I know this'll seem silly, but what is the healthiest cigarette type/brand?

Well evidently they are less healthy for you than normal cigarettes, but i smoke kreteks and they taste fucking amazing compared to a normal cigarette. I mean seriously i cant smoke plain tobacco cigs anymore i think they taste disgusting. This also ends up causing me to smoke less because you can only buy kreteks at a couple places around me so when i run out of a pack i just have to wait until im by that store again.

As far as what brand and kind i smoke, Djarum Blacks they taste like cinnamon clove goodness, plus i smell like cinnamon after i get done smoking one instead of that nasty tobacco smell. And your lips taste like cinnamon too :P

About 25 years ago or so there was a brand of cigarette called Free that proclaimed it was healthy. It was filled with shreaded fruit rinds or something like that, instead of tobacco. They claimed that it was good for your heart. They also claimed the reason they stopped making them was that shoppers would grab them from the display and take them because of the confusion with their name. The truth is probably that they tasted like shit, the FDA likely told them to stop claiming that they were healthy, nobody bought them, or a combination of these things.

@uberbatman: You make Blacks sound so good. But I personally dislike the taste of clove.
@Astrochuck: This reminds me of that new thing, the electric cigarette. I wonder if anyone actually buys those…

Clove cigarettes are far deadlier than traditional ones.

@aneedleinthehay ive seen people with them, usually when they are trying to quit.

@atrochuck yeaaaa i know, but they taste really good. Keeping that in mind though i dont smoke nearly as much as your average smoker.

Ive had damiana and skullcap cigarettes before as well. I would imagine both of them are far more healthy than your normal tobacco cig. Yea they both still have tar as just about any thing you burn has tar, but theres no nicotine or other additives.

omni. I would throw up the link but I am on an iPhone and dispite how awesome it is it still can’t cut and paste.

@judochop they are just as bad as other cigarettes

Marlboro Reds. I smoke less of these compared to the Lights. Less smoke == lesser evil… I equate Reds as 1 stick of marlboro red to 3 sticks of lights… I tend to get satisfied easily with the red ones.

I imagine that any kind of smoke you take into your lungs is probably unhealthy.

@wenbert Marlboro reds are horrible, you can seriously taste the cancer in those cigarettes yuckkkkkk.

Regarding a healthier cigarette I have no clue. As to what I smoke: Virginia Slims Luxury Ultra Lights 120’s. There is a definite difference in taste between brands. For a few years my ex insisted that I smoke Dorals because they were cheaper. They also sucked!

@uberbatman i have gotten accustomed to taste. they really tastes good especially after meals…

Based on WWII magazine ads I’ve seen, “More Doctors recommend Camel unfiltered cigarettes” Who could advise you better than a doctor?

All cigs are bad for you, but I don’t stop smoking them haha. Everyone thinks that cloves are better but it’s a lie they are far worse. I’m not a huge clove fan.

American Spirit has zero additives in their cigs. Even the light version is done by using paper that has more holes in it, so you draw more air into your lungs, instead of using chemicals.

Someone nailed it earlier. Electronic cigarettes are really the healthiest. I watched a documentary on them before they were available to the public. It seems like an incredibly healthy way to smoke. It severely lessens the adverse effects from smoking on the body.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-566351/The-electric-cigarette-gives-nicotine-hit-gets-round-smoking-ban.html
http://www.electricnicotine.com/electric-nicotine-information/
http://smoke51.com/catalog/starter-kits/cat_2.html

@bodyhead but they defeats the whole purpose of smoking. I mean i dont smoke for the nicotine which is all they do for you. I smoke because i actually enjoy the act of smoking. I know it sounds weird, but its actually a pleasurable thing, that and smoke is some pretty fascinating stuff to watch.

Same here uber.

The whole ritual of packing the cigarettes and opening it is part of the allure for me. Even going outside for a smoke break is enjoyable. It’s a quick way to escape any situation. I wish I didn’t feel like crap when I smoke too often but I really do enjoy the act of smoking.

American Spirit cigarettes are supposed to be 100% tobacco no additives. Most cigarettes are 50% tobacco and 50% chopped reconstituted tobacco sheets. These sheets are full of chemicals, stems, stuff off the floor, and old cigarettes past there prime. Whether they are healthier or not I don’t know but thats sort of what American Spirit wants you to think.

I’m not a cig smoker (marijuana ftw) but my friend who usually always smokes marlboro smooths was smoking a pack of kools tonight and i could definitely tell a difference in the smell. it was gross

?
Smokeless cigertettes
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@buster: “American Spirit cigarettes are supposed to be 100% tobacco no additives”
I smoke American Spirit tobacco (roll my own). It is 100% additive free (and also now a subsidiary of Atria). Tastes better.
As per uberbatman and bodyhead, the act of smoking is pleasurable.

If all you want is nicotine, you can buy the patches, gum or lozenges. And if you want a non-exercise induced rapid, erratic heartbeat, just put the patch near your heart.

My PSA for the day: Please do not inhale clove cigarette smoke.

It is hell on your lungs. Like, if you continue to do it, there is a strong chance you could end up coughing up blood.

From The Straight Dope: Are clove cigarettes 10 times worse than the regular kind?

“The “ten times worse” figure is probably an exaggeration, but this is no urban legend. At least two teenagers died after smoking clove cigarettes during the clove craze of the mid-1980s. Five others were hospitalized and and 250 others reported breathing difficulties, including coughing up blood.”

….

“But we’re not talking candy cigarettes here. [Clove cigarettes] produce more tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide than ordinary cigarettes. The active ingredient in clove cigarettes is something called eugenol, on which little research has been done. But there is reason to believe it promotes lung infections or allergic reactions in vulnerable individuals. One of the two clove fatalities involved somebody with a cold; the other victim had a history of severe allergies. Part of the original appeal of clove cigarettes was that they were healthier than the all-tobacco variety; that’s clearly not the case.”

well, there are many myths about smoking, but let’s face it: it’s bad for you. Now the reasons it is bad can be split into two categories: biological and psycho-social.

As far as the biological damage is concerned, cigars are supposed to be healthy because you don’t inhale (as long as you really don’t inhale), even though you could actually get mouth cancer from that too. Also tobacco (what I used to do) has less tar, but far more nicotine, meaning that yes, you have slightly fewer chances of getting cancer, but you’re even more addicted, and it’s just as bad for your heart and other parts of your body. Plus the research looks at the tobacco and not the paper your roll it in, which often has lots of tar, especially on the gum. There is a thing called a bio-filter, which seriously reduces the harmful effects of smoking, but most people I’ve talked to say it also takes away most of the taste anyway. And yes, lights/slims etc aren’t really any healthier than normal cigarettes and they taste like straws.

As far as the psycho-social effects of smoking are concerned, it really makes no difference. Tobacco is even more addictive than filters, smoking is all in your mind, everything (especially manufactured cigarettes) stinks, and you get yellow fingernails, burnt lips and, in some cases, a yellowish beard that you could easily set on fire. I’ve even burnt my hair a couple of times.

I guess the least harmful way of smoking is the pipe, but then again that’s so much work that it’s not really worth it unless you’re a ship’s captain with nothing better to do (I tried it for about a month and then gave up, still confused about how to light one properly).