What is in a Cigarette?

Most people know the basic make up of a cigarette. Cigarettes contain tobacco, tobacco contains nicotine, but what else gets rolled up in that slim little stick. There are many myths and truths about the dangerous ingredients in cigarettes. The fact is that around 4000 individual substances have been identified between cigarettes and their smoke. Out of those 4000 substances almost 43 are known carcinogens.

Facts About Tobacco

Tobacco is cultivated all over the world for consumer products. It is a tall and leafy plant that contains the highly addictive substance nicotine. After tobacco is grown its leaves are dried and used for both the production smoking and chewing tobacco. Nicotine like many drugs is so addictive that even long after many people want to quit smoking they avoid doing so to avoid physical withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine is a nervous system stimulant that effects our nervous system and makes its users feel like they have more energy. When we use tobacco products the nicotine enters our bloodstream and our bodies become dependent on it. Once you start using tobacco products you body will start to crave more nicotine. The nicotine that enters our bodies from tobacco use effects our blood pressure, heart rate, adrenaline level, insulin level and even out metabolic rate. The effects of nicotine on the body are complex and scary.

Cigarette Ingredients

In early america tobacco was the first crop that was harvested and sold for money. The original tobacco products have morphed in nature since those original days and are now engineered by cigarette manufacturers to increase the likelihood of a person becoming addicted to their use. When it was discovered by scientists that most of the addictive substance nicotine was remaining attached to the tobacco leaves even when burned, tobacco companies began adding ingredients to increase the amount of nicotine released when a person smokes a cigarette. This lead to the complex ingredients that now make up the modern commercial cigarette.

Among the list of ingredients that are found in a cigarette is the substance ammonia. Ammonia is added to cigarettes because tobacco companies discovered in the 1960s that when ammonia is added to cigarettes it increases the effect of nicotine. To think that something we use to clean our floors an windows is being put in something that we inhale into our bodies is rather disturbing. Tar and carbon monoxide are also found in cigarettes and or their smoke. Every year millions of people purchase carbon monoxide detectors to protect their home and family against this odorless poisonous gas and cigarettes smokers are breathing it in multiple times daily. Many of the ingredients added by tobacco companies are added to increase flavor. menthol is is the biggest example of this practice. Menthol added to cigarettes creates a cooling sensation, along with a mint like flavor. Though smoking menthol cigarettes does not increase a smokers risk of most smoking related ailments it does increase the risk of oral related smoking ailments.