Natural Tobacco Oust the Marlboro Man

[Misanthrope 0]

I am not a smoker. Never have been, never will. But if for some godforsaken reason I was forced to start, you can bet I'd stay away from the Marlboro man and his ilk. There are organic, natural products available the average smoker isn't aware of - products that will take far longer to rot your lungs out. In the United States, there are up to 409 chemical additives used in commercial cigarettes, including formeldihide. In the Europeon Union, over 600. What I find intersting is that prior to 1970, little if none of these additives were used. Since the advent of chemical additives, lung cancer has done nothing but increase.Specific additives are used to provide high levels of "free" nicotine, increading the addictive factor. Some additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic or pharmacologically active. In short, your average smoker is just as addicted to the additives as he is to the tobacco itself.If you're thinking about quitting, it might behoove you to switch over to a natural brand for awhile. Here you can wean yourself off all those horrible additives and your fight to quit will be all the easier. Or maybe you want to keep smoking, and in a free society, you should have that right. Either way, tell the Marlboro man to kiss-off!

[BuffaloHelp 24]

Perhaps this natural tabacco might be a good substitute when someone is trying to quit. But the best solution is never starting it from the beginning. Anything that releases CO and/or CO2 as a result of combustion is carcinogen.Although chemical additives make cigarette addictive to many people, some people are naturally prone to addiction. This is one of the reasons why these chemicals were added--to induce the addictiveness. The biochemistry of certain gene present in the central nervous system, mainly in the brain, craves for these additives when exposed to certain level. So the longer these people exposed to additive chemicals the harder to quit because the body craves it like hunger.

[MIGUE2k7 0]

Well, im a smoker, but im not addicted to it, i dont feel the need for smoking, i can stay weeks without touching a cigarette, but i do it when i go with my friends. Anyway, i heard that those ''natural'' products are as bad for our health as the regular cigarettes, even the chewing tobacco, the smoke its what causes lung diseases and deterior, but yes, what you say about the additived used nowadays on cigarettes is true, those are toxic and has a big inpact in our health.Natural products may be less dangereous, but generally those products are more expensive, and dont taste as the cigarettes (obvious) and are harder to find, so average smokers dont take care of them.Anyway i guess i wont be so addicted to tobacco, dont know why but it hasn't never made me feel like having need for it.Thanks for sharing the information.

[Misanthrope 0]

Perhaps this natural tabacco might be a good substitute when someone is trying to quit. But the best solution is never starting it from the beginning. Anything that releases CO and/or CO2 as a result of combustion is carcinogen.
Although chemical additives make cigarette addictive to many people, some people are naturally prone to addiction. This is one of the reasons why these chemicals were added--to induce the addictiveness. The biochemistry of certain gene present in the central nervous system, mainly in the brain, craves for these additives when exposed to certain level. So the longer these people exposed to additive chemicals the harder to quit because the body craves it like hunger.

I think your comments, BuffaloHELP, really help cement my point. That is, the additives create a stronger dependancy than plain tabacco would on it's own. And as you elude to, it's really all mental in the end. Too bad the industry would study man's biology, then attempt (very sucessfuly) to use man's weakness against him. But then again, that seems to be the modus operandi of big business in general!

Well, im a smoker, but im not addicted to it, i dont feel the need for smoking, i can stay weeks without touching a cigarette, but i do it when i go with my friends. Anyway, i heard that those ''natural'' products are as bad for our health as the regular cigarettes, even the chewing tobacco, the smoke its what causes lung diseases and deterior, but yes, what you say about the additived used nowadays on cigarettes is true, those are toxic and has a big inpact in our health.
Natural products may be less dangereous, but generally those products are more expensive, and dont taste as the cigarettes (obvious) and are harder to find, so average smokers dont take care of them.

Anyway i guess i wont be so addicted to tobacco, dont know why but it hasn't never made me feel like having need for it.
Thanks for sharing the information.

It's cool that you're able to smoke every now and then without becoming addicted, but I fear you're in the minority.

I think what bothers me most about the chemical additives is that they trick people into feeling better about the whole smoking thing than they would if it were just pure tobacco. This may be a poor analogy, but I would liken it to Chinese food. Many an American won't bother preparing Chinese food from scratch because it doesn't taste all that good to the western palate. Chinese resturantuers are smart enough to realize this, so they lace their food with a brain altering chemical called, "MSG." Monosodium glutimate tricks the brain into thinking the food tastes good, or better than it actually does. And it's not just Chinese food. My understanding is that this crap is used pervasivly in fast food too. People get "addicted" to the feeling they get while eating out, and wonder why their home-cooked doesn't taste as good. But that's a whole other subject.

