Expert: Peter L. - 1/18/2010

Question
Hi.  First off, I'd like to say that I'm not now, nor have I ever been a tobacco user.  I don’t intend to start nor would I suggest starting.  I do however have a friend who smokes the occasional (3 or 4 a month) cigar.  Now, I have been trying to find evidence of weather or not it is less healthy to smoke cigars then it is cigarettes.  I either find a website that lists all kinds of reasons why cigars are as bad or worse than cigarettes.  Or I find a site that says cigars are hardly bad for you at all.  These sites are obviously biased because they are either anti smoking sites or pro cigar sites.   Also, I’m curious about the frequency of smoking cigars and the way it effects your health in comparison to a typical pack a day smoker.   I’m looking for some non-biased evidence.  The kind of evidence that doesn’t have an agenda.  Some sort of flow chart would be nice.  Lol.  But seriously, is there a list somewhere that shows how much a certain amount of cigars/pipe/cigarette smoking hurts you?  Can you shed any light on this subject for me?  

Again, I'd like to state that this is for my personal curiosity and I understand that any tobacco is bad for you.  I just want to know where they rack up.

Thank you, John-boy


Answer
Hi John,

Thanks for this interesting question.  I would tend to approach this by analogy, defined in this way:  Is it safer for me to go 120 miles per hour down the freeway, or 100?

Well, in either case, I'm probably going too fast to be as safe as I would be going 65 or 70.

If you don't inhale the tobacco smoke it probably will not get to the lungs in the same quantities as cigarette smokers, so the chances of lung cancer would probably be less. But, according to sources I found, your risk of lung cancer is still considerably higher than a non-cigar smoker.You are still three times more likely to get lung cancer than a non-smoker. It's also said that cigar smokers have an increased risk of death from cancers of the lip, tongue, throat, esophagus, mouth, larynx, and also cancers of the pancreas and bladder.

Cigar smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop cancers of the mouth, larynx, and esophagus.  There appear to be elevated risks of pancreatic cancer and heart disease.

There is also said to be an increased risk for early dental problems compared to nonsmokers.  Lastly, there appears to be a link between cigar smoking and erectile dysfunction.

Not very good odds, John!