Lighting up can slow you down in the bedroom

A US study suggests that men who successfully stopped smoking improved on lab measurements of sexual health more than those who relapsed after a quit-smoking program, showing that smoking may be affecting the sexual health of men who consider themselves perfectly all right in bed, researchers said.

“With younger men, the risks of smoking in that population appear more far off. They think, ‘I don’t really need to worry about this until much farther down the road,” said study author Christopher Harte, from the VA Boston Healthcare System, who published findings in the British Journal of Urology International.

“Regardless of if this really does apply to all men who smoke or not (the goal was) just getting the word out that men could be aware of this finding, so it could influence their decisions to start the quitting process,” he told Reuters Health, though he did say the study was still not definitive.

Harte and co-author Cindy Meston from the University of Texas at Austin enrolled 65 men without self-reported importence in an eight-week quit smoking program using nicotine patches. Before treatment, halfway through and a few weeks after, they brought ithe men into a locked lab and showed them a racy film.

While they watched, men kept track of how aroused they were and a device measured how much their penis grew or shrank. Separately, they also filled out surveys about their sexual function outside of the lab, including questions about desire and sexual satisfaction.

By the end of the study, there were 20 men that hadn’t lit up in at least a week, while 45 men were still smoking.

Quitters saw a greater increase in penile growth, measured by width and not length, compared to non-quitters. By their own scoring, those men also reached their peak level of arousal sooner than men who were still lighting up.

However, men who had dropped the habit didn’t report any sexual improvement in “real-life” settings, the researchers said. It’s also possible that the improvements they saw in the lab may take time to translate to the bedroom.

“It might take longer for men to actually notice their level of difference subjectively outside of the lab, which is also dependent on their relationship with their sexual partner,” Harte said.

While smoking has been linked to a host of other health problems such as cancer and heart disease, the researchers said their finding is a new angle for doctors to use with men who are still reluctant to try quitting.

Previous research has shown that long-term smokers are up to twice as likely to have impotence as non-smokers. Smoking can show blood vessel dilation, which is necessary to get an erection, said Lydia Bazzano, who has studied erectile dysfunction at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center.

Harte said the point of the study may be that the connection doesn’t just apply to men with severe erectile dysfunction issues.

Cigarettes And Smokers

Smoking Makes Lips Unattractive, Models Smokers

Every smoker and even non-smoker knows are informed about side effects of smoking Kent cigarettes and tobacco use in general. Smoking can change lips colors by making them darker, this is one of the main side effects that should be known especially by models.

So, cigarettes can make the smokers’ lips unattractive. Health scientists found that smokers get dark lips because of the tar and nicotine (principals cigarettes ingredients) while inhaling the cig smoke. Cigarettes ingredients can spoil the smokers’ lips color and can even lead to discoloration of their natural color.

Of course the only method to avoid the dark lips is to quit smoking, buy not all people have the willpower to kick the smoking habit. This is the main cause why I decided to write some remedies which will help all smokers to treat their dark lips appeared because of smoking cigs. Please read on:

1 Lemon fresh juice - is one of best remedy for to lighten dark lips. Rub a little slice of lemon on your lips for 4 and 5 minutes daily.

2 Lemon fresh juice + Honey – put it on your lips before going to sleep.

3 Coconut or Almond Oil – massage your lips with almond oil or with coconut and leave it overnight. This is a good remedy for even return the pink color of the lips.

4 Mash mellow banana +honey and lemon fresh juice – put on the lips this mass for to lighten the lips color.

5 Pomegranate fresh juice + strawberries – put this juice on your lips and leave it for 20 minutes. Then wash the lips with cold water. It is the best remedy to get your pink color lips back.

6 And the last advice – do not leave the lips dry because this can make your lips dark and cracked. Use more frequently lip balm and cream.

If you will try all these remedies, believe me you will have pink lips color forever. Don’t forget to drink a lot of water and fresh fruit juice and do not wet your lips with saliva.

Smoking Habit Synonymic With Manhood

For all people especially for Japanese inhabitants, smoking habit is associated with manhood and hard working day. Japan statistics show that during the 1960 the cigarettes smoking rate for men increased by approximately 80 per cent, twice as higher than among Americans.

So, to enforce a smoking ban is very hard especially in a country where tobacco is the best friend for all inhabitants. State spent almost $90 billion on smoking related diseases every year, three times more money spent than was brought from Pall Mall cigarettes sales – health scientists found.

Anti-tobacco activist Bungaku Watanabe explained that Japan has been dropping its feet on the kind of smoking legislations that are today enforced in other big countries.

“It’s not that Japanese just love to smoke cigarettes so much. It’s that tobacco use has been a great support of Japanese national law,” he declared.

It’s no fortuity that the national headquarters of Japan Tobacco Company, which is the world’s third-largest tobacco industry, is situated near the residence of the Government in Tokyo. Japan Tobacco is a government owned industry.

So, while approximately a quarter of American men are smokers, the smoking rate for Japanese men remains jammed at almost one-third. Scientists declared that most of Japanese smokers want to kick the smoking habit, and they would quit if the cigarettes prices will continue to rise.

Scientists concluded that smoking is less restricted in Japan than in other developed countries and smokers will never quit because they like their smoking habit.

Only special smoking areas will protect the non-smokers from secondhand smoke. For Japanese smokers smoking area is a space where they can communicate with different types of people who smoke cigarettes.

Popular Smoking Brand Endures Modifications

Japan Tobacco Inc. decided to launch new seven versions for its well-known smoking brand - Pianissimo cigarettes – starting with mid-January.

In Japan the Pianissimo 100mm slim menthol brand is the top smoking brand smoked especially by women. Even Japan Tobacco Company describes this brand as being smooth and fresh menthol taste.

Statistics show that smoking rates among Japanese smokers have declined, however the smokers’ amount is still high in comparison with smokers from Europe and North America.

The Japanese government decided to raise the tobacco products tax by approximately 30 percent in 2010, which had decreased the smoking habit among inhabitants. Researchers reported that government plans to introduce another tax hike because the state has not enough funds for reconstruction of northeast Japan.

So, Japan Tobacco decided to attract new clients by repackaging and giving even new name for its Pianissimo product, because tobacco tax hike decreased its income. Pianissimo One is renamed Aria Menthol cigarettes, a term which signify a graceful melodic word, the company declared, while the new white pack and water-lines are meant to symbolize the soft taste of this product.

But the Pianissimo Super Slims Menthol One is renamed the Precis Menthol, because of the menthol taste, while the Icene Menthol smoking brand will be renamed the Icene Crista to accentuate the power of the menthol.

For the first time this brand was manufactured in Japan in 1995, and the last brand name, Pianissimo ViV Menthol, changes was in November 2011.

Japan Tobacco’s smoking products are sold in almost 120 countries and it also controls brands like Benson & Hedges and also Winston, Glamour and Camel.

Statistics showed that approximately 24.95 million Japanese inhabitants smoke cigarettes and 104.4 million are adult smokers. A recent investigation by the Ministry of Health found that the smoking rate among men has declined to almost 36.8 percent.

Japan Tobacco Premium Brand – The Peace

Smokers like to smoke cigarettes of first-class tobacco quality, and usually they use “The Peace” – a smoking brand manufactured by Japan Tobacco. Japanese tobacco retailers sell this brand at a premium price and packaged in polished metal cans. The Peace became famous and stylish starting with 1946 when it was manufactured.

Times were severe after the war in Japan, as were cigarettes smokers and the cigs they smoked every day. When Japan Tobacco made - Peace - it contains nearly three times more tar and twice time more unlike regular cheap cigarettes. So, during the war period the Peace was smoked by all war-weary smokers and it became the most popular cigarettes.

For a good while smoking in Japan was not permitted in all places and The Peace brand was lost. In our days Japan Tobacco decided to manufacture a new smoking brand with the same name The Peace but other ingredients and tobacco quality for to make it smoother and even the pack design will look now more stylish and luxurious.

Tobacco Company will take in consideration also that most of Japanese smokers remember this brand only because of its tobacco pleasant aroma.

