Life is short, even if you live a long time. If you are really enjoying your cigars and don't mind that they might shorten your lifespan or give you cancer, have at them. Some people are okay with trading possible longevity for what they consider quality of life. I'm a former smoker and can totally understand why someone would choose to keep smoking, even though it causes serious health prokems. It felt like a little slice of heaven every time I lit up.

Anonymous wrote:You might want to do some quick research on bladder cancer, too. Most people don't know that bladder cancer is directly linked to smoking. Wearing a bag of urine isn't that cool.

My dad smoked in his 20s, but had quit and been tobacco-free for 50 years--except for the occasional cigar. Fortunately, he was diagnosed early, and it was very treatable, but the doctor was really, really, really clear that he could not smoke anymore. Ever.

Probably. Why take the chance?

You might or might not die from a smoking-related illness. I believe that something like only 20% of smokers get lung cancer, and a really large percentage of people with lung cancer never smoked.

Take my 87 year old aunt. She has been a heavy smoker her entire adult life -- needed a cigarette break every 20 minutes like clockwork, smoked 2.5-3 packs a day. She is still alive, and has never gotten cancer. She had a massive stroke a couple years back and is still alive and not in the hospital. I think the smoke basically tanned her inside and out like beef jerky. Whatever she eventually dies of, it would be hard to say that smoking has shortened her life in any significant way.

So you may have great genes like my aunt and somehow smoke however many cigars a day and still avoid cancer. And you might also be horribly unlucky and get lung cancer even if you never smoke. You can't control your genes, and you can't control bad luck.

But you can control a known risk factor for cancer, emphysema, heart disease, wrinkles, yellow teeth, bad breath, and social opprobrium. So why would you knowingly increase your risks? If it turns out that you're one of the ones who gets cancer, well, too late at that point to go back and undo your risk factors.

[

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might want to do some quick research on bladder cancer, too. Most people don't know that bladder cancer is directly linked to smoking. Wearing a bag of urine isn't that cool.

This is very true. I just found out that a friend of mine has a brother who smokes and was literally just diagnosed with bladder cancer. I told him, because he smokes too that cigarettes are the number one cause of cancer of the bladder. you should quit if you can. I'm not lecturing you, I'm just giving you a real statistic. Not to mention, when he was going to do the usual testing prior to surgery he was told that they would have to postpone the surgery, because his EKG showed that he had had a stroke at some point. He did not even know it. Plus, you cannot be a smoker if you need surgery. No doctor will operate on a smoker. Unless I suppose if it is an emergency. good luck to you.

As I understand it, they will operate on smokers, they just need to be informed of the risk it creates of posing a complication during the surgery (e.g. Lung collapse and need of ventilator)

After all of the information you have received this is what you have to say? People die every single day from this! What more do you need? Not to mention, people die every single day from secondhand smoke. Those of us that choose to live healthy die because of those who don't care.

Yep, it did my dad in.

Regardless of what happens to you from a health perspective, a three-cigar a day habit significantly increases the likelihood that you will face it alone (unless you happen to be married to an anosmic).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might want to do some quick research on bladder cancer, too. Most people don't know that bladder cancer is directly linked to smoking. Wearing a bag of urine isn't that cool.

This is very true. I just found out that a friend of mine has a brother who smokes and was literally just diagnosed with bladder cancer. I told him, because he smokes too that cigarettes are the number one cause of cancer of the bladder. you should quit if you can. I'm not lecturing you, I'm just giving you a real statistic. Not to mention, when he was going to do the usual testing prior to surgery he was told that they would have to postpone the surgery, because his EKG showed that he had had a stroke at some point. He did not even know it. Plus, you cannot be a smoker if you need surgery. No doctor will operate on a smoker. Unless I suppose if it is an emergency. good luck to you.

As I understand it, they will operate on smokers, they just need to be informed of the risk it creates of posing a complication during the surgery (e.g. Lung collapse and need of ventilator)

Anonymous wrote:
Geneticist here. The truth is that smoking 3 cigars a day for, let's say, 20 years, will greatly increase your risk of developing whatever weakness was already in your genetic make-up (enhanced by the rest of your lifestyle).

1. Lung cancer is heavily gene-driven. If you have the predisposition and smoke, you're done for, absolutely. Did anyone in your biological family have lung cancer? Then you should never smoke yourself. It's a most painful thing to die of.

2. Heart disease. Already on top of the list because of our population's eating and exercise habits. If you don't eat clean, exercise and are already naturally lean, adding smoking to your lifestyle will hasten the inevitable cardiac issues, and you will die.

3. Second-hand smoke. Don't smoke around elderly, pregnant women and young children. If the people around you are genetically predisposed to lung cancer, despite never have smoked themselves, smoking around them repeatedly will likely kill them.

4. Cigar=cigarette=tobacco. You can discuss the relative merits of any mode of ingestion, it's still dangerous.

NP. Thanks for this breakout.

I'm curious to know - what is your thought on the electronic cigarette/vaping and those risks?

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that "hand-made" confers mystical powers? The risks of smoking tobacco are established and well-known. Is it possible that you could escape the bullet? Sure. But how the cigars are rolled has nothing tondo with it.

it's ok. they're organic!

Anonymous wrote:You might want to do some quick research on bladder cancer, too. Most people don't know that bladder cancer is directly linked to smoking. Wearing a bag of urine isn't that cool.

This is very true. I just found out that a friend of mine has a brother who smokes and was literally just diagnosed with bladder cancer. I told him, because he smokes too that cigarettes are the number one cause of cancer of the bladder. you should quit if you can. I'm not lecturing you, I'm just giving you a real statistic. Not to mention, when he was going to do the usual testing prior to surgery he was told that they would have to postpone the surgery, because his EKG showed that he had had a stroke at some point. He did not even know it. Plus, you cannot be a smoker if you need surgery. No doctor will operate on a smoker. Unless I suppose if it is an emergency. good luck to you.

Oral and esophageal cancers are a big risk for cigar smokers.