Smoking, Tobacco and Vaping

Tobacco Products

Tobacco can be processed, dried, rolled and smoked as:

• Cigarettes
• Cigars
• Bidis: thin, hand-rolled cigarettes imported from Southeast AsiaClove cigarettes
• Kreteks: cigarettes imported from Indonesia that contain cloves and other additives
• Loose-leaf tobacco: smoked in pipes and hookahs, an Asian smoking pipe with a long tube that passes through an urn of water
• Smokeless tobacco: chewing tobacco and snuff, finely ground tobacco placed between the gum and lip
• Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS): noncombustible tobacco products, including e-cigarettes (vapes)

Most smoking and tobacco use has decreased, but for those who use tobacco, the health effects are devastating. One in every five deaths each year is caused by prolonged smoking.

Sobering Facts

• Smoking and secondhand smoke kill more people than AIDS, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides and fires combined.
• Smoking and tobacco use not only cause cancer, but may cause other diseases like ventricular arrhythmias (sudden death when the heart does not beat properly).
• One in three adolescents who are “just experimenting” end up being addicted to tobacco by the time they are 20 years old.
• Cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals and 2,000 poisons – including toxins found in nail polish remover, rat poisoning, battery acid, insecticides and rocket fuel.
• Smoking if you are under age 18 is not only unhealthy, it is illegal. If caught, you will pay a heavy fine.
• Nicotine, the main chemical in tobacco, is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine.
• Cigarette use causes premature death. On average, smokers die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
• Smoking does not just affect the person smoking. Secondhand smokers are also at risk. On average, secondhand smoke causes 3,400 deaths from lung cancer and 46,000 deaths from heart disease.
• Smoking causes birth defects when pregnant women are exposed to it (firsthand or secondhand smoke). Some birth defects may be premature birth, asthma and cleft lip.

Electronic Cigarettes and Vaping

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, e-cigs and vape pens, are made to resemble cigarettes and operate with a battery. E-cigs convert liquid nicotine into a vapor. When inhaled, the vapor enters your lungs and is absorbed by the blood.

Are electronic cigarettes bad for you?

E-cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system and are addictive and harmful. As of 2016, they are regulated by the FDA. Beginning in 2018, e-cig packaging must include the required nicotine addictiveness warning statement (like cigarettes do).

Are electronic cigarettes safer than cigarettes?

With no proven health benefits and so many questions concerning safety and long-term addiction, we do not recommend vaping — and we discourage the use of all tobacco and nicotine products.

How popular are electronic cigarettes among teens?

According to the FDA, from 2017 to 2018 vaping increased 78 percent among high school students and 48 percent among middle school students.

To make them more appealing to minors, manufacturers make e-cigarettes in assorted colors, shapes and candy flavors. Ninety percent of long-term smokers begin smoking under the age of 18, so the e-cigarette manufacturers are targeting teens with this product.

Last Reviewed: October 2013