JT will select the top quality ingredients with careful. It declared that now only 100 per cent of Virginia tobacco goes into The Peace, and now smokers will be very pleased of its smooth and rich aroma. Tobacco experts for the first time made such a brand, a very responsible process for to reduce tar, nicotine amount and to banish any unpleasant smoking feelings.

The today The Peace cigarettes pack contains 20 cigs in a flat steel blue package with gold text.

On February 1st The Peace goes on sale in Japan. It will costs 1,000 yen ($13). So try the taste of The Peace and you will not regret!

Cigarettes and Fires

Cigarettes present a hazard more immediate than the possibility of cancer down the road. Burning cigarettes can cause all sorts of fires if they're not properly extinguished, all resulting from carelessness. The fires that result from people casually tossing cigarettes or not properly disposing of them can be dangerous as well as expensive. If you smoke cigarettes, it's your responsibility to make sure that you dispose of them properly to avoid causing a conflagration that can affect others.

Common Cigarette-Related Fires

According to a USA Today article from 2006, cigarette-related fires are on the rise, and states are trying to stem the problem. Because chemicals in cigarettes encourage the flame to stay lit, cigarettes that are not properly extinguished can burn for awhile after they have been discarded. While many states are now requiring safer cigarettes which go out quicker, the problem remains.

There are several common scenarios for cigarette fires, some of which include:

The wastebasket fire. Some people will absent-mindedly throw a spent cigarette into the trashcan when they are finished, rather than properly snuffing it in an ashtray. Wastepaper baskets tend to be filled with (surprise!) paper, which can ignite quickly and suddenly. Make sure to avoid throwing your cigarettes into the trash when you're finished with them.
The bed fire. Many smokers enjoy a cigarette before going to bed. It's a relaxing way to end the day. However, many people, especially the elderly, are prone to falling asleep in bed without realizing that they still have a lit cigarette in their hand. Fires caused this way are on the rise, with older people particularly at risk. A good rule of thumb to follow is to just avoid smoking in bed. Have the last cigarette of the day standing, extinguish it in an ashtray, and then get into bed.
The forest fire. Man-started forest fires are a problem this time of year, especially in the West, and one of the most common causes for them is a carelessly tossed lit cigarette. If you do go camping or hiking in the forest, it's important to make sure you grind out your cigarette butts when you drop them, and make sure that you don't throw them anywhere with a lot of dry grasses or leaves lying around.

Electronic Cigarette - Smoke Without Fire

Asked recently to write about electronic cigarettes, I have to confess that I had never heard of such a thing. Some internet research later and I discovered that electronic cigarettes are very much a quickly growing concern. A Google search revealed there is no smoke without fire as almost six million results just for the phrase "electronic cigarette" were returned.

What is an electronic cigarette?

The electronic cigarette has been in existence for almost three years and is a clever device aimed at providing smokers with a healthier option. Apparently also useful in helping to reduce and indeed quit smoking altogether.

Now in a fourth generation, electronic cigarettes have become much more user friendly than earlier versions which perhaps were a little too large to encourage a mass market appeal. The "mini" is the most realistic e cigarette to date with its length of 100mm being the same as a conventional cigarette.

An electronic cigarette contains a taste of tobacco but none of the harmful substances found in normal cigarettes allowing smokers cravings to be satisfied without inhaling the many dangerous toxins. Is it all smoke and mirrors? Or can this item really be the saviour it wants to be?

A battery, an atomiser and a renewable nicotine chamber allows the smoker to hold and smoke the electronic cigarette just as they would any other cigarette, even creating a "smoke" like vapour and glow at the end as they draw. The nicotine chamber proves very useful as cartridges are available in different strengths, permitting the user to reduce the amount of nicotine they intake until if they wish, can quit completely.

A nicotine cartridge typically lasts the same time as 15 to 20 cigarettes, thus creating a huge saving to normal costs. Standard, medium, low and no nicotine at all are the various cartridge strengths.

A healthier option altogether it seems, though the benefits don't end there. Due to the electronic cigarette not emitting any dangerous substances, toxins or real smoke for that matter, they are perfectly legal to smoke in public. In winter in particular, normal cigarette smokers have to brave the freezing cold and the rain just for a quick smoking break but this alternative will allow them to stay in their offices, restaurants and pubs.

None smokers also will benefit, as their worries about passive smoking are rendered null and void by the electronic cigarette. A much more sociable environment then!

Upon reflection the electronic cigarette is a healthier, cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative to smoking and as the awareness and the market grows they have great potential to successfully replace the harmful cigarettes we have all come to know and many of us have come to dread and fear.

By Jules Price

Electronic Cigarette - The Next Quit Smoking Device

Ever since the public became aware about the dangers of smoking a few decades ago, many people have found quitting the tobacco habit hard. Companies have been innovating and manufacturing smoking cessation products for many years now. From nicotine patches to gum, nicotine addicts have been using them to quit their habit.

Electronic cigarettes (also known as e-cigarettes and electric cigarettes)are the newest product on the market. They are designed to look and feel like real cigarettes, even down to emitting artificial smoke however they do not actually contain any tobacco. Users inhale nicotine vapour which looks like smoke without any of the carcinogens found in tobacco smoke which are harmful to the smoker and others around him.

The Electronic cigarette consists of a nicotine cartridge containing liquid nicotine. When a user inhales, a tiny battery powered atomizer turns a small amount of liquid nicotine into vapour. Inhaling nicotine vapour gives the user a nicotine hit in seconds rather than minutes with patches or gum. When the user inhales, a small LED light at the tip of the electronic cigarette glows orange to simulate a real cigarette.

The nicotine cartridges themselves come in various strengths. Most of the major brands, such as the Gamucci electronic cigarette have full strength, half strength and minimal strength. This is designed for people who want to quit smoking. As they get used to using the electronic cigarette, they can gradually reduce the strength they use until they quit.

The main advantages electronic cigarettes have over nicotine patches or gum is firstly, users have the nicotine hit much quicker and secondly, because a big reason why smokers fail to quit suing patches and gum is because they still miss the act of inhaling smoke from a cylindrical object. The electronic cigarette emulates that even down to the smoke.

The electronic cigarette is also beneficial from a financial perspective. A set of five nicotine cartridges costs around £8 and is equivalent to 500 cigarettes. Although the initial investment of an electronic cigarette kit of £50 may seem steep at first, users save money in the long run.

As with many popular products, there have been a great number of cheap Chinese imitations flooding the market. They are usually half the price of a branded electronic cigarette and look like the real thing as well. It is inadvisable to use these because they have not been subject to the same rigorous testing the official electronic cigarettes have and can potentially be highly damaging to the user's health.

By David P Benson

Best Discount Cigarettes

The best discount cigarettes are available on the Internet and in discount cigarette shops. As middle class people are not able to afford the cost of premium brands of cigarettes because of the taxes, they look for good discount cigarettes, and there are many Internet sites selling them.

Discount cigarettes usually include premium brands like Marlboro, Camel, Merit, Newport, Parliament, Winston and USA Gold. Always remember that best tobacco makes the best cigarette, and the brand name is a guarantee for quality. Some people prefer smoother tobaccos like the Turkish variety, while others prefer the more robust flavor of the American blends. There are other blends from other countries as well. Chinese cigarettes are known to give the sharpest kick.

There are two ways to purchase the best discount cigarettes. One is to make a direct purchase from a shop, and the other is online purchase. Online purchases have many advantages over traditional shopping. Purchases can be made from the comforts of home and can be delivered directly to your home. As noted, you can also buy cigarettes on line and save even more money. One of the advantages of online purchases is there is little overhead expenses involved, so you get quality cigarette brands at cheaper rates. You must be 18 years old in order to buy cigarettes online. There are many shops and warehouses having their own online shopping programs. Most of them guarantee that customer details are completely secure. Please understand that smoking is bad for everyone's health.

By Ken Marlborough

Cigarettes

A cigarette is a small paper-wrapped cylinder. The cylinder contains cured, shredded or cut tobacco leaves. A normal cigarette length is 120 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter. When the non-filtered end is burnt, it results in the tobacco being burnt and creates smoke. Cigarettes are used to inhale the smoke of the tobacco. The inhalation process is done through the mouth, with the filtered end put in.

