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Are you addicted to the nicotine in cigars?

CigarFanaticCigarFanatic Posts: 225 ✭✭✭
edited April 2016 in Non Cigar Related
Before you read this, it might be a sensitive topic and poll, but your poll answers are anonymous.

I was teaching a lecture today on the chemistry of addiction of nicotine in the body after smoking tobacco and that got me thinking about cigars. Obviously, cigars do contain nicotine and nicotine is known to be addictive to humans. However, after smoking about 2 years, I still find that if I needed to quit, whether it be because of medical or other personal issues, I wouldn't have any problem. Just bomb them all to fellow BOTLs! 

For example, this past summer I smoked over 100 sticks in 3 months, and this winter I maybe smoked 10 sticks in 4 months. I didn't experience the nicotine withdrawal symptoms that is common with cigarette smokers (Shaky hands, Fidgeting, etc.) Some people say that cigarette smokers ingest more nicotine on a daily basis and experience a more drastic withdrawal stage but 1 Churchill cigar is roughly equal 8-12 cigarettes. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the average cigar and cigarette smoker ingest the same amount of nicotine in a day.

But it is important to note during college semester, I am a weekly smoker in the sense that I smoke maybe 2-3 sticks a week because of work/college/other crap. So I am asking the regular cigar smokers that try to get a stick a day in, if they find themselves addicted to nicotine and can't go a day without a cigar.
How do make this text turn upside down?

Are you addicted to the nicotine in cigars? 29 votes

Yes, I can't go a day or two without smoking.
17% 5 votes
Yes, I need to smoke at least once a week.
3% 1 vote
No, I could quit today if I had to.
79% 23 votes
«1

Comments

  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2016
    I brought some cigarillos to work thinking they would be nice for a smoke break and never touch the damn things. I think I'm more addicted the the fact that this is the only time during my hectic day that I actually stop and take time to relax.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • CigarFanaticCigarFanatic Posts: 225 ✭✭✭
    That what I find myself doing too, Wayne. I look forward to some relaxing personal time at the end of the day and enjoying a cigar during that time is just a plus.
    How do make this text turn upside down?
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I said no, but I do experience cravings and the desire for a cigar after several days. I took a long four day weekend with the Wife to the Russian River and didn't bring any cigars with me and had no issues. 
    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 15,316 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm not addicted physically and can go without smoking, but I do think it's more of a psychological addiction, that I want to smoke every day (2-4) and like the experience of a session with a cigar.
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    peter4jc said:
     like the experience of a session with a cigar.
    I think this really hits it.
    I often go quite a bit of time between cigars. But look forward to my cigar time.
    My wife has called it my mini vacation time. I like it when everyone is gone and I can sit back and enjoy a cigar. 

    Years ago when I got back into cigars, I would smoke 1 a day.
    Over time, it became less and less.
    Whether things going on, life happening or what ever, now it is quality over quantity.
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • silvermousesilvermouse Posts: 19,046 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nicotine improves executive function, especially important for folks like me with ASD. My work requires a lot of attention to detail, much scheduling of work flow for my assistants, quick decision making with customers; I'd be totally lost without it. If my life was less driven by modern busyness and complexity I wouldn't smoke as much. One could label people who use as having an 'addictive personality' but I think there is a neurological driving force for many; folks with schizophrenia tend to be smokers, as do alcoholics and people who drink a lot of coffee (nicotine helps the body clear caffeine). It has been found that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, miss fewer days of work due to colds. Yeah, I'm addicted, but not like I was with cigarettes. If I miss a few days I suffer no withdrawal effects.
  • The3StogiesThe3Stogies Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭✭
    peter4jc said:
    I'm not addicted physically and can go without smoking, but I do think it's more of a psychological addiction, that I want to smoke every day (2-4) and like the experience of a session with a cigar.
    Agree with you there, I can go a few days without smoking a cigar knowing they are there waiting for the right moment.  Used to smoke a cigarette because I needed a break and just huffed em in.  Transitioned to cigars to get away from butts and inhaling the smoke.  Still smoke a butt now and again and I get a little dizzy from the inhaling, okay more dizzy.  Taste like crap too.

    Don't they add nicotine to cigarettes, aside from many other things.  Nicotine is bitter I believe, you'd think they'd be working on that instead of adding more chemicals and flavors.  We have de-caf coffee.
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nicotine improves executive function, especially important for folks like me with ASD. My work requires a lot of attention to detail, much scheduling of work flow for my assistants, quick decision making with customers; I'd be totally lost without it. If my life was less driven by modern busyness and complexity I wouldn't smoke as much. One could label people who use as having an 'addictive personality' but I think there is a neurological driving force for many; folks with schizophrenia tend to be smokers, as do alcoholics and people who drink a lot of coffee (nicotine helps the body clear caffeine). It has been found that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, miss fewer days of work due to colds. Yeah, I'm addicted, but not like I was with cigarettes. If I miss a few days I suffer no withdrawal effects.
    What the heck's "folks like me with ASD", SM? Google is kickin my tokus on this one. Is it Acute stress disorder, Antiseizure drugs, Antiseptic Dorogov's Stimulator, Arthroscopic subacromial decompression, Atrial septal defect, or Autism spectrum disorder?

    Or are you an Accredited Symbian Developer with Anatolian Shepherd dogs working for the Avondale School District? (They grow mushrooms there).


    Or is it just you Ain't Spellin Dis?


