So, as many of you have discovered in my recent posts, I'm relatively new to the cigar world. I've always enjoyed a good cigar but I haven't dedicated time toward learning about cigars and taking my enjoyment to a new level. In the past I have smoke cigarettes, a nasty habit that I have managed to kick, for the most part, over the course of the last year. I do enjoy a cigarette from time to time and I don't kick myself for it as I'm incredibly proud of the massive cut back that I have achieve in recent past. My wife has always disagreed with my smoking and I don't blame her. I've managed to convince her that my newfound joy in cigars is much better than my daily habit of cigarettes and we have managed to agree on a number of 1 cigar per week. This is a number I'd like to see increase! I started to do some research and found one article saying that cigars are just as bad if not worse that cigarettes, http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/cigars.htm, but I then I got to the point where it said that their case study was based on 1500 cigar smoking men where "Most of them smoked less than 5 cigars a day." This study definately does not apply to me as I don't even smoke 5 in a month at this point let alone 5 in a day. So my question to all of you is, how many cigars do you enjoy in a day/week/month? How did you come to this number? How do you feel about your health? What physical or scientific evidence do you have that cigars have improved or impaired your health?

Well im goin off just pur bullsh** but lets take a robusto for example. Lets say its 5 times biiger than a cigarette. Now u dont inhale the smoke but u have all that extra smoke going thru your mouth and lets say your nose, but its all natural unlike cigarette smoke. At what point does it catch up to equal strwngth of carcinagens as cigarettes since its more tobacco versus less tobacco but more chemicals. To me natural is a little safer. But you here of both sides somwhere along the lines of smoking til they are 99 years old without side effects (cancer),. So in all reality you have to see what is your family history of cancer to see what is favorable in your future

http://www.cigarcyclopedia.com/webapp/images/stories/cigarprimer/primer2health%2090207.pdf

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Kuzi's cigar catalog blending 101 developing your palate

kuzi16:

http://www.cigarcyclopedia.com/webapp/images/stories/cigarprimer/primer2health%2090207.pdf

For some reason I just couldn't stop picturing the guy from Thank You For Smoking as I read this.

I probably smoke once a week sometimes less sometimes more depending on what I have going on. Some weeks I don't smoke at all but if I'm at my friend's cigar bar hanging out with him I could easily smoke 3 in a night. My biggest issue is finding time to smoke. I can't do it inside (choose not to) and I just don't have half to one and a half hours to dedicate to smoking. I was actually going to ask the other day and it kind of piggy backs on this question, when do you guys find time to smoke?

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Bobby

I maybe smoke 1 or 2 a week. And sometimes I don't have time to smoke any.

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"Long ashes my friends"

I have 4-6 cigars a week; all depending on the weather since i smoke outdoors. this number can change weekly due to outside commitments or unforeseen circumstances. usually I smoke in the evenings to just relax and enjoy the outdoors. Weekends I sometimes have one in the morning w/ my morning coffee.

It all depends. Yesterday I had one. MOnday I had two. Saturday and Sunday I had one. Friday I think I had two but cant remember. Today I will have one normal size and maybe a smaller one. This Saturday I will probably have 4 - 5.

I appreciate all of your responses, but most of you have elected to only answer the first question. I'm a glutton and if I don't know how to derive a proper amount of cigars to consume in a set amount of time, I'll simply go overboard with it. Does anyone have a response for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th question? Thank you to those who have answered these questions already!

I smoke about 3-6 a week in the summer, and I stop cold once it gets frosty out - so that's about 6mo out of the year I smoke, and 6mo I don't. I like smoking cigars, but not enough that I'm willing to stand in the cold. I'd much rather just go inside and have a cup of tea or hot chocolate instead.

