What is tobacco?

What we commonly call "tobacco" includes cigarettes, cigars, loose pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff. These products contain the dried, processed leaves of the tobacco plant nicotiana rustica or nicotiana tabacum. All tobacco contains nicotine, an addictive drug. Today’s tobacco also contains thousands of other chemicals designed to make the products more user-friendly and addictive.

Chemicals in Tobacco

In addition to nicotine, cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals. The vast majority of these chemicals are added to the tobacco to add to its addictiveness, improve its flavor, and/or to increase burn rate, which increases sales.

Here’s one example of a chemical added specifically to make tobacco more addictive:

Ammonia (one of the 4,000 chemicals placed in cigarettes) is added solely for the purpose of enhancing the effects of nicotine. Ammonia added to commercially made cigarettes can boost the impact of nicotine 100 times. -- (The Washington Post, July 30, 1997)

Following are some of the categories of chemicals found in each cigarette:

Cancer Causing Agents
Nitrosamines
Crysenes
Cadmium
Benzo(a)pyrene
Polonium 210
Nickel
P.A.H.s
Dibenz Acidine
B-Napthylamine
Urethane
N. Nitrosonornicotine
Toluidine

Metals
Aluminum
Zinc
Magnesium
Mercury
Gold
Silicon
Silver
Titanium
Lead
Copper

Acetone
Nail Polish Remover

Acetic Acid
Vinegar

Ammonia
Floor/Toilet Cleaner

Arsenic
Poison

Butane
Cigarette Lighter Fluid

Cadmium
Rechargeable Batteries

Carbon Monoxide
Car Exhaust Fumes

DDT/Dieldrin
Insecticides

Ethanol
Alcohol

Formaldehyde
Dead Body Preserver
Fabric Preserver

Hexamine
Barbecue Lighter

Hydrogen Cyanide
Gas Chamber Poison

Methane
Swamp Gas

Methanol
Rocket Fuel

Napthalene
Mothballs

Nicotine
Insecticide
Addictive Drug

Nitrobenzene
Gasoline Additive

Nitrous Oxide Phenols
Disinfectant

Stearic Acid
Candle Wax

Toluene
Industrial Solvent

Vinyl Chloride
Ingredient of PVC

How are tobacco products different from each other?

Tobacco products differ mostly in the way they are used and, consequently, the way they injure users. Cigarettes are the most common form of tobacco used, but cigars and smokeless tobacco are every bit as dangerous. All tobacco causes cancer; cigars and cigarettes most commonly cause lung cancer, but they can lead to a variety of other cancers, as well. Smokeless tobacco, on the other hand, mostly causes cancer of the mouth, throat, and stomach. All tobacco use also leads to heart disease.

All tobacco contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive drug, but the different products have different amounts. For example, one cigar has as much nicotine as almost three packs of cigarettes. A cigar can contain up to 444 mg of nicotine, while a cigarette can contain up to 11 mg of nicotine! A pocket-size packet of smokeless tobacco contains as much nicotine as three packs of cigarettes. The moister the tobacco, the higher the nicotine content.

All tobacco also contains a variety of toxic chemicals. Cigar smoke has the same poisons and chemicals that cause cancer as cigarette smoke and contains higher levels of some of those chemicals. Smokeless tobacco contains formaldehyde, which is embalming fluid, nitrosamine and benzopyrene, which are known carcinogens, and Uranium 235 and Polonium 210, both of which are nuclear products. In all, chewing tobacco (or spit tobacco) contains at least 28 cancer-causing chemicals!