcinogenic constituents may affect the smoker's mouth because it stays there longer. Pipe and cigar smokers also typically smoke for longer periods than cigarette smokers because one bowl of tobacco or one cigar burns longer than a cigarette. Symptoms of this disease may include sores in the mouth that do not heal, pain in the tongue, discolored patches---usually red or white---inside the mouth, loose teeth, and stiffness or pain in the jaw, among others.