As for your second question, I came to this number partly out of budget concerns (cigars are expensive!), but partly because I'm a bit worried about the health effects. It's true that cigarettes are far more deadly since they penetrate into your lungs. While cigar smoke stays in the mouth, so you won't get lung cancer, it does increase the risk of mouth cancer. How much is that risk? I believe rather small. The risk of cancer is partly genetic, and my family has no history of cancer at all, so my risk is quite small to begin with. Plus, normal cigarette smokers inhale the smoke, so it passes through their mouth as well as their lungs - and you almost never hear about oral cancer (though it certainly does occur), but lung cancer seems to carry the higher risk

Secondly, the body can regenerate damaged tissue over time - people who smoked 3 packs a day for 30 years, and who's lungs are completely black - the body can cycle out the tar and these people can have pink lungs again (though it takes about 14 years). So again, my low rate of smoking, combined with my on-again, off-again habits, lowers my risk as well (plus I work out about 5 days a week and keep myself healthy anyway)

As for your last question, I find my heartrate increases when I smoke, but it's also quite relaxing. I smoke a cigar at the end of a long day while I'm grilling - I'm just unwinding and the cigar just puts the icing on the cake of grilling outside with some burgers. So while the cigar may increase my heartrate, it's also decreasing my levels of stress from the long day.

But in the end, it all comes down to your choice - there's definite risks involved, so the question is, do you want to accept the risks?

That's what it means to live free anyway - to make a choice, for better or for ill, and accept the consequences of that choice. I know there's risks involved in smoking cigars, but I've accepted the risks in return for the relaxation and enjoyment they provide. I weighed the risks and chose to accept them anyway. So make your choice.

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Question, challenge, and always keep a fresh battery in your bullshit detector

xmacro:

I smoke about 3-6 a week in the summer, and I stop cold once it gets frosty out - so that's about 6mo out of the year I smoke, and 6mo I don't. I like smoking cigars, but not enough that I'm willing to stand in the cold. I'd much rather just go inside and have a cup of tea or hot chocolate instead.

As for your second question, I came to this number partly out of budget concerns (cigars are expensive!), but partly because I'm a bit worried about the health effects. It's true that cigarettes are far more deadly since they penetrate into your lungs. While cigar smoke stays in the mouth, so you won't get lung cancer, it does increase the risk of mouth cancer. How much is that risk? I believe rather small. The risk of cancer is partly genetic, and my family has no history of cancer at all, so my risk is quite small to begin with. Plus, normal cigarette smokers inhale the smoke, so it passes through their mouth as well as their lungs - and you almost never hear about oral cancer (though it certainly does occur), but lung cancer seems to carry the higher risk

Secondly, the body can regenerate damaged tissue over time - people who smoked 3 packs a day for 30 years, and who's lungs are completely black - the body can cycle out the tar and these people can have pink lungs again (though it takes about 14 years). So again, my low rate of smoking, combined with my on-again, off-again habits, lowers my risk as well (plus I work out about 5 days a week and keep myself healthy anyway)

As for your last question, I find my heartrate increases when I smoke, but it's also quite relaxing. I smoke a cigar at the end of a long day while I'm grilling - I'm just unwinding and the cigar just puts the icing on the cake of grilling outside with some burgers. So while the cigar may increase my heartrate, it's also decreasing my levels of stress from the long day.

But in the end, it all comes down to your choice - there's definite risks involved, so the question is, do you want to accept the risks?

That's what it means to live free anyway - to make a choice, for better or for ill, and accept the consequences of that choice. I know there's risks involved in smoking cigars, but I've accepted the risks in return for the relaxation and enjoyment they provide. I weighed the risks and chose to accept them anyway. So make your choice.

Awesome! Thanks for answering all the questions. Your answer has been a tremendous help to me!

xmacro:

I smoke about 3-6 a week in the summer, and I stop cold once it gets frosty out - so that's about 6mo out of the year I smoke, and 6mo I don't. I like smoking cigars, but not enough that I'm willing to stand in the cold. I'd much rather just go inside and have a cup of tea or hot chocolate instead.

