According to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center site, cigar use in the U.S. has risen by approximately 50 percent since 1993. This may be from smokers' attempts to find a healthier substitute for cigarettes. Although cigar smokers have a lower risk of lung cancer compared to their cigarette-smoking counterparts, the former group has a higher risk of developing esophageal, mouth and larynx cancers. Understanding these dangers, as well as the others associated with cigars, may be the first step to kicking your smoking habit.
They Contain Copious Amounts of Nicotine
Due to their size, cigars contain greater concentrations of tobacco and, thus, greater amounts of nicotine, the addictive chemical in smoking products. Most cigars contain the amount of nicotine equal to a few cigarettes, notes MayoClinic.com. Larger cigars can reach as much as 200 mg of nicotine. In contrast, the nicotine present in one cigarette is approximately 10 mg.
They Give off Excessive Secondhand Smoke
Secondhand smoke from cigars contains higher concentrations of toxins than secondhand cigarette smoke, notes MayoClinic.com. This smoke includes 43 known carcinogens, states the Nova Online site. In addition, you may spend around an hour smoking a cigar because of its longer burning rate. This allows for more secondhand smoke in the air and longer exposure to toxic chemicals.
They Increase Risk of Multiple Cancers
When you smoke a cigar, rarely are you actually inhaling the smoke into your lungs or inhaling all the way. While this makes for a lower risk of lung cancer, the idea that cigars are safer than cigarettes is false. When you smoke a cigar, you absorb the smoke through the lining of your mouth, increasing your risk of oral cancer. You can also develop cancers linked to the route the smoke travels, which includes cancer of the lips, tongue, esophagus and throat. Cigar smoking has been linked to pancreatic cancer and bladder cancer.
Considerations
Your risk for developing these conditions increases with the frequency and intensity of your smoking. In fact, cigar smokers who inhale more deeply than their regularly inhaling cigar-smoking counterparts have 53 times the risk of larynx cancer, 15 times the risk of esophageal cancer and 27 times the risk of oral cancer, notes the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center site. While sparse cigar smoking is better than regular cigar smoking, MayoClinic.com advises that the safest level of cigar smoking is none at all.
