Never smoked, interested in trying cigars

[imperium]

Aso I've never smoked but I'm somewhat interested in trying cigars
I wondering what health risks are I would assume the would be fairly minimal for a recreational smoker maybe only once or twice a week
what's the addiction factor like I find that I get hooked into things fairly easily
would you suggest cigars for someone whose never smoked at all before

I'm not really sure why I got interested all of a sudden maybe it's cause I hangout with co workers outside while they are on smoke break. So I'm used to the second hand smoke abit and almost like it
but the breath that follows and the lingering odors are off putting but I assume those wouldn't be too bad with very casual use


Let me know your thoughts on it I mean I guess I could try it once and see but if people say it's not worth it ill probably stay away

 

[Timmy Dee]

I've never smoked cigarettes (save for trying it) but light up a cigar very occasionally in times of celebration.

I think it's a good way to smoke (if there IS such a thing) as the flavours are deeper and more complex, it lasts a lot longer so is more of a relaxation exercise than cigarettes, and there is a great deal of difference among cigars.

If you're looking for something to do while the others are having a smoko, don't get into cigars. They will take much longer to smoke than cigarettes, and rushing a cigar is not the right way. They also should be accompanied by a comfortable chair, some good company and a good drink.

As so far as the health risks go, it's smoking, so it's carcinogenic. Prolonged use can indeed give you cancer. With cigars it's tongue, throat and mouth cancer more than lung cancer, due to the fact that the smoke is not inhaled but kept in the mouth. The risks, while reduced, are still very real for 'casual' smokers. It contains nicotine, so it can definitely be addictive.

The breath/odour that follows smoking a cigar is VERY potent. Casual use or not, expect to be covered in that scent for the rest of the day.

If you're looking to smoke a cigar a few times a week, in a smoke break, it sounds like you're leaning towards either cigarillos or little cigars (as you won't be able to get through a robusto without your boss yelling at you). They won't be anywhere near as nice as a proper cigar, but admittedly will take a lot less time.

My advice is against smoking a cigar on a smoke break - putting aside the negative health effects, whichever cigar you choose will either take too long to smoke in a break, or will taste far inferior to a proper cigar. If you're looking to get into cigars, even occasionally, get a few good ones and take the time to enjoy them.

Best of luck

 

[Walker]

IMO I say don't do it. I smoked cigarettes for 17 years, i've been quit for about a year and a half. I feel like i hit the lottery when I finally kicked the habit. Consider yourself lucky that you never fell into te trap of cigarettes. My thoughts are after you try it once you probably won't do it again because the first time i smoked a cigarette I got sick, i mean puking sick. I kept on smoking because I thought it looked cool. I'm just glad I was able to kick the habit. You wanna look cool? Stick to wetshaving. Now that's cool!!!

 

[cybrok]

Personally I don't inhale the smoke, I keep it in my mouth. So I don't think my health is at risk at all. Especially as I don't smoke cigar everyday.


That was an advice too, don't inhlale, especially if you never smoked. First time I inhaled cigar I puked and saw stars, that was weird.

 

[Chimensch]

I know you asked about cigars but I say consider a pipe. There is a wide variety of pipe tobaccos that leave a better smell for others as well as tasting great. Plus you can adjust the amount of tobacco in the pipe to the time you have to smoke it. While smoking a cigar makes you look arrogant, smoking a pipe makes you look intellectual. Since I'm arrogant and stupid, it's a great cover.

 

[Timmy Dee]

Walker is right - it's best you don't do it at all.

I'm very glad that I have never been a smoker. The extra disposable income is a massive boost, as is my health. When my friend gets married in July (when I'm over there in the States) I will definitely get a handful of cigars so the lads can spend a time catching up. But, like the current period, there will be a period of at least a year before I smoke another one.

 

[global_dev]

After seeing a person in their late 30-early 40s with a portable respirator in a very fashionable specialty carrier/backpack, yesterday at lunch, if you find you do enjoy smoking and think the pleasure outweighs the detrimental effects, perhaps you could get one of those carriers and start packing a waterpipe/nargila/hookah instead of the respirator, until you find you need the respirator. one purchase, double win!