As for your second question, I came to this number partly out of budget concerns (cigars are expensive!), but partly because I'm a bit worried about the health effects. It's true that cigarettes are far more deadly since they penetrate into your lungs. While cigar smoke stays in the mouth, so you won't get lung cancer, it does increase the risk of mouth cancer. How much is that risk? I believe rather small. The risk of cancer is partly genetic, and my family has no history of cancer at all, so my risk is quite small to begin with. Plus, normal cigarette smokers inhale the smoke, so it passes through their mouth as well as their lungs - and you almost never hear about oral cancer (though it certainly does occur), but lung cancer seems to carry the higher risk

Secondly, the body can regenerate damaged tissue over time - people who smoked 3 packs a day for 30 years, and who's lungs are completely black - the body can cycle out the tar and these people can have pink lungs again (though it takes about 14 years). So again, my low rate of smoking, combined with my on-again, off-again habits, lowers my risk as well (plus I work out about 5 days a week and keep myself healthy anyway)

As for your last question, I find my heartrate increases when I smoke, but it's also quite relaxing. I smoke a cigar at the end of a long day while I'm grilling - I'm just unwinding and the cigar just puts the icing on the cake of grilling outside with some burgers. So while the cigar may increase my heartrate, it's also decreasing my levels of stress from the long day.

But in the end, it all comes down to your choice - there's definite risks involved, so the question is, do you want to accept the risks?

That's what it means to live free anyway - to make a choice, for better or for ill, and accept the consequences of that choice. I know there's risks involved in smoking cigars, but I've accepted the risks in return for the relaxation and enjoyment they provide. I weighed the risks and chose to accept them anyway. So make your choice.

I would have to say I would agree with alot of this. I for one have never smoked cigarettes (or anything else for that matter) other than cigars. I am relatively a light cigar smoker. 1-2 a week, and also if it's cold my cigar smoking goes waaay down (if I do it at all). Also, budget concerns also keep me from doing it on a daily basis. As of the health concerns, i know that there are some, but not as many as compared to cigarettes. But the same can be said for alcohol. As for the cancer risk, I have no clue how my biological parents/family history was in this regard because I am adopted. it was my personal choice not to worry about these kinds of things because life is too short to keep worrying about if i am going to develop some kind of cancer or something else down the line. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, but what thing is for sure, I am not going to sorry that I didn't eat that salad instead of that nice big steak, or smoke that cigar instead I'll be saying "That was a damn good steak and that was a damn GREAT cigar".
I have also always fancied this quote “Life should NOT be a journey to the
grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”

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"Long ashes my friends"

I once read a report from the Oxford Journal of Medicine regarding the risk of heart disease among cigar-smoking males. It compared the percentage of risk to a non-smoking male who had never smoked with the percentage of risk to men who smoke 1 to 2 cigars per day, 3 to 4 cigars per day, 5 to 6 per day, etc. The upshot of the whole thing was essentially that a guy who smokes 1 to 2 cigars per day has a 1.2% greater risk of heart disease than the guy who never smoked.

I wasn't checking on cancer or any of the other things one can acquire via smoking cigarettes but a lot of folks overlook the fact that heart disease is frequently caused by smoking (and, I would assume, inhaling).

Since I rarely, if ever, smoke as many as 2 per day, and I don't inhale, I don't get alarmed about a puny 1.2% greater risk.

Marty

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Marty


Some expensive sour mash bourbon, an excellent handmade cigar, an exceptional woman....Life is good!
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Life's too short for bad cigars, Grasshopper......
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I had similar questions when I started so I researched this a bit and found a journal article from some hospital (Mayo maybe) that compared cancer rates for nose, throat, mouth and lungs between non smokers and cigar users who average 1-2 cigars per day and inhale. The result was that people who smoke cigars at that rate double their chance of getting cancer when compared to a non smoker. At first I thought that was a lot but when you think how small the odds are of a non smoker getting that type of cancer its really not that bad. Double .001% is still only .002% That being said, I only have 1-2 a week in the summer and ever fewer in the long winters.