Notice from KuBi:

Merged double posts.

[xtender 0]

My personal opinion about smoking is that it is easy to quit but hard not to start again. I have quit a few times myself and the last time I didn't smoke for two years until I bought a pack of cigarettes at the gas station totally unaware.I do see the herb cigarettes may be helpful if you want to quit smoking, but nicotine chewing gum or smokeless tobacco is equally as good and more healthier (with a few exceptions regarding the types of the smokeless tobacco you can get in the shop).It is better to throw away the cigarettes, buy lots of salty pringles and work yourself through the first week by physical training until the body gets used to the lack of nicotine.

Edited January 12, 2007 by xtender (see edit history)

[Misanthrope 0]

xtender! You may be on to something with the salty pringles. I have to admit they're one of my favorite junk foods. Suprisingly, they're one of the few potato chip brands that don't contain hydrogenated oil (but that's a topic for another time....). Just to clarify, the tobacco I'm referring to is not an "herb" cigarette, but simply a cigarette as it was meant to be - in it's pure, unadulterated form. There are several brands and that's something folks can look into on their own time. At any rate, a pure tabacco cigarette is a far cry from the chemical ridden garbage most people become addicted to. And it is my belief smokers (and downwinders) would be much better off without the chemicals.Ironically, you have to pay MORE for a cigarette that doesn not contain these added chemicals. I've always found that fact very curious, and it applies accross the board of ingestible products, not just cigarettes.

[Yratorm, LightMage 0]

Hmm, in Nepal, Tibet and India, you do get chewing tobacco and cigarettes in their pure unadulterated form. These cigarettes (and chewing tobacco) contain only leaf tobacco, and are usually hand-rolled, either by the farmer himself, or by small cottage-industries attached to the land. They even have an outer covering of leaves and not of paper. They are even far CHEAPER than other cigarettes. And I must say they are AS addictive and AS deadly as any other types of cigarettes. My gran-dad died smoking them, which is why I won't touch 'em (learning from elders is a tradition in the east, heh).Basically, it's the nicotine in the tobacco that's the real addictive substance - it is more addictive that almost any other substance other than hard drugs.

Edited January 13, 2007 by Yratorm, LightMage (see edit history)

[Watermonkey 0]

Basically, it's the nicotine in the tobacco that's the real addictive substance - it is more addictive that almost any other substance other than hard drugs.

 

That's right. Nicotine is the most addictive substance that can be found in mainstream cigarettes. Nicotine is found in the tobacco plant and is the reason for the popularity of ingesting the tobacco leaves. Funny thing about nicotine is it's really not as addictive by itself as it is along side with other choice poisons, many of them addictive too, which are commonly added to commercial cigarettes. Some cigarettes are "stepped on" so heavily with additives there's hardly any tobacco left, thus little nicotine, so the makers have to actually add nicotine to make sure they're still addictive as hell as well as deadly poisons. I, personally, smoke cigarettes that contain more nicotine than most any other brand for two reasons: First, they're American Spirits Medium and they've got more tobacco crammed in those paper tubes than other cigarettes and since tobacco is the main (in this case the only) source of nicotine, it follows that this brand would contain more. Second, since they've got one ingredient, all natural 100% Virginia tobacco (and paper compromising the tube and filter) and nothing else, there's more room for good old-fashioned nicotine.

 

How many packs a day, you might be wondering, does Watermonkey smoke? Well, I actually don't go through a pack a day. Alright, how many packs a week does he smoke, you might be wondering... Actually I really don't smoke that quantity either. Well, how many cigarettes does he smoke in a month? I average between 30 and 35 cigarettes a month when I'm unemployed, which I've been since October. When I was employed, I was going through a pack or more a week. I currently smoke one cigarette at night before bed each day with the occasional mid-day smoke. In January, I smoked two cigarettes a day three days. The other days were one-cigarette days. I've grown use to this routine. Am I addicted? No. I am not. I believe I was once addicted when I was smoking Camels in my early 20's, but I over-consumed those and had to quit. A good educational web site regarding mainstream cigarettes can be found here: http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm It's not the worst thing in the world if you do it moderately after becoming informed. Know that many corporations really don't care about your health, but some smaller ones do. Common sense applies here as it always does. If you know there are "natural" cigarettes that contain one ingredient, it should follow that that product will be far less damaging to you then another product that has numerous poisons including cyanide and formaldehyde. It doesn't take a chemist to figure that one out.