 

[global_dev]

I know you asked about cigars but I say consider a pipe. There is a wide variety of pipe tobaccos that leave a better smell for others as well as tasting great. Plus you can adjust the amount of tobacco in the pipe to the time you have to smoke it. While smoking a cigar makes you look arrogant, smoking a pipe makes you look intellectual. Since I'm arrogant and stupid, it's a great cover.

Hmmm. I wasn't aware smoking a pipe actually resulted in making anyone look more intellectual, with exception of S. Holmes or Thurston B. Howell, III. Did Roy Hinkley, M.A., B.S., Ph.D aka "The Professor" smoke a pipe? When I see cigar afficionados casually smoking, I usually can't get the image out of my mind of when I first found out that fluffer's exist. Sorry the crass/disturbing mental picture.

Not to be debbie downer (no pun intended in relation to the previous paragraph, highly conincidental), but doesn't "cigar smoke, like cigarette smoke, contains toxic and cancer-causing chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers, and whether or not they inhale, directly expose the lips, mouth, tongue, throat, and larynx to tobacco smoke and its toxic and cancer-causing chemicals, manifesting in oral cancer (cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, and throat) and cancers of the larynx (voice box), esophagus, and lung."

Yikes, I wish I hadn't researched at cancer.gov, even if some of thr population doesn't care or just believes it's propoganda or untrue.

I really do hope the pleasures of tobacco smoking outweigh the potential issues.

 

[Chimensch]

Hmmm. I wasn't aware smoking a pipe actually mainfested in making anyone look more intellectual other than S. Holmes or Thurston B. Howell, III. Did Roy Hinkley, M.A., B.S., Ph.D aka "The Professor" smoke a pipe? When I see cigar afficionados casually smoking, I usually can't get the image out of my mind of when I first found out that fluffer's exist. Sorry the crass/disturbing mental picture.

You get that image from pipes and not cigars? "Eye of the beholder" and all that.

 

[DavyRay]

Try cigars if you like. I smoke them sometimes, and enjoy them.

OTOH, I have been to an Eric Clapton concert. He has kicked many dangerous habits (like heroin), but still smokes Marlboroughs. There is a lesson there.

 

[global_dev]

You get that image from pipes and not cigars? "Eye of the beholder" and all that.

no, i get that from cigars, not pipes. i tried to make the distinction, but i guess it wasn't as stated as i thought. Mind you I have tried smoking in the past, but it never felt satisfying, but i did enjoy the taste of the flavored tobaccos more common in the Middle East.

 

[Kouros]

Eat more and exercise more instead.

 

[plexibass]

While smoking a cigar makes you look arrogant, smoking a pipe makes you look intellectual. Since I'm arrogant and stupid, it's a great cover.

Well there you went and blew the cover for the rest of us pipe smokers. Geeeeeeeeeeze........

I started as a cigar guy and found my way to pipes. I still smoke both. I say try both. Why limit your options.

 

[rickboone1]

If you inhale or not it is still a health risk. Think 2nd hand smoke. Ask some ladies you know what they feel about cigars. The responses you get will likely not be positive. Just my experience.

Regardless of what others may think, don't start. Ever. It's not worth it to your health at all.

 

[Geo Dude]

The rate of addiction to cigars is quite low, along with the rate of people who come to actual harm from cancer from them (same with pipes, albeit somewhat lower), however, the risks are present in both cases. You should factor in the risk possibility (in terms of long-term health problems and addiction) when deciding whether to smoke or not, but do some proper research and don't fall for the 'it's all tobacco' propaganda put forth by those who are ignorant on the issue. While cigars and pipes have their risks, they are much less dangerous than cigarettes and also much less addictive. (As an example, moderate pipe smoking is correlated with a 2 year extension of one's life-span, on average, due to the stress-relief benefits) Smokeless tobacco has the lowest risk of all in terms of long-term health problems (e.g. the risk of cancer with snus is 1 in 500,000), however, some forms are more addictive than pipes or cigars.

