Cigar Smoke vs Cigarette Smoke Just as Bad

Cigar Smoke vs. Cigarette Smoke, Just as Bad? BY JACOB SEITER

Cigars �Mostly grown in Central and South America (warm and humid climates): Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Brazil, but also Connecticut, Switzerland, and the Philippines �Come from tobacco plants that can grow up to 6 ft. (Just over 15 leaves/plant) �Takes an avg. of 5 yrs to make a cigar- touches 300 -500 pairs of hands

Growing �Planted to produce seedlings: 2 months �Dug up and replanted in fields in order to mature: another 2 months Wrapper plants are covered and individually tied �Leaves picked 2 -3 at a time-from bottom up �Cured (Dried) in barns for 40 -60 days

Fermenting and Ageing �Fermented in large piles (high pressure and heat) Develops flavor and aroma, remove ammonia, sap, tar, and nicotine Restack, respray Can take a few months to a few years (multiple rounds) �Then aged in large bales At least 2 yrs, often more, to further dry and develop flavors

Rolling �Filler leaves are rolled by hand with lower quality wrapper leaves called the binder leaf �Then further rolled with the wrapper leaf by highly trained worker (10 yrs or more) �Capped with a small piece of a leaf and gum arabic (acacia tree sap)

Finished Product �Kept in cedar boxes at 70˚F and 70% humidity to keep tobacco from cracking

Is Cigar and Cigarette Smoke Different? �Cigar smoke is more detrimental to your health: Has no filter Much larger size and much stronger tobacco �Cigar smoke is not as bad for your health: Rarely inhaled because it’s so strong and people want flavor from the cigar - more likely to develop oral or esophageal cancer which is much less prevalent than lung cancer among all smokers

Research �Experiment done in Europe to compare risks of lung cancer in cigar smokers and cigarette smokers �Study included 5500 male subjects that had some form of lung cancer and 7100 male subjects than did not have lung cancer as the control �Info on subjects was collected from hospitals in Germany, Italy, and Sweden: What they smoked, age when started smoking, how much they smoke, occupational exposure to other carcinogens �Used odds ratios to make comparisons between case and control subjects

Odds Ratios of Lung Cancer for Various Categories of Tobacco Use: Category of Tobacco used # of case # of control subjects Odds ratio Nonsmokers 117 1750 1. 0 Cigars, pure smokers 16 42 5. 6 Cigarillos, pure smokers 21 31 12. 7 Cigars and Cigarillos, 43 pure smokers 77 9. 0 Cigarettes, pure smokers 4204 3930 14. 9 Mixed smokers 1182 1309 12. 7

Odds Ratio of Lung Cancer for Cigar and Cigarillo Smoking # case subjects # control subjects Odds Ratio Non. Smokers 117 1750 1. 0 Duration of Tobacco Use, y: 0. 1 -13. 0 13. 1 -26. 0 26. 1 -39. 0 >39. 1 4 5 12 22 21 20 17 19 3. 1 4. 3 10. 3 20. 7 Avg. consumption of tobacco use, g/day: 0. 1 -3. 5 3. 6 -5. 0 5. 1 -10. 7 >10. 8 5 10 5 23 22 25 11 19 3. 4 6. 2 7. 8 21. 1 Cumulative consumption of tobacco, g/day x y: 1 -71 52 -157 158 -382 >383 3 4 8 28 19 20 19 19 2. 4 3. 2 6. 0 26. 9 Age at start of tobacco use, y: <19 20 -26 >27 20 16 7 20 23 34 17. 0 10. 5 3. 4

Analysis of Odds Ratios for Cigarette, Cigar, and Cigarillo Smoking Category of Tobacco Use Duration of Smoking (Increase in risk for 1 yr) Avg. Consumption (Increase in risk for 1 g/day) Cumulative Consumption (Increase in risk for 1 g/day x yrs) Pure cigarette smokers 1. 084 1. 051 1. 040 Pure cigar/cigarillo 1. 058 smokers 1. 057 1. 061

Conclusion: �This study says that cigar smoke probably has a carcinogenic effect on lungs that is comparable to that of cigarette smoke �Even though the OR for cigar smokers is lower than that of cigarettes in the first table, it is most likely due to: Cigar smokers tend to smoke less b/c they are so strong, and expensive Cigar smokers tend to start later in life �Overall cigar smokers have less exposure to tobacco smoke

Conclusion �But many other similar experiments have been done: Some say the same thing Some still say cigars are less harmful Some still say cigars are more harmful �But done in different areas of the world and use different definitions of parameters �Hard to come to final conclusion b/c so few cigar smokers only and really hard to get accurate data on something that takes +20 yrs to determine the effects

References 1. ) Boffeta, P. , Pershagen, G. , Joeckel, K. , Foraastiere, F. , Gaborieau, V. , Heinrich, J. , Jahn, I. , Kreuzer, M. , Merletti, F. , Nyberg, F. , Rosch, F. , Simonato, L. “Cigar Smoking Lung Cancer: A Multi-center Study From Europe, ” J. of the Nat. Cancer Inst. 91, 697 -701. 1999 2. )http: //www. cigaraficionado. com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0, 2 322, 1544, 00. html 3. ) http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Cigar 4. ) http: //www. cubancrafters. com/picking_tobacco. php