What is a cigarette?

July 18, 2011

Many people are worried about scaring number of staining agents, stabilizers and other ingredients that are added to foodstuffs. But not many of them wonder what a usual cigarette contains and what substances are created during smoking?

Cigarette flavors that are popular in these latter days include loved from little up sweets: cacao, vanilla, licorice, sugar and even honey. Except them cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 chemical substances that are highly used in other areas of human activity.

Here are some of them:

Ammonium is contained in WC cleaners.

Acetone is contained in varnish remover.

Cadmium is high-toxic metal that is used in accumulator batteries.

Vinyl chloride is used during poly vinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing.

Naphthalene is used as solution against mole.

Carbon monoxide (CO), toxic product of combustion, typical source is exhausting pipes of the cars and gas burners. In big quantities, for example, with breakdown of gas burners, carbon monoxide poisons smoker's breathing.

Tar of cigarettes' smoke lies on lungs and blocks them. After inhaling smoke condensates and approximately 70 % of tar lies in lungs in form of condensate of adhesive, brown substance that leaves yellow-brown spots on smoker's fingers and teethes.

Nicotine is powerful and fast-acting substance that causes addiction. During tobacco smoke inhalation nicotine is consumed by blood flow what causes such reactions of body as acceleration and rise of blood pressure.

Cyanide is used in gas chamber.

Formaldehyde id used for dead bodies' conservation.

Arsenic is well known poison.

In order to find out level of dependence from nicotine, it is enough for smokers to answer two main questions: after what amount of time after wakening, he smokes first cigarette and how many cigarettes he smokes a day? The less is first factor and more the second one, the higher dependence is. On this approach is based widely spread procedure of estimation - Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence.

Fagerstrom test

1. How quick do you smoke first cigarettes after wakening?

Not earlier than in 60 minutes (0)

31-60 minutes (1)

6-30 minutes (2)

During 5 minutes (3)

2. Is it difficult for you to refrain from smoking where it is prohibited?

No (0)

Yes (1)

3. Refuse of which cigarette causes more aversion to you?

First morning (1)

Any other (0)

4. How many cigarettes a day you smoke?

10 or less (0)

11-20 (1)

21-30 (2)

31 or more (3)

5. During first house after wakening do you smoke oftener than during the rest time of the day?

No (0)

Yes (1)

6. Do you smoke if you are so sick that you have to remain in bad major part of the day?

No (0)

Yes (1)

If integral estimation is lower than 4 points, your dependence from nicotine is not hard and it will be relatively easy to quit smoking. If integral estimation is more than 7 points, you suffer of difficult nicotine dependence and to refuse this habit you need consultations of specialist or just perfect will power.