[zak92 0]

Well tobacco smoking might not be so bad because you see it is good in a way that it will help you get immunity by tar and help in digesting food. Smoking companies are mean and they just add chemicals for their own benefit and do not think about their customers. All the drugs are safe if used in limited quantity or even Tylenol can be fatal. God made these things for our benefit but humans use it to harm themselves. Well Marlboro and davidoff are bad because they use lots of nicotine. They are bad and if you want to smoke plant your own tobacco and roll up your own cigarettes because you're the only person you can trust. Thank you.

[FolkRockFan 0]

I smoke additive-free cigarettes - and have for several years. Back when I started smoking, I smoked Camels and then Marlboros. When I made the switch to the additive free smokes, I spent a few days feeling pretty darned sick because my body was no longer getting the formaldehyde, ammonia and other garbage that go into most cigarettes.I'm trying to quit, but it's tough. Even though I'm "only" smoking plain old tobacco, my body is still addicted. Additive-free tobacco might not be as bad for me as the other cigarettes, but it's not GOOD for me either. If switching to the no-garbage-added cigarette helps somebody kick the addiction, then that's great. But I would caution that person to not put 100 percent faith in it because, like I just said, these smokes are addictive too.As for the chemicals that many cigarette makers put into their products: these additives are only there to keep people addicted. I actually did a boatload of research on this topic a few years ago for some reason and remember a little of what I found out. One of the more appalling discoveries: the cigarettes that are marketed to women often include chocolate and other additives because, hey, that's what we women types really like. Thus adding another component to the cigarette addiction.

[zak92 0]

Did you try chewing gum when you get the cravings for it. Iam 14 and when i used to smoke like a year back i dint like it. I wanted to stop but soon i got so addicted i couldn't. My friend was also a smoker and we both together decided we had to stop. We tried so hard but we needed something when we wanted to smoke. We tried chips but not good and gum was in fact the best thing. We got rid of it so quick and now iam a Gym guy and a health freak. The damage i did to my heart and lungs in those years wont go but the repairs are still taking place and i hope i do get over them as i do a lot of cardio.

[cangor 0]

That's really great that you were able to quit. Smoking and using tobacco is such a nasty, dirty habit, and I can't really see why it's addicting, but, companies are in it for the money, so they'll do anything to sell more of their product. If I was in the position of a company such as Marlboro, I'd feel awful about practically killing people for money.As for natural tobacco, It might be a bit better, but, really, it's all bad for you, so I think it's best just not to start, cause once you start, you're hooked.

[Misanthrope 0]

Well, what I'm noticing in the responses here is an overwhelming consensus that smoking is just plain bad....period. The current evidence seems to support this, but we can say the same about many things we choose to participate in as human beings. It should also be noted that there are studies that actually support limited tobacco usage, but the media chooses to ignore them, because they don't fit in with the current demonazation of tabacco usage. I can only speak for myself in saying that I could never smoke; my lungs just couldn't handle it. But for those who do smoke, and especially those who do it on a daily basis, it only makes sense to smoke the least harmful product available. In doing so, you at least avoid the many harmful ingredients the mainstream producers feel the need to poison your cigarettes with, and you are exposing yourself to only one potential poison.Sadly, we are but human. It's not always practical to completely avoid or shun any given substance, be it tobacco, food, or what have you. In the end, life often comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.

[FolkRockFan 0]

That's really great that you were able to quit. Smoking and using tobacco is such a nasty, dirty habit, and I can't really see why it's addicting, but, companies are in it for the money, so they'll do anything to sell more of their product. If I was in the position of a company such as Marlboro, I'd feel awful about practically killing people for money.
As for natural tobacco, It might be a bit better, but, really, it's all bad for you, so I think it's best just not to start, cause once you start, you're hooked.

Addiction doesn't have as much to do with the vice as it does the person. I know people who can smoke occasionally - say, once a month - and not even think about cigarettes for weeks afterward. I also know people like me, who are definitely addicted (to the point of smoking a pack a day or more, ever day, no matter what).

The same goes for gambling, alcohol...well, anything really. Some people aren't prone to addiction; others are.

The fact that tobacco companies add all sorts of junk to their products doesn't help, of course. But there are people out there who would become addicted to smoking dried oak tree leaves. (I would probably be one of those people.)

[zak92 0]

Some people have a good willpower and that is why we all are here gods test to see weather we can control our cravings or not.