Cigars as harmful as cigarettes, says study

Researchers find that the level of nicotine found in small cigar smoke is similar to or greater than cigarette smoke.

Washington DC: Some people believe cigars pose fewer health risks than cigarettes, but a new research suggests it isn't so.

Cigars may be just as harmful and addictive, according to Penn State researchers, who add that small cigars have just as much if not more nicotine than cigarettes.

The researchers analyzed the nicotine in smoke from popular brands of "small" or "filtered" cigars -- cigars that are almost identical to cigarettes except they're wrapped in leaf tobacco instead of paper. The researchers found that the level of nicotine found in small cigar smoke is similar to or greater than cigarette smoke.

Researcher Reema Goel said that the study shows that nicotine is pretty high in this class of cigars, and future regulation that affects cigarettes should also affect these cigars.

John Richie said that the confusion surrounding the safety of cigars may stem from tobacco companies using clever tricks to get around current regulations.

"There are many misconceptions about cigars. The truth is, cigar smoke is inhaled and is just as harmful to the lungs," Richie said. "Tobacco companies use loopholes in the way these products are taxed to allow these small cigars to be substantially cheaper than cigarettes. They can also get around the regulation that says cigarettes can't be flavored, to avoid making them appealing to children. These small cigars come in all kinds of flavors."

The researchers compared the nicotine delivery in eight common brands of small cigars with two types of cigarettes commonly used in research. Nicotine was measured by first collecting the smoke from each cigar with a smoking machine in the laboratory, which "smoked" the product using two different methods to account for the different ways people smoke.

Using the International Organization of Standardization method (ISO), the machine took two-second puffs every 60 seconds, with no filter vents blocked. With the Canada Intense (CI) method, the machine also took two-second puffs, but they were only 30 seconds apart, and the vents were blocked with tape. Nicotine was then extracted and analyzed from both groups.

The researchers found that when the ISO method was used, the mean average nicotine delivered by the small cigars sampled was 1.24 milligrams per cigar, compared to 0.87 in cigarettes. Using the CI method, the mean average of nicotine delivered by the small cigars was 3.49 milligrams per cigar, compared to 2.13 in cigarettes.

The study appears in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.