Interesting that smoking has been prevalent human activity for thousands of years and now it's so demonised? Good resources for balanced discussion?

[thisoldtown1978]

I know there may be some false assumptions in my question, but I find it fascinating how prevalent smoking has been for so long, when the common consensus is now that it's so bad for you. At the same time, some of the most vibrant and long-living people I've known smoked regularly (I know, not that old chestnut). Of course, just because something's been around for such a long time doesn't make it healthy - just pleasurable - I know that.

Can anyone recommend any resources that give a balanced discussion of tobacco smoking and it's health relation? Provided there is a balanced argument, of course.

For example, I've read a study that said just 1-4 cigarettes a day doubled your chance of getting lung cancer, but there was no indication of your chances of getting lung cancer in the first place. I'm not the best at statistics so perhaps someone can tell me if this is a valid question or not.

 

[Temps]

keep in mind cigarettes in the modern day are filled with garbage intended to kill you, and inhaling any smoke into the lungs is going to do damage no matter the source

smoking pure tobacco that doesn't contain pesticides or heavy metals is probably the healthiest option, and not pulling into the lungs (letting the salivary glands absorb the nicotine instead) is fine.

cigarettes prior to the 50s/60s were pure tobacco in most cases, though its debatable how healthy the paper they were rolled in may have been (bleaching agents and whatnot) so health issues were less of a concern

 

[GTW]

Exposure to lead, mercury, heavy metals was endemic in many populations for thousands of years. Tobacco, not. Smoking tobacco was never a common or chronic practice in the Native American cultures where tobacco existed before adopted by Europeans.
There are studies showing health benefits of nicotine in small doses. Nicotine and the B vitamin nicotinic acid are chemically close, hence the names. The first big successes of tobacco in Europe and why the genus is named for Jean Nicot:
Cure of skin cancer when applied topically
Treatment of migraine when chewed.

 

[AncestralJoy]

I know there may be some false assumptions in my question, but I find it fascinating how prevalent smoking has been for so long, when the common consensus is now that it's so bad for you. At the same time, some of the most vibrant and long-living people I've known smoked regularly (I know, not that old chestnut). Of course, just because something's been around for such a long time doesn't make it healthy - just pleasurable - I know that.

Can anyone recommend any resources that give a balanced discussion of tobacco smoking and it's health relation? Provided there is a balanced argument, of course.

For example, I've read a study that said just 1-4 cigarettes a day doubled your chance of getting lung cancer, but there was no indication of your chances of getting lung cancer in the first place. I'm not the best at statistics so perhaps someone can tell me if this is a valid question or not.

Check out "the guilt free smoke room" thread in the forum.. Plenty of fascinating information and studies etc thrown in.

The fact that new Zealand has a goal to make the country entirely smoke free starting with this 14yr old generation by increasing the smoking age each year ensuring some never legally get a wiff is enough of a red flag to make me wonder haha.

 

[Xemnoraq]

coming from someone who was in the same boat and asking the same question i wouldn't recommend doing it, the aromatase inhibiting effect of tobacco loses its touch over time because you accumulate so many estrogens and stressors from the contaminants in it and the estrogenic nature of smoking anything ends up out weighing the positives. When i quit i never felt more f*cked up then i did then, even now almost 2 years later and i still don't feel 100%, my skin started to look like ***t and become super swollen and soy face like and my skin sagged a bit, bags under my eyes and forehead lines, i've also always been shredded all my life and always had a 6 pack and after quitting i started gaining fat around my waist where it became hard to see my abs, this has also never happened to me in my life ive always been lean, after quitting smoking i felt absolutely disgusting bloated and gross i just didn't feel attractive i just felt nasty in my own skin hard to explain, i also developed some pretty severe high serotonin symptoms like extreme social anxiety and irritability. Also it causes ED for men i experienced that as well not fun, only now am i starting to feel somewhat normal again and look and feel healthy, it's your choice but i thought id share my experience i highly don't recommend it. On a side note, tobacco or maybe the contaminants in it but i think its the alkaloids of the plant, actually have properties to them that inhibit MAO-A which is needed to breakdown serotonin, so anything that inhibits MAO-A is pushing towards SSRI's and also, low MAO-A is the trait used to describe the warrior gene they call it which is identified in psycopaths and major criminals (high serotonin) the whole tobacco experience felt extremely serotonergic for me, it did feel good at times but i really stopped feeling like myself it wasn't fun just thought id share

 

[JamesGatz]

I view it all the same Globalist plot

I think it's worth noting that many of today's cigarettes have been purposefully filled with poison that cause these issues

Everything that raises DHT (such as this) is demonized and I saw someone else a while back say that things that lower serotonin tends to be considered rude such as which I definitely think is true:

- Smoking
- Wearing hats and hoodies
- Chewing Gum
etc

Meanwhile, things that obliterate DHT is front and center

- finasteride/hair loss industry in general

(it amazes me that people will believe the NWO has an agenda to weaken/feminize men then actually take the 5AR/DHT theory seriously)

- Our food industry is filled with androgenic obliterators - soy, BHT, etc.

- PUFA

the list goes on...

 

[Rock_V]

@Xemnoraq I'm interested in your experience. What cigarettes were you smoking, organic tobacco like american spirit?
When I smoke marlboro or camel, they feel completely different in a very negative way which makes sense when you look at the additives in them -
they add things like licorice as well which is highly estrogenic.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Smoking raises testosterone. Also smokers have lower incidences of Parkinsonism and Alzheimer’s and many other issues.

