Damage control: Helpful hints for cigar smokers

Even if you don't inhale, smoking the occasional cigar raises your odds for heart disease and a wide variety of cancers. While no one's figured out the precise risk, consider this: because cigars are bigger than cigarettes, take longer to smoke, use tobacco that's aged and fermented, and are rolled in slower-burning wrappers a single large cigar emits up to 20 times more ammonia, five to 10 times more cadmium (a carcinogenic metal) and up to 80 to 90 times more highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

A  definitive U.S. National Cancer Institute report on cigar smoking points out, "All smokers, whether or not they inhale, directly expose the lips, mouth, throat, larynx and tongue to smoke."  Additionally, "smoke constituents in the saliva are swallowed into the esophagus."

If you smoke one or more cigars every day, you've raised your odds for heart disease, serious lung problems, and a wide variety of cancers on virtually every part of your body that is exposed to tobacco smoke, from your lips, tongue, mouth and throat to your esophagus, larynx and lungs.

The more you smoke, the higher the risk: while one or two cigars a day doubles your risk for cancers of the mouth; puffing three or four raises your risk more than eight times above normal; smoking five or more cigars a day boosts it to 16 times higher than that of nonsmokers.

It's never too late

If you've been an occasional smoker, quitting will probably wipe out most cigar-related risks within a few years.

If you've been a heavy cigar smoker for years, however, your heart disease and lung cancer risk may not fall to that of a nonsmoker's for decades.

Benefits 

Stop smoking cigars and you will not only lower your risk for mouth and lung cancers but also you'll have more money in your pocket. Your colleagues will appreciate that you no longer have cigar breath, and your clothes, car and house will smell significantly better.

When you run out of your current stock, switch to a healthier pastime, such as a sipping a good glass of wine.

The upside

Unlike cigarette smoking, smoking cigars is usually an occasional vice, not a dependency, making quitting a little easier.

Stay alert for oral cancer warning signs:

• A sore on your lips gums or inside your mouth that won't heal
• A thick spot in your cheek
• Numbness
• Difficulty swallowing
• A feeling that something's caught in your throat

Get regular blood pressure and cholesterol checks to catch heart disease risks as early as possible.

Tell your doctor about your smoking history and watch for warning signs of possible lung cancer, such as constant chest pain, shortness of breath or coughing up blood.

Can't give up the occasional cigar? Smoke the smallest size possible.

While it might seem that the occasional cigar with the guys is a bold, classic even elegant move, it isn't. There are many better ways to show solidarity with your friends and associates and without doing such harsh damage to your body.