Cigars Healthy? You're Blowing Smoke

Cigars have traditionally been viewed as the luxurious, somehow more healthful cousins of the cigarette. It's a perception that is quickly changing. A Centers for Disease Control study published in this week's journal of the National Cancer Institute found cigar smokers to be five times more likely than nonsmokers to die from lung cancer. Those who inhale their stogies are nearly eight times more likely to succumb to lung cancer than nonsmokers, while non-inhalers are three times as likely. The reason for the death rate among non-inhalers may come down to secondhand smoke — mostly from their own cigars.

These findings are disturbing in light of the recent cigar craze, which has seen sales pass 5 billion per annum in the U.S. in recent years. Cigars first came back into vogue as a luxury — that swinging image of sucking on a Havana at a ritzy martini bar. Also alarming, say the researchers, is the increasing use of smaller cigars, sometimes known as cigarillos. The lower pH levels in these cigars, say the report's authors, make users more likely to inhale them, thus increasing the chance of lung cancer.