As for the question of whether the risks (minor though they may be, in terms of probability) are worth the enjoyment of smoking cigars? Only you can decide that, but it's not a decision to be taken lightly.


On a different note:

OTOH, I have been to an Eric Clapton concert. He has kicked many dangerous habits (like heroin), but still smokes Marlboroughs. There is a lesson there.

There is a lesson there, but the lesson isn't necessarily applicable here, or as strong an argument as one may believe, for a couple of reasons:

1. Cigars are not cigarettes. They are not inhaled, and they they do not contain chemical additives designed to encourage nicotine absorption. For both of these reasons, they are less addictive.

2. Heroin is not as addictive as it is made out to be in media, movies, etc. Among heroin users (who are not homeless, it's very difficult to get a proper study going on that population for obvious reasons) the addiction rate is roughly 18%. On top of that, the number of heroin users that actually continue to use into middle age and beyond is much lower than 18% (I don't recall the exact figure, unfortunately), and this is not in any sense primarily due to death caused by overdose. Most of them 'grow out of it' by the time they're middle aged with or without professional help (rehab). These facts should be given consideration any time a politician (or anyone else) claims that 'cigarettes are more addictive than heroin' or uses any kind of argument of this nature.

Please note that I am in no way promoting heroin use or anything of the sort. I just wanted to cut through some common propaganda wrapped around the subject and shed some light on the facts.

To anyone interested in looking into the subject in more detail, I would recommend Jacob Sullum's For Your Own Good, which is a text on the history of the anti-smoking movement that also deals with the cigarette industry, health issues related to pipes, cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and also to a variety of issues tangentially related to the subject. It's somewhat dated, but is a valuable text, and is certainly a myth-buster. It also happens to be written by a non-smoker.

BTW, just to declare my bias, I'm a pipe smoker that enjoys an occasional cigar.

 

[Walker]

It's called mouth cancer. Haven't you ever heard of people getting part of there tongue cut off because of cancer?

Personally I don't inhale the smoke, I keep it in my mouth. So I don't think my health is at risk at all. Especially as I don't smoke cigar everyday.


That was an advice too, don't inhlale, especially if you never smoked. First time I inhaled cigar I puked and saw stars, that was weird.

 

[cybrok]

It's called mouth cancer. Haven't you ever heard of people getting part of there tongue cut off because of cancer?

Yes, but heavy smokers and drinkers. I don't think a cigar per month will give you mouth cancer. Seriously, about everything gives cancer at high doses.

 

[taffy]

If you have stayed away from smoking this far in your life, dont start now, smoking was a major reason of my heart attack last xmas, and i am only 46, keep off them is my advice, though its your call!

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

I am a recovering nicotine addict. Take it from me...

If you don't smoke, don't start. If you do smoke, stop.

"Smoking can shorten lives, and a new study finds it may also hamper men's sex lives. Researchers say men who smoke a pack of cigarettes or more a day are nearly 40 percent more likely to have erectile dysfunction compared with nonsmokers."

 

[goby]

Aso I've never smoked but I'm somewhat interested in trying cigars
I wondering what health risks are I would assume the would be fairly minimal for a recreational smoker maybe only once or twice a week
what's the addiction factor like I find that I get hooked into things fairly easily
would you suggest cigars for someone whose never smoked at all before

I'm not really sure why I got interested all of a sudden maybe it's cause I hangout with co workers outside while they are on smoke break. So I'm used to the second hand smoke abit and almost like it
but the breath that follows and the lingering odors are off putting but I assume those wouldn't be too bad with very casual use


Let me know your thoughts on it I mean I guess I could try it once and see but if people say it's not worth it ill probably stay away

OMG, I know this is a gentlemanly forum, but I'm just going to say it...

Are you a frickin' idiot?????

Every now and then someone posts about wanting to try cigars, pipes, or cigarettes every now and then. My god... what a frickin' stupid question.

Sorry people (and mods), but tobacco kills!!!!! DON'T START SMOKING!!!

Please don't do it. It will be something you will regret. Trust me.