Tobacco cigarettes are available in the market or can be prepared by hand. Special hand-rolling tobacco is available and is prepared in the form of strands. Commercial cigarettes usually contain a cellulose, acetate or cotton filter through which the smoker inhales the cigarette's smoke. The filter serves to cool and clean the smoke to a certain extent.

Cigarettes are normally used for tobacco smoke delivery, and in some cases, marijuana smoke delivery. Marijuana smokers normally roll the paper at the ends, as the fine marijuana buds used to prepare hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes have a tendency to fall out from the rolled paper.

Tobacco used in commercial cigarettes is rarely pure. Various additives are used to enhance the taste of the tobacco. The leaves of a tobacco plant are dried and then treated with a number of additives and chemicals. The smoke of tobacco contains more than 4,000 chemicals, and many of them are carcinogenic, toxic and mutagenic.

Cigarettes are distinguished from cigars by their smaller size. Processed tobacco leaves and paper are used to prepare cigarettes, whereas cigars are entirely made up of whole-leaf tobacco.

Some of the most popular brands of cigarettes around the world are:

Benson and Hedges

Marlboro

Gold Flake

Pall Mall

Rothmans

Davidoff

Consulate

Ducados

Death

KOOL

By Damian Sofsian

Light and Menthol Cigarettes Facts

Here are some Light and Menthol Cigarettes facts that you should be aware of.

Smokers believe that light cigarettes are not as harmful as "regular" or "full-flavor" cigarettes thus they choose "low-tar," "mild," or "light" cigarettes because they think they are less harmful. More women than men smoke these type of cigarettes, mainly due to advertising targeted at women but they are not any better than the regular ones.

But you may argue that the light and menthol cigarettes feels smoother and lighter on the throat and chest - so lights must be healthier than regulars, right? Wrong. Fewer than 10 percent of smokers are aware that 1 light cigarette yields the same amount of tar as one regular cigarette.

Light cigarettes deliver the same amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide to smokers as "regular" and "full flavor" cigarettes. Many people who switch to low-tar or light cigarettes from regular cigarettes "compensate" for the lower level of nicotine by inhaling harder, taking larger and more frequent puffs or by increasing the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

The facts about "light" cigarettes are that they do not reduce the health risks of smoking. The only way to reduce your risk, and the risk to others around you, is to quit smoking completely.

How about menthol cigarettes? In a disputed study done by Harvard researchers, strongly denied by a spokesman of a tobacco industry. The reports say that cigarette manufactures are regulating level of menthol in cigarettes to attract young smokers and keep older ones hooked.

According to some experts, they believe the regulated level of menthol in cigarettes makes smoking easier to tolerate for young smokers and also increase the addictiveness to nicotine. Some evidence suggests that those who smoke menthol cigarettes have a harder time quitting and some research suggests they may have a higher rate of relapse once they try to quit.

So you can see, light and menthol cigarettes are not any better than regular and studies have shown 50% of "light" cigarette smokers are less likely to quit. Smokers have been led by the myth that light cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes thus giving them a false sense of security.

Wilson is an ex-smoker, here to share his views on methods to quit smoking and help those trying or thinking to kick the addiction. It's tough to quit smoking but it can be done. It's never too late to quit smoking, don't give up and the key to your success is you.

By Wilson Chia

Cigarette Cases for the Fashionable Smoker

If you must smoke at all, why not do so in style? Cigarette lighters, cigarette holders, and cigarette cases help you light up with panache.

Dual Purpose

Cigarette cases are often metal, hinged cases designed to store cigarettes in small amounts and keep them fresh, especially when traveling. Cigarettes are kept from falling out of their cases by a spring-loaded retaining arm.

Cigarette cases these days, however, have since evolved into more than storage cases. They have morphed into accessories that enhance the personality of the smoker carrying them. In fact, cigarette cases have become as much a status symbol as watches, mobile phones, and jackets.

Variety in Cigarette Cases

A range of cigarette cases are currently available in the market. There are varieties made to fit any gender, age, and personality. Cigarette cases normally hold up to 18 cigarettes, though that number differs with each case. Most cases are shallow enough to store only one row or half a pack of cigarettes. Cigarette cases can fit both filtered and unfiltered cigarettes.

Nowadays, cigarette cases are created from any material, with metal being the most popular. There are now cigarette cases made of materials such as gold, silver, brass, chrome, leather, aluminum, canvass, and even plastic.

Cigarette cases sport designs ranging from famous artwork to famous people, cartoon characters to landscapes. For a more personal touch, some people commission embossed designs on their cigarette cases. Engravings are also very popular with metal cigarette cases. Customized designs and patterns are often available upon request.

Cigarette Cases in Fashion

Though both genders use cigarette cases, they are more popular with women. Cigarette cases can be a fashion statement. Many have been designed as purses to match outfits, mainly made from velvet, PVC, and leather. Men, on the other hand, often stick to the classic metal cigarette case.

Cigarette Cases and Business

Cigarette cases are popularly used by companies whose main clientèle are smokers. Cigarette lighter manufacturers like Zippo and Bic have their own line of cigarette cases, often matching their cigarette lighters. Liquor companies like Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker have long since produced their own line of cigarette cases, too. Even Playboy magazine has also tapped into the revenue brought about by cigarette cases.

Cigarette Cases and the Non-Smoker

From a non-smoker's point of view, cigarette cases can also be very useful. Instead of using it to store cigarettes, it may be used to keep a multitude of other things. Techie people have found cigarette cases to be very useful in housing tiny, sensitive devices like PCMCIA and Compact Flash cards because they keep dust and dirt away from the connectors.

Cigarette cases are also cool alternatives to wallets or purses. You can carry cash and coins, credit cards, and identification cards in them. They can help you prevent the unwanted bending of items when you carry them around in your pocket.

Cigarette cases are good for any number of things. Whichever way you use it, however, always remember that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.

By Bradlley Mckoy

Cheap Cigarettes and the Price Quality

Buying cheap discount cigarettes is no more a taboo following recent hikes in taxes hitting all that who smokes. Regardless of brand of cigarettes, it sure must have burnt a hole in your pocket, making everyone wish those tax free days were back.

Online sale of cheap cigarettes at discount price has come to rescue smokers so much that despite selling at cheap prices the websites are still making profits in millions. The usual reservations about the freshness of cigarettes, privacy of your personal details have long been overwhelmed by the genuineness of crisp packs that are delivered to you. Adherence to privacy, tax and age related legalities by online cheap cigarette sellers in addition to secure transaction are what made them popular for buying cigarettes cheap.

How Cheap Are Cheap Discount Cigarettes

It may surprise you but buying cheap Marlboro cigarettes online can save you almost 1/3rd in most states. It isn't just Marlboro that has become cheap online, buy any of your favorite brands, for that matter, such as Marlboro, Camel, Winston, Virginia slims, Salem, Kent, Barclay, Carlton etc you will save a huge sum if you are buying in bulk. If you were paying $40-45 per carton of Marlboro earlier, cheap discount cigarettes can be availed at $25 or less. Buying cheap cigarettes in bulk also has another benefit that you don't run out of stock frequently which, otherwise, always occurs at unfortunate times.

Cheap Cigarettes and the Price/Quality Ratio

Let me begin by asking where do you get menthol tobacco cigarettes fresh and cheap; online or offline? Of course you may be satisfied with your neighboring store but think for a minute, all consumables stale over time on shelf. But what with low or no taxes (in certain Indian settlements) being levied on online cheap cigarettes shops, smokers tend to buy more in bulk than otherwise which saves them a mini fortune both ways. The constant movement of this kind of bulk stock emphasizes three critical points about quality:

1. that buying discount cigarettes is really cheap

2. stocks are more frequently replenished than in an offline shop

3. higher the sales stronger is the smokers' acceptance of quality

So How to Contrast the Cheap Cigarettes against Those Bought From a Corner Shop As Regards to Price/Quality Ratio

To begin with, let's assume the qualities of cheap cigarettes purchased online are on par with cigarettes from a neighborhood retail store. But in the bargain, you will have paid less money per carton/stick bought online. The 'cheap cigarettes and the price/quality ratio' comes under suspicion only if your consignment isn't delivered in good shape or within the specified time. So, first thing you need to check is whether the packing is intact and whether moisture had entered inside. You can also check individual packs for manufacturing dates.

