Are you addicted to cigars?

[Ratters]

I'm addicted in the sense that if I had to take a two week break on smoking it would be hard and really suck. But I'll go two or three days without one and there's no physical effect. I usually smoke 2-3 a day, and 4-8 at events or herfs. And I don't think you need to inhale, you get plenty of nicotine from just puffing. But I think cigar addiction is more of a mental thing than a physical one.

[Ogre]

Originally Posted by Ratters

I'm addicted in the sense that if I had to take a two week break on smoking it would be hard and really suck. But I'll go two or three days without one and there's no physical effect. I usually smoke 2-3 a day, and 4-8 at events or herfs. And I don't think you need to inhale, you get plenty of nicotine from just puffing. But I think cigar addiction is more of a mental thing than a physical one.

I would have to totally agree.

[tomc3084]

Originally Posted by Ogre3239

I would have to totally agree.

Also totally agree........

[Stevez]

As a 20 year cigarette smoker, then a cigar smoker, they are quite different. I would really miss not having a cigar for sure and enjoy 3 - 4 per day now. I don't crave cigars the way I did cigs. I had to have a cig first thing in the morning. I think the cigar desire is much more mental, although I agree there are physical addiction attributes.

Originally Posted by Stevez

As a 20 year cigarette smoker, then a cigar smoker, they are quite different. I would really miss not having a cigar for sure and enjoy 3 - 4 per day now. I don't crave cigars the way I did cigs. I had to have a cig first thing in the morning. I think the cigar desire is much more mental, although I agree there are physical addiction attributes.

Same story here. When I was a cigarette smoker, I would smoke in the cold, rain, etc and when I was dead dog sick. Since I only smoke cigars now, I will not sit outside in cold or rainy weather to smoke and I can go well over a week if I'm sick without smoking. Do I still want one, sure...but not to the point of where I get nervous, on edge, "antsy", short tempered, or any of the other feelings I would experience if I didn't smoke a cigarette.

[hotreds]

no

I have been a cigarette smoker off and on for 35 years. It has been 7 years since I have had one, and I know now, I will never have another.

Probably about 20 years ago, I tried smoking a couple of cigars, after having stopped cigarettes for 5 years. There was no problem going without the cigars for extended periods of time, and I assumed ( I always assume too much!), my resistance to the addictive nature of nicotine was under control and I could apply the same to cigarettes. Boy was I wrong! Pretty soon I was smoking a pack a day.

So you can understand my trepidation about a year ago when I lit up my first real cigar,that I had been gifted (20 years ago, it was Swishers and A&C's). This time, the quality of the cigar, but more importantly, the total experience of cigar smoking - understanding the history, culture and interacting with the BOTL-provides a much richer experience than cigarette smoking ever could.

Well I have rambled enough without answering the original post so: While I think there might be a slight physical component, it is so muted that it is cake walk to deal with (actually, staying away from cake is probably harder).

That's my

[OLS]

Originally Posted by Stevez

As a 20 year cigarette smoker, then a cigar smoker, they are quite different. I would really miss not having a cigar for sure and enjoy 3 - 4 per day now. I don't crave cigars the way I did cigs. I had to have a cig first thing in the morning. I think the cigar desire is much more mental, although I agree there are physical addiction attributes.

I am with not-so-stupid on this one.
Some of it sounds good to me. But as a former smoker for SOME time, I KNOW what nicotine addiction
is like. The only problem you ever run into is with know-it-alls, in my case my mother, a dear woman
and a nurse, who believes everything she reads by do-good, best-intentioned family practitioners with no
knowledge of oncology, but who love to get paid to write articles for Parade newspaper insert mags
about how bad cigar smoking is for you and how it is as addictive as cigarettes, and it makes you go
blind and impotent, etc.

Just insert your personal busybody in place of my mother and you will get an earful of all this valuable
health info theyuncovered. Probably in a fortune cookie. You can REALLY want a cigar, but you will
not likely become an abrasive, jittery @$$}{)Le for one. You get nicotine, yes, and I know this because
I often use a cigar to get over quitting withdrawals with some success.

[Stinky]

Originally Posted by Ratters

I'm addicted in the sense that if I had to take a two week break on smoking it would be hard and really suck. But I'll go two or three days without one and there's no physical effect. I usually smoke 2-3 a day, and 4-8 at events or herfs. And I don't think you need to inhale, you get plenty of nicotine from just puffing. But I think cigar addiction is more of a mental thing than a physical one.

I Also Agree.

As you know, cigar tobacco is the only tobacco that is fermented. Numerous books and articles on the subject of curing and fermenting cigar tobacco explain what happens to the leaf. The fermentation process is sometimes referred to as "sweating" the leaf. Among other things, ammonia is sweated out of the leaf as well as reducing nicotine content. Many people don't realize that cigar tobacco is actually quite low in nicotine.