As a snus user, this topic interests me; those who have no interest can safely skip this. A recent WSJ article, Tobacco Road Takes a Turn to the Smokeless, discusses the growing popularity of snus and the conniption fits some public health authorities are having, e.g:
"There is no evidence that smokers will switch to smokeless tobacco products and give up smoking," Michael Thun, vice president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, said in a recent article in the journal CA.Mr. Thun seems to want a double-blind, twenty year study to prove that what tobacco users want is nicotine. We can probably take that for granted.
As I've written about extensively, snus is vastly safer than other smokeless, which in turn is vastly safer than cigarettes. Possibly more than 99% of carcinogens from smoking comes from the act of combustion; hence, no combustion, far fewer carcinogens.
In an accompanying article, Smoke-Free: Confessions of an Addict, the author talks about his taking up of the snus habit and his eventual quitting, and reveals himself a hopeless beta:
But besides the word "dumb," what prompted me to quit was my wife's reaction when she finally found my stash.Some perspective is in order: I'd bet than snus may very well be less carcinogenic than alcohol, and most people will gladly do the cost/benefit analysis and drink for pleasure.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteWhats your opinion of nicotine patches? A viable way to recieve nicotene (if thats what your after) or bad for some other reason?
Wondering........I know a man whom I respect greatly that uses the little cans of tobacco that comes in pouches. It shocked me silly that he uses them and he admitted to me that he had a two-can-a-day copenhagen habit for years. He's never smoked. He's one of those guys who can fix anything. I think he could take my air conditioner, computer, and DVD apart and put them back together in some sort of new creation that would allow you to watch DVD's, while it blew cool air on you with internet capability in the upper-left-hand-corner. He's also one-hell-of-a-good fisherman.
Snus are probably less carcinogenic than peanuts. If you use nicotone like I do to stay sharp, try the gum, patch or the hand gel. All work pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI looked up snus and wanted to see what it looked like. I found this http://data1.blog.de/blog/k/kairokairo/img/snus.jpg and have to admit it made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteNicotine patches, while harmless, don't seem to be very effective at helping people quit cigarettes, the reason being that they deliver a steady-state level of nicotine that is not under the control of the user. Snus or lozenges are better in that the user can control the dosage and get the peaks and valleys that nicotine users want, and which they do get from cigarettes.
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