Buying cheap discount cigarettes is no more a taboo following recent hikes in taxes hitting all that who smokes. Regardless of brand of cigarettes, it sure must have burnt a hole in your pocket, making everyone wish those tax free days were back.

Online sale of cheap cigarettes at discount price has come to rescue smokers so much that despite selling at cheap prices the websites are still making profits in millions. The usual reservations about the freshness of cigarettes, privacy of your personal details have long been overwhelmed by the genuineness of crisp packs that are delivered to you. Adherence to privacy, tax and age related legalities by online cheap cigarette sellers in addition to secure transaction are what made them popular for buying cigarettes cheap.

How Cheap Are Cheap Discount Cigarettes

It may surprise you but buying cheap Marlboro cigarettes online can save you almost 1/3rd in most states. It isn't just Marlboro that has become cheap online, buy any of your favorite brands, for that matter, such as Marlboro, Camel, Winston, Virginia slims, Salem, Kent, Barclay, Carlton etc you will save a huge sum if you are buying in bulk. If you were paying $40-45 per carton of Marlboro earlier, cheap discount cigarettes can be availed at $25 or less. Buying cheap cigarettes in bulk also has another benefit that you don't run out of stock frequently which, otherwise, always occurs at unfortunate times.

Cheap Cigarettes and the Price/Quality Ratio

Let me begin by asking where do you get menthol tobacco cigarettes fresh and cheap; online or offline? Of course you may be satisfied with your neighboring store but think for a minute, all consumables stale over time on shelf. But what with low or no taxes (in certain Indian settlements) being levied on online cheap cigarettes shops, smokers tend to buy more in bulk than otherwise which saves them a mini fortune both ways. The constant movement of this kind of bulk stock emphasizes three critical points about quality:

1. That buying discount cigarettes is really cheap

2. Stocks are more frequently replenished than in an offline shop

3. Higher the sales stronger is the smokers' acceptance of quality

So How to Contrast the Cheap Cigarettes against Those Bought From a Corner Shop As Regards to Price/Quality Ratio

To begin with, let's assume the qualities of cheap cigarettes purchased online are on par with cigarettes from a neighborhood retail store. But in the bargain, you will have paid less money per carton/stick bought online. The 'cheap cigarettes and the price/quality ratio' comes under suspicion only if your consignment isn't delivered in good shape or within the specified time. So, first thing you need to check is whether the packing is intact and whether moisture had entered inside. You can also check individual packs for manufacturing dates.

Now that selling cheap cigarettes like Marlboro, Virginia slims, LM or Kent online is commonplace, the apprehension about its legality isn't a deterring factor anymore. Given the issue of quality being settled down, the increased taxes are the things that matter most to a regular smoker, especially if he/she were living in states like New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington, Michigan and Arizona where increase is over 200¢ per pack. The issue of quality is by far a foregone conclusion when online retailers are also buying from the very same tobacco manufacturers as do their offline counterparts.

By Albert Nale

How Cigarette Smoking Causes Disease and Amputation of Fingers, Arms, and Legs!

Nicotine itself is not addictive, but it is responsible for releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reinforcements in the brain, thus inducing addictive tendencies in humans. Nicotine is a chemical found in tobacco leaf, the main ingredient in cigarettes and is said to cause addiction and disease in cigarette smokers, (World Health Organization (WHO)).

Nicotine mimics the activities of acetylcholine, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and the nerve-muscle junction of skeletal muscles. Acetylcholine is responsible for excitability, which causes increase heart rate, alertness, and reaction times, (Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1989; 97(2):257-61.). Because acetylcholine and nicotine are chemically similar, they trigger the same cholinergic receptors in the brain. The nicotine-acetylcholine receptors consist of nerve endings that release dopamine when coupled or bind with nicotine or acetylcholine. Receptors are like cups having the exact dimensions that will fit a neurotransmitter molecule, such as acetylcholine.

The cup itself is lined with nerve endings (tips of neurons). It is these nerve endings that release dopamine when the neurotransmitter acetylcholine binds with the cup-like acetylcholine receptors (cholinergic receptors). A reinforcing and reward phenomenon of dopamine develops because the dopamine that is released from the nerve endings initiates a feeling of pleasure in the individual's brain. The reinforcement mechanism is initiated when the brain becomes addicted to the pleasure caused by the dopamine that is released from the cholinergic receptors. This means that the brain is constantly seeking to be pleasured. So, what will happen in the case of cigarette smokers is that they will continue to smoke cigarettes so the nicotine from the cigarette can induce the release of dopamine in the brain, causing them to feel happy every time they smoke a cigarette, (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7, 967-975 (December 2006)).

The first time cigarette smokers smoked cigarettes there were only a few cholinergic receptors available because the natural action of acetylcholine only needs the normal amount of receptors provided by nature to do its job. However, the increase concentration of nicotine available caused the normal amounts of cholinergic receptors to become desensitized to the presence of the increased number of nicotine in the cholinergic receptors. This desensitization causes the production or growth and development of more cholinergic receptors. These extra cholinergic receptors will soon become desensitized from the excess nicotine available. Such processes occur until equilibrium is reached. Equilibrium is reached when cigarette smokers decide on the amount of cigarettes they will consume or smoke in a given day. At this time, a fixed amount of receptors will be available for the addiction to continue. Smokers will normally say they smoke one or two packs per day. They said so because of the amount of receptors available to accommodate two packs of cigarettes in a day.

A detrimental effect of all this is the fact that such large amounts of cholinergic receptors are now available and hungry for nicotine. So, they can stimulate dopamine to pleasure the cigarette smoker. This is the reason why cigarette smokers have a very difficult time quitting. The best approach therefore for a cigarette smoker to use in quitting is to gradually cut back on the amount of cigarettes smoked in a given time interval.

In addition to the dopamine-inducing effect of nicotine, is the speeding-up of the heart rate by nicotine every time a cigarette is smoked. From a medical perspective, constantly having an artificial increase in heart rate isn't a great idea either. For one thing, a constant increase in heart rate by drugs such as nicotine can cause heart disease, (WHO).

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use leads to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, such as heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer. Most cigarette induced cancers are lung cancer, cancers of the larynx, mouth, and pancreas. Cigarette smoke also causes myocardial infarctions, peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco is responsible for about 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and about 100 million deaths during the 20th century.

In addition to its addictive effects on the central nervous system, cigarette smoke contains a multitude of cancer-causing agents. They work by binding to DNA causing many genetic mutations. Nicotine could be the main culprit that is doing the binding to DNA causing genetic mutations, which leads to cancer. Nicotine is said to disrupt the natural processes of apoptosis (programmed cell death) by binding to DNA in cells, (National Institute of Health (NIH)). Defective cells consist of junk DNA and other waste materials. When apoptosis is inhibited, natural cell death does not occur; instead, defective cells are allowed to proliferate or grow larger, uncontrollably. This is what happens in cancer and the main reason why cigarette smokers are more susceptible to developing cancers.

When apoptosis is uncontrollably triggered by chemicals, such as nicotine, it causes normal cells to die off. This could possibly be what is happening in the heart tissues of cigarette smokers who suffer from heart disease and could also be what is taking place in the extremities of cigarette smokers, who often complain of excessive coldness in their fingers, arms, toes, and legs, where circulation is lowest.

There are no existing studies to support this exact explanation. However, based on the knowledge of known scientific evidence of apoptosis and the increase in death rates of cigarette smokers, this hypothetical explanation has some credence; and will continue to have credence until proven otherwise! There is something deadly that is happening to cigarette smokers and nicotine is one of the agents behind it.

