Nicotine - In a world,.......

Bob_Luken

In a world where we have all this technology, why isn't there some scientific way to measure how much nicotine comes from each cigar? It'd be nice to know in an almost exact way. I want to know this info. Don't you?

peter4jc

What would you do with this information?

SM0K3Y

Smoked an AB Vandal last night felt like i smoked a pack of marlboros by the end (thats a good thing)
It concerns me health wise but still far, far better than a ciggarette, it is a good question though imma havta get to the googlez

Bob_Luken

peter4jc:

What would you do with this information?

I'd use it to help me pick which cigar I'm gonna smoke. Unless I had just eaten a plate of pasta I would shy away from the higher nicotine blends.

peter4jc

Bob Luken:

peter4jc:

What would you do with this information?

I'd use it to help me pick which cigar I'm gonna smoke. Unless I had just eaten a plate of pasta I would shy away from the higher nicotine blends.

That's what I figured... that, or deciding on the sequence of multiple smokes in a session or in a day. What's odd though (for me at least) is even when I know the strength of a cigar, it's still not a sure thing being able to predict how I'll react to it; I've had medium sticks that rock me on a full stomach, and some full-bodied numbers sit fine on an empty stomach. To you old-timers; is there a meaningful difference between full-bodied and higher-nicotine cigars? I'm wondering if full-bodied always refers to nicotine level, or can it also be used to describe the flavors and the smoke itself?

Gray4lines

peter4jc:

Bob Luken:

peter4jc:

What would you do with this information?

I'd use it to help me pick which cigar I'm gonna smoke. Unless I had just eaten a plate of pasta I would shy away from the higher nicotine blends.

That's what I figured... that, or deciding on the sequence of multiple smokes in a session or in a day. What's odd though (for me at least) is even when I know the strength of a cigar, it's still not a sure thing being able to predict how I'll react to it; I've had medium sticks that rock me on a full stomach, and some full-bodied numbers sit fine on an empty stomach. To you old-timers; is there a meaningful difference between full-bodied and higher-nicotine cigars? I'm wondering if full-bodied always refers to nicotine level, or can it also be used to describe the flavors and the smoke itself?

I agree... I've had many strong notoriously high nicotine cigars and been fine... and then sometimes a medium body smoke will get me light headed. I bet you could measure nicotine, but it may be less useful than it sounds. I bet even the same blend varies in nicotine some.

I typically think of full body and nicotine hit as different, although nic hit plays into the strength. I'd call a stout beer fullbody even if abv were low. But a strong 12% abv may make sense given the flavors. I dunno

Bob_Luken

I agree or rather understand these points you guys have mentioned. Sometimes you get punched and sometimes you don't. And each cigar in a box might have different levels but, maybe they could give us an average ballpark figure. I just wonder if it's something that could be measured by the manufacturer for the consumer to have as a reference point among all the other info available on individual cigars. I know that you can go online and get nicotine levels for individual cigarettes. (Marlboro Lights have 11mg of Tar and 0.8mg of Nicotine) So why not cigars? Except that I may be the only one asking for this info, LOL

Gray4lines

I wonder if they test the leaves before they are rolled, or if it is actually from testing a cigarette... either way, testing cigars would be way more expensive. Imagine the FDA saying to Fuente, "Oh we need half of that rare anejo maduro for testing..." Or even cigar by cigar, testing enough of every size to get a good sample would take a lot of cigars.

Gray4lines

Not that you recommended that... but just thinking what large scale testing would look like.

jd50ae

Who is a gonna test all the pot when it becomes legal every where. ME ME ME ME

danielzreyes

They should make an Xray for cigars. That way, I don't have to waste blades

jgibv

how much nicotine is in a grape swisher vs an orange swisher?

Amos_Umwhat

danielzreyes:

They should make an Xray for cigars. That way, I don't have to waste blades

MRI, just buy you one.

Cigary

Cigars contain between 100 to 200 mg of nicotine per cigar while cigarettes have about 10 mg's per stick. The darker the wrapper the more nicotine content...so as they say, pick your poison.

Gray4lines

I wonder how much nicotine absorption varies person to person... or even for one person day to day. One cigar has more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes. But clearly, one cigar does not equal smoking 10 to 20 cigarettes in terms of nicotine absorption. To the extent absorption varies, nicotine content is less informative.

Bob_Luken

Cigary:

Cigars contain between 100 to 200 mg of nicotine per cigar while cigarettes have about 10 mg's per stick. The darker the wrapper the more nicotine content...so as they say, pick your poison.

Interesting. Fascinating really. I assume that the darker leafs stay on the plant longer so they develop more nicotine. But, what about the maduro process? Does fermentation alter the nicotine levels?