This is about nicotine but it is along this track. It’s really not a study, but one person’s paper, still…

Beneficial effects of nicotine - PubMed

Nicotine in tobacco brings illness and death to millions of people. Yet nicotine in its pure form has the potential to be a valuable pharmaceutical agent. Nicotine fairly specifically binds to the cholinergic nicotinic gating site on cationic ion channels in receptors throughout the body. This...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[i_nomad]

This article is pretty informative… tells how wrong the science has been and illustrates what seems to be a far more reasonable view towards smoking. I’d be interested in what people think… especially since I’ve already gotten a pipe and have started down that route.
Also this.
…and this.

 

[GTW]

There are nicotine patches and gum. Nicotinic acid niacin causes flushing with most people but that's not necessarily a deterrent. Chewing tobacco from unsprayed plants avoids many of the harmful effects of smoking. Tobacco is easy to grow in a pot or garden. Hopi species, Nicotiana rustica, is prolific. I used to supply my nephew...

 

[Perry Staltic]

There are nicotine patches and gum. Nicotinic acid niacin causes flushing with most people but that's not necessarily a deterrent. Chewing tobacco from unsprayed plants avoids many of the harmful effects of smoking. Tobacco is easy to grow in a pot or garden. Hopi species, Nicotiana rustica, is prolific. I used to supply my nephew...

Is Midewiwan tobacco any good?

 

[GTW]

There are many tobacco species and varieties and sometimes confusing common names. Several friends said they like Hopi/rustica because they got the same hit with much less smoke.

 

[Perry Staltic]

Is Midewiwan tobacco any good?

Just discovered Midewiwan is Nicotiana rustica. Easy to grow.

 

[Herbie]

People used to eat food for thousands of years without cancer, now modern people eat food and it gives them cancer.

Same reasons why smoking causes cancer.

Its because modern humans are used as a garbage bin for toxic waste.

 

[GTW]

Produces thousands of seeds after flowering. I have it coming up years later in my garden.

 

[Donttreadonme]

Regardless of how long smoking tobacco has been around, the fact of the matter is that inhaling smoke particles into your lungs harms your health. There is no way around if you are looking for a way to justify smoking. There is no healthy cigarette. There is no healthy amount of smoke. Smoking was not demonized 400 years ago because no one knew what smoke did to the body. You also had to either be wealthy in order to afford tobacco (tobacco was used as currency) or you have to be a indian shaman. The average person did go around smoking a pack a day. It was time consuming to smoke as well and you didnt just go buy some tobacco and smoke.... You had to prepare it yourself and who has that kind of time when every day is struggle to survive.

Nicotine however, the chemical that you are addicted to does have some health benefits. It is a neuroprotective chemical. It can help with Parkinson's. It is a nootropic. Have noticed that when a smoker needs to contemplate something they grab their cigarettes and head for the door to smoke?

There is no benefit to your health whatsoever with smoke cigarettes. Even vaping is dangerous... Did you know they put ethelyne glycol in the nicotine fluid?

 

[aniciete]

Regardless of how long smoking tobacco has been around, the fact of the matter is that inhaling smoke particles into your lungs harms your health. There is no way around if you are looking for a way to justify smoking. There is no healthy cigarette. There is no healthy amount of smoke. Smoking was not demonized 400 years ago because no one knew what smoke did to the body. You also had to either be wealthy in order to afford tobacco (tobacco was used as currency) or you have to be a indian shaman. The average person did go around smoking a pack a day. It was time consuming to smoke as well and you didnt just go buy some tobacco and smoke.... You had to prepare it yourself and who has that kind of time when every day is struggle to survive.

Nicotine however, the chemical that you are addicted to does have some health benefits. It is a neuroprotective chemical. It can help with Parkinson's. It is a nootropic. Have noticed that when a smoker needs to contemplate something they grab their cigarettes and head for the door to smoke?

There is no benefit to your health whatsoever with smoke cigarettes. Even vaping is dangerous... Did you know they put ethelyne glycol in the nicotine fluid?

Propylene glycol free snus is nice stuff

 

[Perry Staltic]

You also had to either be wealthy in order to afford tobacco (tobacco was used as currency) or you have to be a indian shaman. The average person did go around smoking a pack a day. It was time consuming to smoke as well and you didnt just go buy some tobacco and smoke.... You had to prepare it yourself and who has that kind of time when every day is struggle to survive.

In US colonial times most farmers grew and cured tobacco where it could be grown, and up until the time they got rid of tobacco allotments, tobacco was grown by anyone who had an allotment. So tobacco has been a common part of US culture for centuries. I've worked with numerous people who had to work their family's tobacco fields after school and during summer vacation. Tobacco is what put cash in the pocket. And if they smoked it was probably at the end of the day in a pipe.

 

[OccamzRazer]

A warning about nicotine gum...it's very addictive! Taken in excess it can cause wrinkles, discolor your teeth, etc etc. Even if you opt for gum from a 'pure' brand.

 

[Riesensackteil]

Produces thousands of seeds after flowering. I have it coming up years later in my garden.

I have some rustica seeds, do you think I can grow them indoors for a few months without limiting their growth?