The tar in cigarette smoke is also an agent that sucks the life out of cigarette smokers. The lung of a cigarette smoker is as black as the color of asphalt. It is like a severe piece of burnt pot roast. This is why most cigarette smokers have difficulty breathing. It is next to impossible for air to pass freely down the airways of smokers. The sad thing is that it is difficult for cigarette smokers to quit. So, they continue down the road of destruction, day after day, puffing on the silent killer--cigarette smoking.

One very important solution to quitting smoking is smoking one less cigarette a day or even one less cigarette in a month if one less cigarette a day is too steep of an adjustment to the deadly habit. If one normally smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, that individual should remove one of those cigarettes and discard it--throw it in the trash can. Remember that the smoking of cigarettes started gradually. No one started smoking a pack of cigarettes a day in that awful beginning stage of smoking cigarettes. Smoking one less cigarette per a particular time frame will help eliminate the excessive cholinergic receptors that nicotine so dearly craves.

Wellbutrin is another method for helping people stop smoking. Wellbutrin is an antidepressant drug used by people with depression. However, it is very potent in helping people kick the deadly habit of cigarette smoking. It can be taken while smoking, unlike other smoking cessation agents. Wellbutrin blocks nicotine receptors and weakens the action of dopamine reuptake by neurons, (J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2000 Oct; 295(1):321-7.).

Cigarette smokers who are interested in quitting should implement an exercise program in their schedule because the lack of nicotine in ex-cigarette smokers causes weight-gain. How do we know this? Former cigarette smokers who kicked the habit complain of putting on weight after they quit smoking. Ask any ex-cigarette smoker. One will hear the same thing. Nicotine induces weight-loss in smokers. This is why most cigarette smokers are skinny or slim. If a cigarette smoker is overweight while smoking cigarettes, then that person should definitely seek medical attention because there could be a very dangerous medical condition lurking in the shadows.

By Glenford Robinson

Electronic Cigarettes - A Healthier Alternative To Smoking

There is a brand new invention that everyone who smokes should know about. It's called the electronic cigarette, also known as a smokeless cigarette or e-cigarette, and it is changing the legal landscape for cigarette smokers around the world.

The patented Electronic Cigarette offers to effectively simulate the experience of smoking an actual cigarette, without any of the health or legal issues surrounding traditional cigarettes.

While Electronic cigarettes look, feel and taste much like traditional cigarettes, they function very differently. You see, electronic cigarettes do not actually burn any tobacco, but rather, when you inhale from an e-cigarette, you activate a "flow censor" which releases a water vapor containing nicotine, propylene glycol, and a scent that simulates the flavor of tobacco. All of which simply means that electronic cigarettes allow you to get your nicotine fix while avoiding all of the cancer causing agents found in traditional cigarettes such as tar, glue, hundreds of additives, and hydrocarbons.

In addition to being healthier than traditional cigarettes, and perhaps most importantly of all, is the fact that electronic cigarettes are completely legal. Because Electronic cigarettes do not involve tobacco, you can legally smoke them anywhere that traditional cigarettes are prohibited such as bars, restaurants, the work place, even on airplanes. Furthermore, electronic cigarettes allow you to smoke with no fears of inflicting harm on others due to nasty second hand smoke.

The refillable cartridges come in a multitude of flavors as well as nicotine strengths. You can get regular, menthol, even apple and strawberry flavored cartridges and nicotine strengths come in full, medium, light, and none. While electronic cigarettes are technically a "smoking alternative" rather than a smoking cessation device, the range of nicotine strengths offers some obvious potential as an aid in the ones attempts to quit smoking and seems to be proving popular within that market.

The nice thing about electronic cigarettes as apposed to say, nicotine patches, is that e-cigarettes produce the same tactile sensation and oral fixation that smokers desire, while satisfying ones tobacco cravings as well. When you take a drag from n electronic cigarette you actually feel the your lungs fill with a warm tobacco flavored smoke and when you exhale the smoke billows out of your lungs just like regular smoking, however, as mentioned, that smoke is actually a much healthier water vapor that quickly evaporates and therefore does not offend anyone in the immediate vicinity.

While electronic cigarettes have been around for a while in various incarnations, it has been recent advances in the technology as well as ever increasing restrictions against smoking that have propelled the e-cigarette into a new found popularity. If you are interested in a healthier alternative to smoking, or if you simply want to have the freedom to smoke wherever and whenever you want, an electronic cigarette might be the solution you've been looking for.

By Jonathan Drake

Second Hand Smoker A New Perspective

It has become politically correct to demonize smoking. It's not enough to force owners of offices, factories, restaurants, and bars to forbid smoking, now they're going after the parks and beaches.

First of all, let me make it clear that I'm a non-smoker, I haven't smoked for over 35 years and don't intend to start. I have no vested interest in smoking itself, but worry about all the unwarranted laws that are currently being passed concerning the subject. When they're done with smoking, there's many other issues these corporate alien lawmakers will be legislating on. Our freedom gets gradually eaten away, as they pass more and more silly restrictive laws.

Whenever the government wants to push an issue, they use highly exaggerated statements and statistically unsound studies to try to scare us. Getting people to quit smoking is one of the current issues of choice.

Here's a quote from the surgeon general's web site.

We know that secondhand smoke harms people's health, but many people assume that exposure to secondhand smoke in small doses does not do any significant damage to one's health. However, science has proven that there is NO risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Let me say that again: there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

I want to examine the subject from a different point of view, to see if statements like the one above are warranted. I will use real world facts, observation and logic to challenge this statement.

Do I believe that smoking kills? Yes, I know it does. But there are interesting facts behind smoking deaths that are not quite clear. Lets look at two famous personalities that unquestionably died from smoking related diseases. First is Edward R. Murrow who died at 57 from lung cancer. He was a very heavy smoker. He once remarked he couldn't live a half hour without a cigarette. Johnny Carson was another personality that died at 79 from emphysema. He too was a very heavy smoker.

Both these individuals abused their bodies by overindulging in cigarettes for many, many years. Smoking didn't just kill them a year after they took their first drag. In fact, they lived longer than some non-smokers. It appears that Carson was more resistant to chain smoking than Murrow. That could explain why Carson lived longer than Murrow.

I personally witnessed a neighbor, who was a heavy smoker, succumb to emphysema while in his seventies. You could go on and find many, many such cases. One conclusion you can draw from such examples is that the development of smoking illnesses come from many years of overindulgence. Exactly how long it takes for such illnesses to develop depends on the amount of cigarettes smoked per day and the person's natural resistance to toxins.

Now how about light smokers? The longest living documented person was a French woman named Jeanne Calment. She died in 1997 at the age of 122. At the age of twenty-one in 1896 she began smoking. She smoked no more than two cigarettes per day. She quit when she was 114 because she could not see well enough to light her cigarette and not because of problems from smoking. She died from old age and not smoking.

Most people are more familiar with the comedian George Burns. He died in 1996, forty nine days after reaching his hundredth birthday. He smoked up to ten cigars per day for seventy years. He once commented that if he had listened to his doctor and quit smoking, he wouldn't have been able to attend the doctor's funeral. He didn't die from smoking.

Let's apply some logic to our examples. Do you suppose that if Edward R. Murrow, Johnny Carson, and my neighbor were light to moderate smokers they would have lived longer? Logic says yes! In fact it looks like Johnny Carson had a lot of natural immunity. He could have conceivably lived to be a hundred or more. Light smoking may have had no effect on him or it could have even helped him live longer.

What if Jeanne Calment or George Burns smoked two or three packs a day? They could have lived longer than most heavy smokers because of their strong immune systems, but I doubt that either one of them would have been alive to celebrate his or her ninetieth birthday.

We can deduce that the immune system determines how people react to smoking. Your immune system will eventually be overwhelmed after you've been chain smoking for years. I've never heard of a light smoker dying from cigarettes. (There are always exceptions. Someone with a very poor immune system will die of anything.) Light smoking might even have beneficial effects for some people like Jeanne Calment and George Burns.

