Tobacco facts

• Smoking is the #1 preventable death in the US, causing over 393,000 deaths every year.

• Marijuana smoke contains more carcinogens than tobacco smoke.

• Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.²⁷ 

• Smoking is directly responsible for approximately 90 percent of lung cancer deaths and approximately 80-90 percent of COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis) deaths.²

• Smokers die significantly earlier than nonsmokers: 13.2 years for men and 14.5 years for women.⁶

How do you add even more chemicals to a cigarette? Light it. Cigarette smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals.¹ Many of the dangerous chemicals in cigarette smoke are formed through the many chemical reactions that occur as the cigarette burns.²

New research shows that menthols may be even more addictive than other cigarettes.

What’s different about menthol cigarettes? A mint flavor additive with cooling properties. A menthol cigarette is still a cigarette — complete with all the chemicals and addictiveness of any other tobacco product. Flavoring isn’t going to make it any safer. In fact, new research shows that menthol cigarettes may be more addictive than non-menthol cigarettes and could make it even harder for smokers to quit.^{3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13}

In recent years, smoking cigars and loose tobacco in roll-your-own cigarettes or pipes has become more common.¹⁴ Flavors like strawberry and grape can mask the harshness of cigars,¹⁵ cigarillos and little cigars,¹⁶ but don’t be fooled. The flavoring doesn’t make them less harmful.

All of these products can lead to nicotine addiction and contain toxic, cancer-causing chemicals that can cause serious health problems.¹⁷

Water pipes (also known as hookah, shisha or narghile) are used to smoke specially made tobacco that comes in a variety of flavors like mint, cherry and licorice.¹⁸ Water pipe smoking delivers the addictive drug nicotine and is at least as toxic as cigarette smoke.¹⁹ In fact, research shows that water pipe smokers may absorb even more of the toxins found in cigarette smoke because smoking sessions are longer and smokers puff more frequently.²⁰A typical 1-hour hookah session involves inhaling 100–200 times the volume of smoke from a single cigarette! So water pipe smokers are at risk for the same kinds of diseases caused by cigarette smoking.²¹

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, are battery-operated products that deliver nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. They turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user. Most e-cigarettes are manufactured to look like conventional cigarettes, cigars or pipes. Some people believe that e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes, but their safety has not been fully studied. People who currently use e-cigarettes have no way of knowing how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals they are inhaling.²²

Sources: http://therealcost.betobaccofree.hhs.gov/facts/no-safe-tobacco/smoked-tobacco/index.html