First Hand Cigar Smoke...

The National Cancer Institute has a wealth of information regarding smoking. It has commissioned studies over time that probably form the bulk of our knowledge on the subject.

NCI monograph #9 is quite interesting since it deals with the issue of first hand smoke for both cigarettes as well as cigars. We can see their conclusions about first hand cigar smoke and the statistical rates of death per hundred thousand people. This study, which was conducted over a twelve year period, also recognized that the degree of inhalation of cigar smoke contributed to different rates of death from all causes.

Cigarette smokers have significantly higher rates of deaths from all causes. Smokers of less than a pack per day are about 1.5 times as likely to die from all causes as are cigar smokers smoking between one and two cigars per day. Full pack a day cigarette smokers are about 1.75 times as likely to die of all causes, and those who smoke more than a pack per day are some 2 times more likely to die of all causes.

Cigar smokers who smoke one to two cigars per day and who do not inhale the smoke compare favorably to the population as a whole. When looking at deaths from all causes, cigar smokers were noted to be at only a 2% higher incidence than the entire population as a whole...smokers and non-smokers.

Given that the people who patronize cigar shops with smoking lounges are the ones smoking cigars, there is an extremely small potential for second-hand smoke impact. It also stands to reason that first hand cigar smoke would be significantly more hazardous than second hand cigar smoke.

While it is generally acknowledged that second hand cigar smoke is a more significant health hazard than is second hand cigarette smoke (due to the sheer size difference of cigars and cigarettes and given different levels of carcinogens due to curing and burn rates), it becomes obvious that any real second hand smoke hazard from cigars is virtually non-existent.

Why is there virtually no second hand smoke risk?
- Because the tobacconist is typically working alone in his or her smoke shop.
- When not there, he or she has almost always hired smoker/customers as part-time employees since they know the product mix.
- Because people who do not smoke cigars do not sit in smoking lounges.

Given that there is virtually no second hand cigar smoke risk, and with SB150 written to protect people against second hand smoke, it also, then, stands to reason that an amendment to exclude tobacconists' cigar smoking lounges would certainly be in keeping with the original goal and intent of the legislation.

Who amongst our legislators will step up to the plate with a suitable amendment to SB150?