Bob_Luken

Gray4lines:

I wonder how much nicotine absorption varies person to person... or even for one person day to day. One cigar has more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes. But clearly, one cigar does not equal smoking 10 to 20 cigarettes in terms of nicotine absorption. To the extent absorption varies, nicotine content is less informative.

Yep. I understand what you are saying. with so many variables, maybe it's useless information, even if you did have a general idea of how much nicotine per stick. But I still want to learn more about this. It does spark my curiosity. Including all the variables.

jd50ae

This discussion has been here before but I can't find the post.

Habanos have the highest nicotine. And the longer a cigar is aged the less nicotine, turns to sugar or something, maybe Stevia.

Gray4lines

I agree that it is still interesting... have there been studies on nicotine in that regard? Does it affect people differentially and is the effect differential by diet, or other variables?

Nicotine does break down over time. So aged less nic than fresh. I think higher primings on the tobacco plant have more nicotine than lower? Hence ligero being high in nic. ligero usually is dark so maybe naturally dark leaves do have higher nic... but the maduro process would break down nic just like aging (I think). So for a given leaf, a maduro version would have less nic.

Bob_Luken

I just altered the title of this thread to include the word nicotine. So it might pop up in a search of the subject. Also, I was digging around some other threads on the subject and came across an interesting article that another member posted.

http://cigarcypha.com/?p=17

Cigary

Bob Luken:

Cigary:

Cigars contain between 100 to 200 mg of nicotine per cigar while cigarettes have about 10 mg's per stick. The darker the wrapper the more nicotine content...so as they say, pick your poison.

Interesting. Fascinating really. I assume that the darker leafs stay on the plant longer so they develop more nicotine. But, what about the maduro process? Does fermentation alter the nicotine levels?

You're right Bob....the longer the leaf is on the plant the more content of nicotine. Interesting point you brought up about the maduro process....as long as the process is natural one w/o benefit of adding or introducing other things to darken the leaf the actual fermentation process ....it is noted that during the fermentation process or " sweating " of the leaf nicotine is actually diminished from this but it's not known by how much. It's also interesting to note that the more fermentation of the leaf it helps with the overall quality of the burn and profile of the cigar...manufacturers who skip the step of added aging of the fermentation process tend to produce inferior cigars. It's hard to be factual of nicotine intake because we all smoke our cigars differently....the longer you expose smoke inside your mouth the tissues then absorb the content and thus you have longer exposure...those who tend to draw with the conventional puff puff long draw tend to have a longer exposure. I like to let the smoke stay inside for about 5 seconds before expelling.

Lee.mcglynn

Too many things to take into account here...its man made so no one is a like. Then the delivery method and yes I do know some guys who inhale the cigar smoke. Then there is age which can take nicotine away plus how thick each leaf is. You'll just never know so just eat something and don't worry as long as it's a good smoke to you

Bob_Luken

You guys are right of course. There are so many variables that even if each different cigar was tested for the relative average nicotine content, the variables are vast. But, still it would give you a general idea as to what to expect. I know it's too much to ask of the manufacturer but, It's worth thinking about. How do they test cigarettes for nicotine anyway? Do they test the smoke somehow as it burns or do they test the filler without burning it?

Gray4lines

Here's the abstract from a study examining nicotine content and filters.

METHODS Ninety-two brands of cigarettes (32 American, 23 Canadian, and 37 British brands) were purchased at retail outlets in State College, Pennsylvania, United States, Toronto, Canada, and London, United Kingdom. A FIDUS FDT filter ventilation tester measured the percentage air-dilution from filter vents. High-pressure, liquid chromatography was used to measure the nicotine content of tobacco. Regression techniques were used to examine the contributions of tobacco nicotine content and filter ventilation to machine-smoked yields of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide (CO).

RESULTS Ninety-four per cent of the American brands, 91% of the Canadian brands, and 79% of British brands were ventilated. The total nicotine content of tobacco and percent nicotine (by weight of tobacco) averaged 10.2?mg (standard error of the mean (SEM) 0.25, range: 7.2 to 13.4) and 1.5% (SEM 0.03, range 1.2 to 2) in the United States, 13.5?mg (SEM 0.49, range: 8.0 to 18.3) and 1.8% (SEM 0.06, range: 1.0 to 2.4) in Canada, 12.5?mg (SEM 0.33, range: 9 to 17.5) and 1.7% (SEM 0.04, range: 1.3 to 2.4) in the United Kingdom. Multiple regression analyses showed that ventilation was by far the largest factor influencing machine-smoked yields of tar, nicotine, and CO.