Smoke with Fire

A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool on the other.

That’s how a cigarette, a cigar, a pipe, a beedi or a hookah or whatever you smoke is defined.

Absolutely no arguments against the fact that smoking kills by millions and costs a nation billions in medical expenses and lost productivity.

Innocent Non-smokers working in smoking environments inhale the tobacco chemicals throughout the day and suffer from the same health problems that smoker’s experience.

France, Ireland, Italy and Japan have restricted smoking in public places.

Some breathe deeply while others fume as tough anti-smoking rules catch on.

Governments of various nations have sounded the red alert to drastically minimize the hazards of smoking to human life and the environment.

The formula is simple: a prices rise and fewer people will buy cigarettes. Smoking rate in adult smokers will be reduced and it will prevent initiation of regular smoking by children and young adults.

A big hike in the federal tax on cigarettes taking effect on April 1 may prompt 1 million U.S. smokers to quit.

India’s anti tobacco law came into effect on October 2, 2008. The rules mandate that all public places including offices, restaurants, public institutions, bars and work places to go 100 per cent smoke-free.

The ultimate aim is to reduce the demand for tobacco - a Herculean task indeed.

The rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes are drawing the attention of youngsters in China,USA,the Middle East and elsewhere .They are led to believe that e cigarettes are the modern innovation to correct smoking hazards.


The pressure from the tobacco industry working directly or indirectly through ministers and politicians, parallel advertising and, workers in tobacco industry prove to be major stumbling blocks. After all they make the vote bank.

Decline in cigarette sales could put thousands of people out of work mainly retail store clerks and cashiers, truck drivers who deliver cigarettes, warehouse workers, sales representatives and others. To make it worse this is recession time too.

Sigmund Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Any self-respecting cigar smoker, however, will tell you that a cigar is far less a cigar when the correct arts are not applied to the preparation of the cigar.

If you think cigarettes are simply tobacco leaves rolled in paper, you’re about 597 ingredients away from the truth. The tobacco industry has become master mixologists with the additives. Some ingredients are added for flavor. But the key purpose of using additives is to improve tobacco’s potency resulting in increased addictiveness. The additives used are shocking - no - horrendous

When a cigarette is burnt, the whole mess results in over 4,000 chemicals, including more than 40 known carcinogenic compounds and 400 other toxins.

The solution to the bitter-tasting cigarette was solved by adding taste-improving chemicals to the tobacco. A chemical similar to rocket fuel helps keep the tip of the cigarette burning at an extremely hot temperature. This allows the nicotine in tobacco to turn into a vapor so your lungs can absorb it more easily. That’s efficiency.

For a start, here’s the list of the most toxic ingredients used to make cigarettes tastier, and more quickly, effectively addictive:

Ammonia: Household cleaner.
Arsenic: Used in rat poisons.
Benzene: Used in making dyes, synthetic rubber.
Butane: Gas; used in lighter fluid.
Carbon monoxide: Poisonous gas.
Cadmium: Used in batteries.
Cyanide: Lethal poison.
DDT: A banned insecticide.
Ethyl Ferrate: Causes liver damage in animals.
Lead: Poisonous in high doses.
Formaldehyde: Used to preserve dead specimens.
Methoprene: Insecticide.
Maltitol: Sweetener for diabetics.
Napthalene: Ingredient in mothballs.
Methyl isocyanate: Its accidental release killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

Now, that the facts are laid bare for a beginning it is up to each individual.

You may cut down on your cigarette.

But not in half.



images courtesy Google