What about second hand smoke? Wouldn't inhaling second hand smoke be even less toxic than being a light smoker? If you smoke a cigarette a day, then you smoked 365 cigarettes per year. According to one study, being in a room filled with second hand smoke for eight hours a day would amount to smoking 4.3 cigarettes per year. Even if that's a miscalculation, and its really equivalent to 100 cigarettes per year, that's still much less than Jeanne Calment's one or two cigarettes a day. We should be able to easily assume that being exposed to second hand smoke has a much smaller effect than being a light smoker.

I'm a member of the baby boomer generation. There are about 77 million baby boomers living today. It turns out that smoking was so prevalent during the 50's, 60's, and 70's that practically everyone living during that time period was exposed to some form of second hand smoke. Everyone was smoking at work, many parents were smoking in front of their children, some parents would let their teens smoke, even in Army boot camp the barracks were always full of second hand smoke. When I was going to college, many teachers would allow smoking in class. Some teachers would even lecture with a cigarette in hand. During that time, even if you didn't smoke, exposure to second hand smoke was unavoidable.

How has all this exposure affected the baby boomers? The ones that are currently suffering from smoking related illnesses are the ones that are heavy smokers who refused to quit. People like me kicked the habit years ago. No matter how much second hand smoke they were previously exposed to, they have no smoking related problems, except, perhaps, heart disease. I know people in their late seventies that smoke moderately and still show no signs of any disease.

Heart disease is not only a smoking related disease, but can also originate from food, genetics, and frustration. It's practically impossible to prove that baby boomers who have heart problems and currently don't smoke got their heart disease from exposure to second hand smoke that occurred years ago. Of course if they're currently heavy smokers, their heart disease probably was caused or aggravated by their habit.

Let's look at my smoking history. My father was a moderate smoker. So for about 13 years I was exposed to second hand smoke from him alone. When I was thirteen I started smoking and smoked for about twelve years. So I was exposed to some form of primary or secondary smoke for about 25 years in my early life. Ever since I quit, I have had very little exposure to second hand smoke. Because I don't really fear second hand smoke, friends and acquaintances expose me to short periods of passive smoke several times a year. I have no smoking related lung disease, or heart disease. I'm in my early sixties.

Politicians have come out with a lot of studies that show that second hand smoke is dangerous. Unfortunately, most of these studies are not statistically significant, which means that they prove nothing. There are also studies that have shown that that second hand smoke has beneficial effects. Some are even more statistically relevant. Of course, it is not politically correct for anti-smoking factions to mention them.

In spite of the fact, that I defend the right of people to smoke, I also think it's a good idea for most people to quit. There is no doubt that heavy smokers eventually die from smoking, but years before they die, they must undergo the harsh effects of their debilitating disease. Even though, light smokers may never get a smoking related disease, it's almost impossible for most people to remain light smokers. One reason for this is that smoking is addictive. It draws you to an ever increasing daily cigarette quota. In today's corporate alien society, many people claim that they smoke because of frustration at work. If profits fall, corporations are quick to blame their workforce and subject them to a barrage of endless harassment. The calming effects of cigarettes are used to cope with many of today's on the job abuses. The light smoker under stress then quickly evolves into a chain smoker.

Does it really seem logical, that when it takes thirty years of smoking to kill a chain smoker, that a few hours of second hand smoke is going to hurt you? Get real! Yet the government has convinced a lot of people that this is a reality. Just recently Chicago has banned smoking on playgrounds and beaches. With all the problems this city is facing, why do Chicago politicians concern themselves with such nonsense? It's, probably, just greed, since violators of this ordinance face a hefty fine of $500.

The fewer substances you depend on the better. If you depend on cigarettes, try quiting. If you can't quit, cut down. If you encounter second hand smoke, don't worry, it may annoy you, but it won't hurt you. It could even strengthen your immune system.

By George Lunt

There but for the Grace of God go I Stopped Smoking Cigarettes

God Did For Me What I Could Not Do For Myself

I don't remember exactly what day I started smoking cigarettes, but I do remember the day that I quit smoking as if it were yesterday. At about ten years of age, started acting cool like grown ups with a couple friends by acting as though we smoked by rolling up dried lawn grass from backyards and the Merrill Park in the Jeffery Manor at Chicago, Illinois. We also tried smoking dried tree leaves rolled up inside notebook paper, typing paper, old Chicago Transit Authority transfer fare paper, torn pages from a phone book or whatever was available. Trying to imitate my father, cousins, other adults, movies stars, soldiers, cowboys, musicians, tough guys, bad guys, good guys and any other heroes who smoked cigarettes. I guess it was cool and glamorous when they inhaled/exhaled smoke in their lungs. It made them look smarter and in control. I did not know how to smoke at all. I just puffed and coughed from the burning sensation that I felt in my chest and lungs. It was awfully painful! One day a friend stole an open pack from his mother and we tried to smoke a real cigarette. I think it was either Benson & Hedges or Virginia Slims cigarettes. By the way, we learned that a cigarette is also called a "square". We almost got busted because my friend's mother found out her cigarettes were missing and it seemed like trouble was coming fast. Somehow I dodged that bullet. If you ask me today, then I wish I had been busted so I could be punished. And back then we used to get beatings for disobedience and doing wrong. Today it is called child abuse. I think that is what's wrong with this world today. Spare the rod; spoil the child. I needed a beat down just on GP alone.

Time passed and I learned to smoke the real McCoy, cigarettes fresh out the pack or crush-proof box! Newport brand cigarettes, an attractive green square shaped pack or box with the upside Nike swoosh on the front label and the surgeon general's warning on the side, to be exact. Twenty, filtered menthol cigarettes, jam packed with nicotine, tar, embalming fluid and couple hundred more flavorful low-dosed toxic deadly poisons. I learned to hold the cigarette like a real man should. I held the square between my index finger and middle finger with a slight curve on the pull, like a cool way of holding a pool stick at a speak-easy pool hall, tavern, bar or a club. I was cool at 12 years old. Stunting my growth and development already. It took me a couple days to learn exactly how to inhale smoke without choking. And of course, I did choke. I got light-headed and dizzy in the beginning of my 24-year life sentence as a smoker of cigarettes. That light-headedness made me feel relaxed after enjoying a refreshing cigarette. Oh, I did not discriminate in the beginning. I smoked many different brands without prejudice. For example, Kools, Marlboroughs, Salems, Players, Camels, and Viceroys (the brand that helped to give my dad emphysema and cancer), oh well, whatever, never mind. Put it this way, if you had a cigarette, I would probably smoke it without hesitation. I was cool, calm and collected, an in control smoker. I mean I was bad, the best of the best, top cat, cool, can you dig it man. (So I thought)

Always coughing up cold. Spitting hockers ranging from off-white to yellow, to tawny, to brown and green, orange and red and the occasional black hocker. Sometimes getting a solid chuck that resembles a broken sunflower seed that stank worse than Rex the dog's breath on a hot and humid day in Maywood, Illinois in the month of July. Cigarettes were cheap to buy back in the day. I mean the early 1980's when I started smoking. They were more or less about 75cents a pack. I heard in the military, they were about $7 for a carton of 20 packs of squares back then, in the early 80's. It just didn't cost that much to kill yourself back then. Now the cost of living is high and the cost of dying is higher. My oldest brother and I used to hang out at a friends house. There we were enabled to smoke, drink and listen to loud music in his basement. At home, we hid our bad smoking habit by sticking our heads out of the bathroom window while smoking cigarettes. We used air fresher and aerosol hairspray to kill the smell of cigarette smoke. Who were we fooling? One snowy evening, in the winter of 1982-83, my brother and took a walk down the avenue where we lived, to smoke cigarettes. My mother, for some reason, open the door, looked down the street, just as my brother was taking a few hearty drags, on a freshly lit Newport 100 cigarette. She came out the house and saw him smoking. I almost got busted that day because I was just about to pull my cigarettes out my pocket. Well, just say that eventually I confessed to my habit of smoking around that time also. My mother told us not to smoke around her or in her house, period. She was very disappointed in us but she knew that it was basically nothing she could do because we were big young boys and officially addicted to inhaling nicotine, tar and about 400 other low dose poisons.

