Cigarette Smoking Facts

Cigarettes are slim filter-papered wrapped tubes, that are stuffed with tobacco and reportedly contain 599 additives that make up the ingredients in a cigarette.

There is a blend of flavors to make cigarettes taste better when smoked, like orange oil, lavender oil, vanilla, cloves, licorice, apricot stone, rum, and more. Companies worldwide make billions of dollars worth of profit from cigarette sales, and those that give companies most of their lucrative peaks range from an age group of 14-24 years.

There are a lot of health risks involved when smoking them on a long-term basis, and can prove to be fatal as well, where certain areas in the lung when damaged, cannot be restored to its original state.

At least 20,000 people die every year below the age of 70 from the 100,000 who started smoking at the age of 15, and a shocking one out of every five people die due to an illness caused by tobacco.

Smoking cigarettes is a cause for concern, since findings point out clearly that smoking is a dangerous form of inhaling chemicals, disguised as smoke. Teens who are exposed to advertising, and those who smoke are easily influenced by a so-called 'trend' or the want to 'blend in'.

They need to be put through an eye-opening awareness program when it comes to smoking for teens.

• There are about 20 percent of American teens who smoke.
• On an average, there are 3000 children who light up their first cigarette.

• Secondhand smoking can lead to one having decreased lung function, discomfort in the chest, coughing and phlegm irritation.
• Christopher Columbus on his return to Spain, took tobacco leaves for Queen Isabella. Check out these intriguing smoking facts and myths.

• Back in the 1600s, people in Turkey were tortured/killed for using tobacco; people in Russia were killed for the same and in China they were beheaded.
• People thought tobacco had medicinal value. Jean Nicot brought the tobacco plant back home to Portugal claiming that it had properties that could heal wounds, and treat ailments like cancer, and asthma.

• The Brazilians were the first to invent the idea of smoking tobacco, by rolling it in tobacco leaves.
• Rolling cigarettes for smoking was done in the 1800s, although it was expensive to do so. That is why they preferred to smoke it in a pipe.

• Words like 'nicotiana' and 'nicotine' came from Jean Nicot's last name.
• Henry Ford and Thomas Edison both agreed that the use of tobacco should be banned.
• Spanish and American colonies used tobacco sometimes in the place of money, due to its high value back then.

• Tobacco was called 'herba panacea', meaning 'cure-all herb', since people believed it was smoked to clean out the lungs.

• 'Bidis', which are legally imported from India, are thin filtered cigarettes that are hand wrapped in brown leaves. These are then tied with pieces of thread and are most commonly used among kids under the age of 18.
• Bidis are cheaper than cigarettes, and most kids think that smoking them are less risky than smoking cigarettes.

• Bidis have more nicotine present in them that is sent to one's bloodstream in high doses, and are more addictive than smoking cigarettes.
• Teenagers are highly addicted to nicotine, and can't give up the habit easily like adults.

• Smoking in women during pregnancy can cause miscarriages.
• Unborn children can have mental and developmental problems if mothers continually smoke during their pregnancy.

• Nicotine is known for raising cholesterol levels in the blood.
• Because tobacco is legal, teens and others alike find it easy to smoke and attain.
• Cigars contain nicotine that go up to 400 milligrams each, while cigarettes have about 8-9 milligrams of nicotine.

The effects of smoking cigarettes aren't pleasant for one to be subjected to, that is why doctors urge people to snuff the habit before the health risks take over.

• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Neuralgia
• Arthritis
• Feeling nervous
• Headaches
• Fingers and teeth are stained
• Leukoplakia
• Asthma
• Chest colds
• High blood pressure
• Convulsions

• Bronchitis
• Shortness of breath
• Tension
• Smoker's hack
• Tobacco amblyopia
• Influenza
• Peptic ulcers
• Depression
• Sinus passage inflammation
• Premature aging and wrinkles
• Pneumonia
• Larynx, tongue, bladder, lip, lung and pharynx cancer
• Nicotine angina pectoris
• Libido decreases
• Impaired hearing

These cigarette smoking facts should be able to influence chain smokers to quit the habit. I hope that you help yourself and others to stay clear from this bad habit, and alter your health for the better. Stay safe.