    I've read about the lower rate of Parkinsons, as well as it being a cure for Alzheimer's, a preventive for dementia, and, oddest of all, the lower incidence of a whole list of cancers other than lung. I wonder if anyone has put together a comprehensive list of all the maladies tobacco helps with. (Love to see the grant proposal for that project.) But I never heard of ASD.



    On the whole, our zeitgeist suffers from Acronym Susceptibility Disorder.

    IMHO
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • raisindotraisindot Posts: 1,294 ✭✭✭
    I agree with most folks here. I look forward to the experience of smoking a cigar but I'm not craving it. At most I smoke 2-3 cigars a week, and during the winter I'll go for months without lighting up (although I do admit every now and then I take a peak into my humidors and stare at them longingly for a humidity-appropriate moment. And usually right after I smoke one my breath and clothes smell so bad I don't want to touch another one for a few days! :) 


  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭

    ASD--autism spectrum disorder, my flavor of it is 'high-functioning autism' for which I am grateful. Mostly affects social skills, inability to multi-task, sensory overload. After 60+ years I've learned to fake it and fit in with the neuro-typical pretty well, lol.

    http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/nicotine-health-benefits.htm
    How bout that. I have an autistic grandson. Maybe I should sneak him a smoke. Nana will prolly kill me; but, what the hey, she's got more reasons to prolly kill me anyways.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I tell you right now what holds me over during times I don't smoke is rolling. You can get as much satisfaction or better just putting your hands on the leaves as burning them. This is a truth.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,405 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It is decidedly different than cigarettes.  When I was addicted to cigarettes, if I didn't get to smoke at least every couple hours, I began getting restless and irritable and the symptoms progressed typically from there.  Now, I smoke about 3 times a day on average, pipe in the a.m., pipe or cigar after lunch, cigar in the p.m.  But, if circumstances dictate that this is not possible, there is no withdrawal as with the cigarettes. 

    I don't know if I could "quit if I had to", but I know that I could quit if I wanted to.  Had to just rubs me wrong, and I'd probably find a way just because some d!ck told me I "had to".
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • MartelMartel Posts: 3,306 ✭✭✭✭
    Another thing I notice, though, is that my tolerance to nicotine increases if I've been smoking more.  When I haven't smoked much or at all for a while, it's far more likely that I feel the effects of the nicotine in a cigar.
    Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

    I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot.  I will smoke anything, though.
  • avengethisavengethis Posts: 5,686 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with everything pretty much stated.  I never feel the urge to need to smoke.  I just want to.  Martel makes a good point that if I smoke a couple everyday in a row I build up a tolerance but if I take a break for a week or so and then have one I can feel it a bit more.
    Team O'Donnell FTW!

    "I've got a great cigar collection - it's actually not a collection, because that would imply I wasn't going to smoke ever last one of 'em." - Ron White
  • Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,004 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hmmmm, I don't think I'm craving nicotine but, this brings up a slight point of frustration I have with nicotine content. I wish there was a nicotine listing for each cigar. I realize it may not be possible to pin down an exact number but, I still wish they had it. 
  • Usaf06Usaf06 Posts: 10,932 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ole big dog government is working on it Mike... don't you worry
    "I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form."
    -- Winston Churchill

    "LET'S GO FRANCIS"     Peter

  • Bob_LukenBob_Luken Posts: 10,004 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Never-mind. I don't need any help from them folks. 
  • YaksterYakster Posts: 25,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image
    I'll gladly bomb you Tuesday for an Opus today. 

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  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,405 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yakster said:
    image
    Whether you like it or not!
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bob_Luken said:
    Never-mind. I don't need any help from them folks. 
    Pffft. You need their help you just don't know it.. And don't go thinking your opinion matters to them, I assure you it doesn't. 
  • GuitardedGuitarded Posts: 4,643 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have 3 healthy food groups. Caffeine, nicotine, and white sugar.

    Don't get me wrong, I love to eat, but I need those three to function.

    Friends don't let good friends smoke cheap cigars.
  • raisindotraisindot Posts: 1,294 ✭✭✭
    Bob_Luken said:
    Hmmmm, I don't think I'm craving nicotine but, this brings up a slight point of frustration I have with nicotine content. I wish there was a nicotine listing for each cigar. I realize it may not be possible to pin down an exact number but, I still wish they had it. 
    Holy crap, Bob. Even a loony liberal like me doesn't support that idea!   :D
  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 15,316 ✭✭✭✭✭
    raisindot said:
    Bob_Luken said:
    Hmmmm, I don't think I'm craving nicotine but, this brings up a slight point of frustration I have with nicotine content. I wish there was a nicotine listing for each cigar. I realize it may not be possible to pin down an exact number but, I still wish they had it. 
    Holy crap, Bob. Even a loony liberal like me doesn't support that idea!   :D
    What, if anything, does Bob wanting a list of cigars' nicotine content have to do with a political persuasion?  Maybe you're thinking nobody has the funds to do that, or nobody has the interest except our trusty govt, so that they can use to further restrict our liberties...  is that it?

    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2016
    Dangit  @peter4jc you know they have no interest stripping us of our liberties. You need to take that tinfoil hat off because you know dang well they just looking out for us cause we are to dang dumb to make choices for ourselves. 

    If anything they just want to put a very small tobacco tax on hand rolls.  By dang that's our duty to pay taxes. We have entirely to much money and billions of people have less.. It's unfair. 
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is my particular model Wayne. 
  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 15,316 ✭✭✭✭✭
    kswildcat said:
    This is my particular model Wayne. 
    ...and it's a cat.  Is it a wild cat?
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You can't look at that face and tell? Lol
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's calmer now that the alien waves are no longer penetrating.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
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