How likely is it that a cigar smoker will develop cancer or chronic lung disease?
Cigar smokers are not immune to all of the complications we usually associate with cigarette smoking. Some people think a more natural product, a cigar or piped tobacco, is less damaging because they don't take it into their lungs, they puff it out generally, although not everyone does. And that it is safer somehow because it doesn't have additives. Well the reality is that's not true. When you look at the long term affects of people who have smoked cigars for years and people who've smoked cigarettes for the same period of time for years, the increase risk of cancer is evident compared to people who have never used those products in both users, cigar users pipe users and cigarette users, because tobacco products themselves are not safe - the way they're used, and their inherent components are not safe. Are cigar smokers at risk for the same affects as cigarette smokers? No, they aren't. They have their own. They have much higher oral cancer rates than people who are cigarette smokers because of the way its used. Because of the heat in the mouth and that puffing in the mouth is primarily the means for a cigar smoker to use that product. So, I would encourage someone who uses cigars to say, "Why? Why do I use it? What do I need from it? Am I willing to accept the risk instead and just live in denial that this is safe - safer than a cigarette?" It's not true. If you want to see some statistics get on the internet and it's not hard to find them.
