Tobacco without smoking
When I was in college, I took up pipe smoking. I particularly enjoyed Turkish Latakia tobacco and Native Cigarettes, smoked through a long-stemmed church warden clay pipe. But shortly after I got married, my wife told me to stop.
Smoking is a particularly dangerous nicotine delivery system. Nowadays, there is vaping, which some see as safer. It may well be, but “safer” isn’t the same as “safe.”
“People who self-reported ever having used electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were 19% more likely to develop heart failure within 45 months than those who reportedly never did (adjusted HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.35). This was not affected by factors such as patient age, patient sex, and cigarette smoking . . .”
Vaping and heart failure
Also too, smokeless tobacco is seen as a safe substitute:
“A relatively new nicotine product with a tobacco-free and smokeless design has drawn in a wave of new users in just the past year: oral nicotine pouches that sit at the gums and are nearly undetectable when in use.
“The leading brand Zyn, introduced in the United States in 2014, shipped 350 million cans, about 15 pouches per can, in 2023 — a 62% increase compared with the previous year, Philip Morris International announced in February.
“While the product is aimed at adults who already use nicotine, some health professionals and researchers are worried the attention could attract an influx of brand-new users, especially among younger people.”
Increased popularity of smokeless tobacco
Exploiting addiction is good business, if not good health.
On every can of smokeless tobacco should be a photo of someone who’s had half their jaw removed due to oral cancer.
It was something to chuckle about fifty years ago, when we never thought marijuana would be legalized, but it has been foreseen if only in jest that weed would be legal and tobacco would one day be illegal. Street thug down on the corner: “hey man, you wanna’ buy a Lucky?
Like alcohol it’s a poison and we all know it. I still enjoy 4 or 5 Luckies a day …