Shortness of breath, bad colds and flu symptoms, yellowish (coffin) fingernails, eyes looking lowly and dimly lit up were signs of the unhealthy aspect of smoking cigarettes. What a drag after taking so many drags. Clothes and hair stinking like smoke. Holes burned in clothing. I apparently loved cigarettes and it was a marriage of convenience that kept us together as one. And for 24 years it took its toll on my life and me. Nicotine controlled me and I was not the wiser. A friend once told me that with every pull of smoke I took, 5 seconds was taken from my lifetime. My rational answer was, we are all gonna die from something, you'll never know what or how. Enough said for the glory of smoking cigarettes.

While visiting an elder near Green Bay, Wisconsin in about the spring of 1984, I remember eating an authentic home-cooked Polish dinner for the very first time. We ate Polish sausage and sauerkraut and some kick ass horseradish. It was the bomb! I was about 14 years old at the time. I had a girlfriend. She didn't smoke. I use to always brush my teeth, use mouthwash, chew gum, and use a breath mint or spray or something before I kissed her, if I smoked. It really wasn't right, to be honest. I mean, my smoking. But I denied the truth about it. Back to Green Bay, the people I was visiting found out that I was a young boy smoking cigarettes, after trying to hide it and cover it up from them. I remember, Joseph a man I love and respect like a father, telling me don't be a hypocrite and admit that I smoke. It felt like a weight was lifted off my chest after telling the truth. Yet, I still smoked. So, I asked Joseph's father, Gramps, did he smoke? He said "yes, but he quit about 15 years before our conversation." I asked him "how did he quit?" He said, "he just stopped." And that, "when it is time for you to quit, then you will know it and just quit for good." I had a fresh addiction to nicotine flowing through my veins and I craved for a cigarette after that delicious meal. I thought to myself, "easier said than done old man". That meeting with him has stayed with me ever since.

As time went by, year progressed. The same thing, I smoked after eating food, drinking alcoholic beverages, drinking coffee, drinking soft drinks and especially drinking highly caffeinated colas. I smoke when I felt happy, sad, upset, or just to be smoking a cigarette to have something to do like people who play baseball, a past time. Even when someone ticked me off, when problems and trouble came up, before and after relieving myself, I had to smoke another cigarette. That is the plain truth. And it's somethen rong with that pickture!

I remember trying to quit off and on with no success whatsoever. I would quit a day or two, a week or so and "bam!" I was back at it again, "Smokin'!" It was off to the races again, baby. Addicted to nicotine. You see, as the years went on, I became allergic to dogs, cats, dust, pollen and grasses. I later developed bronchitis. I wonder did smoking have something to do with my developing these health problems. Hmm. I wonder... Well, anyway, I'm in my mid-30's. I am now a little older and I believe a tad bit wiser. I no longer need to look cool, act cool and think that I'm cool, in order to be cool. Sometimes in order to be cool, you have to be uncool. You will surprise your friends and confuse your enemies. I felt like Pavlov's dog when it came to smoking cigarettes. I also began to remember when my mother use to say that "I do not want to use anything that has that much power over me." Yes, she was right and basically said " I am powerless over cigarettes." Until I realized the truth in that statement, I would probably have smoked for the rest of my natural life. It is not so much as the physical dependence of nicotine or cigarettes but the mental dependence caused by my thinking and the force of habitual thinking and acting upon the thought of physically craving nicotine. And the best way I could get my nicotine fix was to fire up a cigarette and inhale the smoke. If I do not pick up the cigarette, then I will not smoke.

A few months ago, one night I had awakened very early, like 3am. Immediately, I got the thought to write down all the pros and cons of smoking cigarettes. Besides looking cool, which is a lie, I could not find one good reason to smoke cigarettes. I have some pretty good reasons why I should not smoke, though. I came up with over 35 reasons. Here are some reasons why I should stop smoking cigarettes from the top of the list.

1. Stopping smoking now reduces your chances of getting throat cancer, lung cancer, emphysema, asthma, allergies, bronchitis, colon or stomach cancer and other serious health problems.

2. Pregnant women reduce the chances of having miscarriage, or a child born with birth defects.

3. Cough less and have fewer colds and flu symptoms.

4. Breathe better, more freely and easily.

5. Outlook on life will improve.

6. Run, walk and climb stairs with less effort.

7. Smile wider with brighter eyes.

8. Mental keenness and alertness improves dramatically.

9. Hair, skin, teeth and fingernails smell and look better.

10. You will save a lot of money.

Just read the side of a pack of cigarettes. It comes with a grave warning. Those are the consequences you get for smoking. I know because my biological father died of throat cancer and emphysema. Yes, he smoked cigarettes, suffered the consequences and died prematurely. God rest his soul. One day, while I was talking with a good friend about his recently stopping smoking cigarettes. He made it sound easy and in fact it is. First, let's look at the score. The price of cigarettes have recently gone up due to city/state excise taxes in Illinois for health cost/benefits, the military budget, and lot of other things. It costs $7 for a fresh pack of cigarettes at many stores in Chicago. But the true cost is of smoking is one human life at a time. Many cities have now imposed ordinances that ban smoking in public facilities even outdoors. People are aware that second hand smoke causes cancer and emphysema just as well as inhaling/exhaling the smoking gun, firsthand. So it is becoming more and more socially unacceptable to smoke. Ahhh, the pressure...

Well, Charles, the good friend of mine that I mentioned told me that he stopped smoking with the help based upon his realizing that he too is powerless over cigarettes and that his life was unmanageable as far as the time and effort put into smoking cigarettes. And only a Power Greater than himself or I call God, could remove the mental obsession of a nicotine fix or shall I say smoking cigarettes. Also, he did not mention that he feigned or had nicotine fits or a bad attitude associated with many smokers because there were basically none. In fact, when I finally quit. I had only two big cigarette cravings that I could really remember. The rest was just my choice and desire not to smoke at all, which God gave me to remove it, Himself. "God did for me what I could not do for myself!" Also, my good friend Charles told me that he just picked a date to quit smoking "cold turkey". No nicotine patches or nicotine gum because the problem is not the patch or the gum, the problem is the person smoking. You don't need a crutch. Besides, you are only taking the thing that you are trying to remove, "nicotine". He said that after two days, the cravings went away. It was just that his desire not to smoke cigarettes had outweighed his desire to smoke cigarettes. Also, believe that a Power Greater than yourself or God can restore your thinking to sanity. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Sanity is knowing and believing and acting upon the truth that you cannot successfully smoke cigarettes without grave consequences. When you realize that you are powerless over tobacco or smoking cigarettes that means that you surrender the belief that you can beat a cigarette's power to causes death to yourself and others. You have no power over cigarettes whatsoever. So stop fighting the cravings and let them go right past you. Stop anticipating how you will act upon stopping smoking. Try exercises such as jogging, cycling, or swimming. Read a book; write a short story or poem or two. For example, enter a poetry and writing contest such as Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest. It is a great avenue to share your thoughts, feelings and dreams with the world. It helps to take you outside yourself. Just don't think about smoking and don't try to figure out how God works. God works in mysterious ways. So make a decision to turn your will and life over to your Higher Power, as you understand Him. That means that every morning you wake up, during the day when you feel like smoking a cigarette and before going to bed turn your will and life over to the complete care and abandon of God as you understand Him. Give yourself completely to God. You will see a change. You better believe it. He will direct your paths to quitting smoking cigarettes one day at a time. Take a deep breath whenever your feel an urge to smoke. And if you really want to stop smoking, you will understand that when a craving comes to you, you are powerless over it. And to just let it go by you instead of being strong and trying to resist something you cannot resist by yourself. Let it go and let God have it. Let God handle it. If He brings you to it, He will walk you through it. You will see the results, one day at a time. In the long run, you will be smoke free and healthier. For more info on stopping smoking please visit the following websites:(God Bless!)

By Andre West

Smoking Cessation An Opportunity For Commercial Improvement

Impact Of Smoking On The Business
When we consider the impact of smoking on a business we need to consider three key areas of profitability, health of all employees and other people who visit our premises and company image.

