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Re-lighting a cigarette

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  • 08-04-2009 12:42pm
    #1
    JennyAnt
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭


    Hi all!

    My mam is trying to give up smoking and is doing well (gone from 20+ to less than 10 a day) However she is coping by smoking half a cig and then relighting the next time she has a craving. Now I'm sure I read or heard that smoking the 'last' half of a cigarette is worse for you than smoking one from the beginning. I was wondering if anyone knew if there is truth in what I heard and why exactly it is so bad??

    Hope I've explained that properly!

    Thanks.


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    #2
    antiskeptic
    Registered Users Posts: 9,555 ✭✭✭antiskeptic


    JennyAnt wrote: »
    Hi all!

    My mam is trying to give up smoking and is doing well (gone from 20+ to less than 10 a day) However she is coping by smoking half a cig and then relighting the next time she has a craving. Now I'm sure I read or heard that smoking the 'last' half of a cigarette is worse for you than smoking one from the beginning. I was wondering if anyone knew if there is truth in what I heard and why exactly it is so bad??

    Hope I've explained that properly!

    Thanks.

    I'll take the opportunity to plug Allen Carrs book again "The Easyway to Stop Smoking" which you could buy her for about a tenner.

    When a smoker smokes a cigarette, what they are achieving is the suppression of nicotine withdrawal symptoms arising from your bodies efforts to rid itself of a poison (nicotine) delivered by the last cigarette (..which had the effect of suppressing nicotine withdrawal symptoms caused by your bodies efforts to rid itself of a poison (nicotine) delivered by the cigarette before last which had...)

    Once the first few pulls are inhaled, nicotine levels rise and withdrawal symptoms fade and the need for nicotine reduces. The smoker won't inhale as deep then and frequently they discard the cigarette with a fair bit to go. In doing as your mother is doing she's effectively smoking 20 a day given that she's making the most of every pull (knowing that she'll be stabbing it out half way). Plus she's smoking it down to the butt instead of discarding it with maybe a third to go.

    In addition, tars etc from the first pull will deposit on the tobacco further down the cigarette and will clog the filter. Later pulls on the cigaretter will mean more tars intensity being produced as well as less filter efficiency. Which would add to the overall danger.

    But it's not something to worry about unduly. The main problem is that your mam is a smoker - and a 20 a day smoker but only by another means.


    Buy her the book. If she genuinely wants to quit she'll read it and if she does then she's a fighing chance of quitting in full.


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