By Tom Naughton
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donkeyrock shared this story from  Fat Head.
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This article about cigar smokers showed up in yesterday’s online edition of MedPage Today:
Most cigar smokers in America are smoking cheaper, unfiltered versions cigarillos and mass market cigars, a government report showed.
Among the 7% of American adults reporting smoking cigars at least sometimes, 62% said they usually smoked cigarillos or mass market cigars, Catherine G. Corey, MSPH, of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products in Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues found.
“These findings underscore the importance of public health interventions to reduce cigar smoking among U.S. adults,” Corey and colleagues argued. “Evidence-based tobacco control interventions such as increased taxes, smoke-free policies, and public education campaigns should also address non-cigarette tobacco products.”
“Regular cigar use is estimated to be responsible for approximately 9,000 premature deaths and almost 140,000 years of potential life lost annually,” according to a conservative estimate, Corey’s group noted.
Cigarillos are little cigars (think Swisher Sweets) made with tobacco filler, and from what I’ve seen, people tend to smoke them like cigarettes – one after another, sometimes even inhaling. Bad idea. Premium cigars, on the other hand, are larger and made from rolled tobacco leaves. Try inhaling one of those, you’d probably pass out.
When we lived in suburban neighborhoods with streets and sidewalks, I used to take long walks three or four nights per week and smoke a premium cigar while listening to a podcast or audiobook. Now that we live in the sticks, I don’t take those late-night walks. So I smoke maybe a couple of cigars per month, usually sitting outside at night after Chareva and the girls have gone to bed. I’ve never smoked them indoors.
By pure coincidence, I happened to stop at a cigar shop the day before the MedPage Today article ran. Even though this particular shop only sells premium cigars, there was a big sign (no doubt mandated by law) on the door to the humidor, warning me that according to the Surgeon General, cigars cause cancer.
Hmmm … I’ve been hearing that one for years. I’ve had people inform me that smoking cigars doubles my risk of mouth and throat cancer. So a couple of years ago, I looked up the actual data. In honor of the MedPage Today article, I thought I’d dig up the data and share it. This isn’t exactly diet-related, of course, but it illustrates how government officials have no qualms about exaggerating risks when they …read more
Source: Donkeyrock_BlurBlog
