What is in those cigarettes, anyway?

Cigarettes look deceptively simple - they consist of paper tubes that contain chopped up tobacco leaf and usually have a filter at the mouth end, right?  In reality cigarettes are a highly engineered product designed to give you a steady dose of nicotine. 

In addition to the tobacco leaf blend, cigarettes contain fillers that are made from the bits of tobacco which would otherwise be waste products. These fillers are then combined with water and various flavorings and additives. The amount of fillers found in cigarettes varies among different brand. For example, a cigarette with a high filler content makes a less dense cigarette with a slightly lower level of tar.

Cigarettes also contain a number of additives that are there to make tobacco products more acceptable to the smoker. These include humectants, which are like moisturizers and prolong the shelf life; sugars to make the smoke appear milder and therefore easier to inhale; and flavorings such as chocolate and vanilla. 

While some of these additives may appear to be quite harmless in their natural form, they could be toxic when combined with other substances.  Also when additives are burned, new products of combustion are formed and these may be toxic. 

Nicotine and tar delivery is also modified by the kind of paper used in the cigarette. Paper that is more porous allows more air into the cigarette, diluting the smoke and supposedly reduces the amount of tar and nicotine reaching the smoker’s lungs. 

Filters trap some of the tar and smoke particles from the inhaled smoke and also cool the smoke slightly, making it easier to inhale. They were added to cigarettes in the 1950s, in reaction to the first reports that smoking was dangerous. Tobacco companies claimed that filtered brands contained lower tar levels than others and persuaded smokers to believe that they were safer. 

Other known additives found in cigarettes include:

§                     Tar

§                     Carbon monoxide

§                     Nicotine

§                     Nitric acid

§                     Hydrogen cyanide

§                     Mercury

§                     Ammonia

Tar

Tar is the substance you inhale when you draw on a lighted cigarette; it’s the sticky brown substance that sometimes stains smokers’ fingers and teeth a yellow-brown color. All cigarettes produce tar but each brand differs in amounts of tar they contain. 

Tar is carcinogenic, in other words it can cause cancerous disease in the body. It also becomes concentrated as the sticky, brown substance settles in the lungs, clogging up the small hairs known as cilia that protect and clean the lungs.

Low Tar Cigarettes

Although there is some evidence of a moderate reduction in lung cancer risk associated with lower tar cigarettes, research has shown that smokers of so called 'mild' brands are likely to inhale just as much tar and nicotine as smokers of ordinary cigarettes, and because the same blend of tobacco is used, they are still taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals. There is no evidence to suggest that switching to lower tar cigarettes reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. 

Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide is the main poisonous gas in car exhausts. It can be frightening to know this poisonous gas is present in all cigarette smoke.  It binds to hemoglobin much more easily than to oxygen, and allows the blood to carry less oxygen.