Profitability is a major concern for all organisations that employ smokers:

34 million working days are lost to British industry each year due to smoking related sick leave. After all, there are over 50 diseases associated with smoking, so the habit provides a lot of opportunities for sick leave. The cost to the employer is not just on sick pay but also lost productivity and output.
Professor Konrad Jamrozik of Imperial College London has estimated that exposure to second hand smoke in the workplace causes around 617 premature deaths in the UK each year.
A Canadian study (Health Canada, Smoking and the bottom line, Canada, 1997) showed that the average annual reduction in productivity per employee who smokes is £1,085, increased absenteeism costs £115, additional insurance £37, and smoking areas cost £42 (figures that have significantly inflated over the last 10 years).


The cost of supporting a smoking environment is significant and many companies fail to realise how this impacts the bottom line:

Smoking breaks cause interruptions to work flow and can account for one lost day per week.
Smokers introduce additional costs for cleaning and redecorating.
Cost of space for smoking rooms if used.
Special ventilation is required if smoking rooms are used.
Increased premiums for health and fire insurance with up to 14% of medical costs related to smoking.
Increased litigation risks.


Proposals are in place to prohibit smoking in most workplaces in England during 2007. However, Scotland and Ireland have already banned smoking in all indoor workplaces.

Impact Of Smoking On Employees

A staggering 13 million adults still smoke in the UK and whilst the overall trends show the number of smokers are declining, there is a large incidence of smoking amongst younger people. Unfortunately 1 in 2 of these smokers will die of smoking related illnesses.

Staff morale amongst non-smokers is an issue as they consider they receive fewer breaks and have to cover for the time lost by smokers. This often causes resentment towards smoker colleagues. 86% of all employees and interestingly 73% of smokers believe that smoking should be restricted at work (Lader D. and Meltzer H. Smoking related behavior and attitudes. Office for National Statistics 2001).

Smoking affects employees on several levels as summarised below, any one of which can impact their performance at work.

Health deteriorates

Heart attack risk increases threefold.
Risk of heart disease increases by 70%.
Cause 90% of lung cancers.
Responsible for a proliferation of other cancers.
Risk of type 2 diabetes increases by 2 to 3 times.
Cause 1 in 3 deaths by 2020.
Cause 13 deaths / hour in the UK.


Reduces sexual performance

Reduced stamina.
Risk of impotence in men increased by 50% (30 - 50 years of age).
Fertility reduced to 72% in women (compared to non smokers).
Pregnant women pass effects to unborn children.


Changes appearance

Premature wrinkles around eyes and mouth.
Skin becomes dry due to reduced blood circulation.
Fingers become tobacco stained.
Teeth become stained brown and increased risk of gum disease.
Smell of tobacco on clothes, car, house and office.


Suppresses appetites

Taste buds suppressed leading to unbalanced diets.


Damages children

Children are three times more likely to smoke if their parents smoke.


Impairs decision making

Reliance on the temporary calming effects of smoking to avoid issues and reduce stress.


Corporate Benefits Of No Smoking

Any organisation that introduces a support programme for smokers as well as initiating a no smoking policy, is likely to experience significant gains in productivity and workplace attendance. These gains far outweigh the costs of any smoking cessation programme and include:

Reduced employee sick days due to heart disease, lung cancer, aggravation of asthma, decreased coughing, and reduction of respiratory complaints.
The supportive attitude to employee welfare stimulates reciprocal positive attitudes from employees and this helps smoker morale.
71% of smokers want to quit (Lader D. and Meltzer H. Smoking related behavior and attitudes. Office for National Statistics 2001) and this goal is easier for them if their employer creates a smoke free environment and particularly if the employer introduces a smoke cessation programme.
Recognition amongst non-smokers that they will also benefit from elimination of passive smoking and seeing increased productivity from the new non-smoking colleagues improves the moral of non-smokers.
Creates the corporate image of a caring organisation and this opens doors with environmentally concerned customers.
Improved company image (both internally and externally) and possible incremental business from organisations that are environmentally aware.
Reduced risk of future legislation and we say future as the law concerning smoking in companies is not exactly crystal clear but that will change.


Employee Benefits Of Stopping Smoking

The most common reasons given for the lifestyle change to stop smoking are:-

Improved health and wellbeing.
Improved prospects of a long life.
Improved physical appearance.
Improved job prospects.
Improved chances of a new relationship or marriage.
Improved chances of becoming pregnant.
Improved sex drive and performance.
Improved job / career prospects.
Compliance with no smoking regulations.
Setting a good example to children.
Being more socially responsible.


Introducing A Smoking Cessation Policy

Smoking policies (according to ASH) are not about whether or not people smoke, but about when and where they smoke and whether their smoke affects others. Smoking in the workplace needs to be tackled like any other management challenge. Any smoking policy requires clear guidelines for all parties involved and we suggest a 5-stage process to establish this:

Employee Feedback - Pre Stage

Carrying out an internal survey amongst employees to clearly establish attitudes and opinions of both smokers and non-smokers, together with opinions (if applicable) of unions, customers and suppliers. This survey provides a benchmark to assess the scale of the opportunities to be gained from the introduction of any smoking policy and treatment programme and also provides a yardstick against which to measure the future gains. A second analysis should establish the hard employee facts such as sick days for both smokers and non smokers.

Establish Dialogue With Employees

The survey is the starting point and the findings from this and the proposed course of action should be discussed with employees in order to ensure recommendations meet the needs of both the company and the employees. It is normal to set up a working party with representatives of both smoker and non-smoker employees. In establishing the policy framework it has to be remembered that we need to comply with Section 49 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978, which specifies that 12 weeks notice is required of changes to working conditions.

It is also worth noting that restrictions on smoking do not relate to a factor inherent to a person, such as age, gender, colour or social class, but to a voluntary activity. In this respect it is wrong to claim that they are discriminatory.

Finalise The Policy

Any smoking policy is likely to go through a few iterations before it is acceptable to all parties. This time is well spent if later problems are to be avoided. The policy will be designed to comply with Section 2(2)(e) of the Health and Safety at Work ETC Act 1974 and will detail:

General principals of the policy.
Common area where smoking is not permitted.
Work areas where smoking is not permitted.
Any use of designated smoking rooms.
Smoking in company vehicles.
Unions / Health & Safety representatives.
Staff information.
Restrictions applied to visitors and temporary staff.
Adequate signage.
Recruitment policies.
Treatment programme to help smokers end smoking.
Enforcement of smoking policy.
Policy amendments.


Initiate The Policy And Communicate

Any policy should ideally go through two stages. Firstly a restriction on smoking, together with the introduction of a smoker programme to help them stop smoking and followed by a company wide smoking ban.

Companies should use their normal methods of communication to ensure the policy is clearly visible to all employees and visitors.

Employee Feedback - Post Stage

It is beneficial to repeat the employee smoker survey 6 to 9 months after any change in policy and the commencement of company stop smoking treatments. This will enable organisations to measure the return on their investment, establish reduction in sick days and measure improvements in employee productivity and attitudes. It is also beneficial PR to use the findings to communicate the environmentally friendly policy and caring attitude towards employees and visitors.

Support and Treatment

The introduction of any new smoking policy, should be accompanied by advice and support to enable smokers to quit, should they choose to do so. Simply ordering employees to stop smoking is short sighted, as their habit is driven by their addiction to nicotine, one of the most addictive substances known and more addictive than drugs such as cocaine.

There are many different methods and products on the market to help smokers to end their habit. The most popular are nicotine replacement therapies or using smokers helpline and counselling. However, the quickest and most beneficial solution appears to be the treatments that cancel out the electromagnetic charge of nicotine in the body. These treatments have success rates in excess of 85%, generally eliminate nicotine addiction within 24 hours and have virtually no withdrawal problems. This provides for a rapid ROI.

David Bacon MBA, BSc, MMRS, is a partner in Energy Medicine a UK energetic medicine (bioresonance) business that has been helping people with allergies since 2000.

Energy Medicine was established in Hemel Hempstead in 2000. The company uses sensitive micro-electronic equipment to identify and treat allergies / intolerances and to help clients to stop smoking.

By David Bacon