Cigar smoking dates back to Northern and Central American tribes more than a 1000 years ago. A long, thick bundle of twisted tobacco leaves wrapped in a dried palm leaf was a primitive cigar. Today, cigars are made from air-cured or dried burley tobacco. The leaves are aged for about a year and then fermented for about three to five months.

The chemical and bacterial reactions that take place during fermentation change the composition of the tobacco and produce the sought after flavor and aroma of cigars. In recent years, there has been an increase in cigar popularity. Glamorized, the cigar has become linked to wealth and a symbol of a luxuriant and successful lifestyle.

Endorsements by celebrities, the holding of elaborate smoking events, and the resurgence of actors smoking cigars in movies, have conveyed a perception that cigars are socially acceptable and a "healthy alternative" to cigarettes.

Health Risks

Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite what is portrayed in the media, cigar smoking does carry health risks. Cigar smokers experience the same array of diseases as cigarette smokers.

Cigar Warning Labels Recommended The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is recommending that cigars have the same warning labels as cigarettes and other tobacco products. "There are no safe forms of tobacco," said Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher. " We should require the same sort of warning labels on cigars that we already require on packages of cigarettes and spit tobacco. The absence of such a warning on cigars could lead consumers to erroneously conclude that cigars do not carry health risks." Source: HHS News, February 26, 1999.

The smoke emitted from cigars and cigarettes contain many of the same toxic agents. In all, a lighted cigar generates about 4000 different chemical compounds, and the amounts in cigar smoke are greater than in cigarette smoke. Cigars can range from the size of a cigarette to more than seven inches long. And large cigars contain between 5 and 17 grams of tobacco.

Compared to a cigarette, a large cigar emits up to 20 times more ammonia, 5 to 10 times more cadmium (a cancer-causing metal) and methylethylnitrosamine (a cancer-causing agent), and 80 to 90 times as much of the highly carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines.

Like cigarette smoking, the risks from smoking cigars increase with the number of cigars smoked per day. Not only can cigar smoking cause oral, throat, larynx, esopaghageal, and lung cancer, but also chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and coronary artery disease (CAD).

Differences Between Cigar and Cigarette Smoking

One of the major differences between cigar and cigarette smoking is that almost all cigarette smokers inhale, while most cigar smokers do not. But people who smoke, whether they inhale or not, directly expose their lips, throats, and tongue to smoke. Because of this, cigar smokers and cigarette smokers have about the same risk for mouth and esophageal cancers.

Second-Hand Smoke A study conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and released on April 23, 1996 reported that nearly 9 out of 10 nonsmoking Americans are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Commonly called second-hand smoke, the amount of ETS was measured by the levels of cotinine, a chemical that the body metabolizes from nicotine in the blood. The presence of cotinine, indicates that a person has been exposed to tobacco smoke. Although this study itself did not address the health effects of environmental smoke, the 1993 report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that ETS caused lung cancer in adult nonsmokers and serious respiratory problems in children. On the basis of health hazards of ETS, the EPA has classified second-hand smoke as a Group A carcinogen (know to cause cancer in humans). Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Even if smoke is not inhaled, it is mixed with saliva, then swallowed into the esophagus. And for those smokers who inhale, more smoke is drawn into the lungs compared to people who don't inhale. Those who inhale cigar smoke have higher rates of CAD, COPD, and lung cancer.

When cigar smokers inhale, nicotine is absorbed as rapidly as it is when smoking a cigarette. For those who do not inhale, nicotine is absorbed through the lining of the mouth. However, it is absorbed into the body; nicotine takes only seconds to reach the brain.

Nicotine is both a stimulant and a sedative to the central nervous system (CNS). The ingestion of nicotine results in an almost immediate "kick" because it causes a discharge of epinephrine from the adrenal cortex. This high is then followed by depression and fatigue, and leads to the need for more. Nicotine is highly addictive.

Exposure to Toxic Compounds

Some premium cigars contain the tobacco equivalent of an entire pack of cigarettes. Large cigars can take between one and two hours to smoke, whereas most cigarettes are smoked in less than 10 minutes. Because of the larger size of most cigars and longer smoking time, they produce higher levels of the many toxic compounds. At two recent cigar social events in San Francisco, concentrations of carbon monoxide were higher than the levels found on a busy California freeway.

Had these indoor exposures lasted eight hours, they would have exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for outdoor air established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Smoke from a single large cigar smoked at home can take up to five hours to dissipate, exposing family members to a sizable amount of second-hand smoke.

To those who may be thinking about smoking cigars, the best advice is - don't! Cigars are not safe alternatives to cigarettes and they are addictive. To those currently smoking cigars, quitting is the only way to eliminate the health risks that can result.

For more information on stopping smoking, go to our Stop Smoking Center.