Risks of Smoking Cigars and Pipes

Cigars and pipe tobacco are not as addictive or as harmful as cigarettes. But they still carry their own health risks. Consider that:

• People who smoke cigars daily are 1 to 4 times more likely to develop Reference lung cancer Opens New Window than people who do not smoke.
• The risks of cancer of the mouth, tongue, gums, and lips (called Reference oral cancer Opens New Window) and cancer of the voice box (larynx) or esophagus are about the same for people who smoke cigars or pipes 5 times a day as they are for people who smoke cigarettes.
• The risks of lung disease (Reference emphysema Opens New Window and Reference chronic bronchitis Opens New Window) and heart disease are lower for people who smoke cigars than for people who smoke cigarettes but higher than for people who do not smoke.

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