• Death rates are 34% higher for cigar smokers than nonsmokers. Cigar smokers are 3-5 times more likely than nonsmokers to die of lung cancer.
• Frequent cigar smokers have a 4 to 10 times higher risk of dying from cancer of the mouth, voice box, and throat than nonsmokers.
• The risk or oral cancer for cigar smokers who do not inhale is 7 times greater than the risk to nonsmokers.
• Tobacco smoke does not have to be inhaled into the lungs to affect the heart and circulation. The lining of the mouth and throat absorbs nicotine whether or not the smoker inhales.
• Cancers of the mouth are amplified if you consume alcohol while smoking cigars.
• From 1993 to 1998 there was a 45% increase in cigar smoking.
• From 1993 to 1998, sale of premium cigars, which can cost $10 each or more, rose 250%.
• Out of 130 movies made in 1996, 52% showed cigar smoking by actors or actresses.
• The cigar industry increased advertising expenditures by 428% in the first nine months of 1996.

Who Smokes Cigars?

• In 1998, it was estimated that between 10 and 12 million people were smoking cigars in the United States.
• 1-5% of cigar smokers in the United States are women.
• 6 million high school students have smoked at least one cigar – that’s about 27%. 
• 12% of white males, ages 25-34, smoke cigars in the United States.
• Ulysses S. Grant, Sigmund Freud, and Babe Ruth all died from cigar-related diseases.

Cigars vs. Cigarettes

• A strong cigarette contains 1.1 mg of nicotine. A cigar, depending on its size and type, can contain anywhere from 10 to 444 mg of nicotine.
• Cigar smoke produces 30 times more carbon monoxide than cigarette smoke.
• Cigar smokers have even higher rates of mouth, tongue, throat, and voice box cancer than cigarette smokers do. One study found that 90% of cigar smokers have precancerous changes in cells of their voice box.
• People who switch from cigarettes to cigars tend to smoke cigars like cigarettes. They inhale deeply and smoke often – smaller, thin cigars have higher levels of harmful substances than cigarettes. A person who inhales cigar smoke is at greater risk of lung and heart disease than a cigarette smoker is.
• A cigar can produce more than 25 times as much secondhand smoke as a cigarette. Secondhand cigar smoke is more poisonous than secondhand cigarette smoke. 
• The smoke from one cigar equals three cigarettes’ worth of smoke.
• A half-ounce cigar can produce 7 times as much tar, 11 times as much carbon monoxide, and 4 times as much nicotine as a cigarette.