Cigars – Which Rattlesnake Would You Prefer To Step On?
26 Mar 2007
What do former President Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many multi-millionaire sports celebrities have in common? They smoke cigars and for years they’ve sent the wrong message to teenagers. Now more teens are saying "Have a cigar". So what should we be telling them and others who decide to smoke a stogie? Some kids are getting smart. They’ve concluded that cigarette smoking is hazardous to health. A report in the Journal of Public Health says that cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by 10 percent. But that cigar smoking has increased by 28 percent and some of this increase is due to teenagers. Today one in four college students smoke stogies and these are supposed to be enlightened individuals!
Trying to compare the health effects of cigar and cigarette smoking is like deciding which type of rattlesnake you’d prefer to step on. The fact is that cigar smoking kills "big time" and has sent Babe Ruth, Sigmund Freud, and General Ulysses Grant to the great beyond.
Unfortunately for years there’s been the perception that cigar smoking is a safe alternative to cigarettes. But studies show that a single stogie contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.
Cigar smoke also contains 60 known cancer-producing agents and linked to a host of deadly cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx and lung. A report from the U.S. National Institutes of Health claims that just one or two cigars a day doubles the risk of oral and esophageal cancer and increases the risk of larynx malignancy six times. Yet only eight percent of stogie smokers believe their habit results in cancer.
Studies show that 40 percent of smokers die of cancer. And the renowned Oxford report showed that smoking robs people of 20 years of life. What a loss for that person and his family.
I’ve often heard cigar smokers say, "But I don’t inhale the smoke or do not inhale deeply". It’s a myth. Research shows that cigarette smokers who switch to cigars do inhale. Compared to non-smokers, cigar smokers who inhale face 27 times the risk of oral cancer and 53 times the risk of laryngeal malignancy according to the National Institutes of Health report.
Surely we know by this time that cigarette smoke causes a number of health problems. The lucky ones have a sudden massive coronary attack. Others with emphysema die a slow, lingering death attached to an oxygen tank.
But cigar smokers either don’t know or forget that there’s another deadly poison in smoke, carbon monoxide. A single stogie contains 20 X the amount of carbon monoxide as a single cigarette. And you don’t have to be on a California freeway to suffer from the effects of this poison. Smoke a stogie with the windows closed and this gas reaches dangerous concentrations. My bet is that this sleep-producing poison causes more highway accidents than we realize.
But why do teenagers choose cigars? John Banzhaf, executive director Smoking and Health at George Washington University, Washington D.C. says teenagers have the perception that cigars are fashionable and see many high-profile people smoking them.
Finances may play a role for cash-strapped teenagers. In the U.S states have increased taxes on cigarettes, but not on cigars. It’s another asinine decision. They should award the Noble Prize to the person who said, "Common sense is an uncommon commodity."
There’s also the time factor. Remember when we were 20 years of age and getting to 40 seemed an eternity away? Having a stogie is also part of growing up and often related to peer pressure. Teenagers also have a hard time at personalizing risk. Even if smoking cigars causes cancer it’s going to occur to George, not me.
So how can you stop teenagers from smoking stogies. Reading this column may go in one ear and out the other. So John Banzhaf may have a better solution. Parents must stress to teenagers that cigar smoking is stinky, smelly and not sexy. Being smelly is one thing. But tell teenagers it also decreases amour and they may take a second look at that macho stogie.
