Men and Tobacco - An Appeal to Contemplative and Communal Life

There was a preliminary version of this document, but only in part, that I created years ago with the purpose of gathering information to help my mother understand why her sons had started smoking and why it was not a bad thing. The original form of this document spoke solely on the scientific data I could gather around the subject, which I still find helpful for conversations with others. But now, I wish to evolve my original project to explain more wholly what the appeal of smoking tobacco is for men, why it is not a bad thing, and what partaking in it entails.

I'll lay out below why it is not a bad thing to enjoy a smoke, and why a person should not go after someone for enjoying themselves. In part this is being written to explain the lack of danger around smoking, and in part it is to explain the benefits to smoking. And no, I don't mean the benefits like those mentioned in the 70s, I mean the actual benefits, some of which cannot be scientifically measured and you won't know until you try it or you see someone changed by it. I won't explain more until the section meant for addressing it.

Some of this is written to simply dispel the mythos around smoking and show the reasons why there should not be so much hostility surrounding it. Then briefly, because I do not feel the need to write in many words what can be said well in only a few, I will explain the positive consequence smoking has in the form of causing a person to engage in leisure. And so, we begin.

Not Cigarettes

There is so much to say about tobacco in general, but I want to start off by pointing out that cigarettes are completely different from Pipe and Cigars when it comes to smoking. I don't hate cigarettes, but I don't like them. I think they smell bad, and I think the other methods of smoking smell somewhere between okay and great depending on the tobacco used.

As I say these things, I generally don't have an issue with cigarette smokers, it partly depends on the person. If he or she is smoking regularly as a habit, I'll have an issue, and I'll show you why I have an issue in a minute. If a person is smoking because of stress, and they're frequently stressed, I'll have an issue because you're putting a carcinogenic bandage over an infection that needs worked on. If you're having a cigarette because you enjoy it, you're doing it on occasion, and it's a fun thing for you, I have no issue whatsoever. One of our greatest presidents, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, once said "Those without vices have very few virtues" and I repeat that saying often. The saying communicates that, basically, those who live puritanical lives lack a lot of virtue because they choose to live by strict rules rather than to live a good life, and those who allow for vices (not the major ones, of course) will be better people than the puritans.

Now, the fact that remains is that a cigarette smoker is more likely to contract cancer than a pipe or cigar smoker, which has been shown many times. Perhaps some of the data is questionable, seeing as we are a hyper-hostile culture when it comes to tobacco today. But, time and time again we see that cigarettes, in comparison to the other forms of smoking, is more "deadly" for smokers. I will explain why that is now.

A few notes to get you started

There are multiple things that differentiate cigarette smokers from those who smoke tobacco with pipes or cigars, such as:

• Cigarette smokers inhale the smoke into their lungs, while pipe and tobacco smokers only let it go as far as the mouth for the taste.

  • Inhalation of any kind of smoke increases the risk of cancer.

  • If you do not inhale then the risk is nearly nonexistent.

• Cigarettes contain highly processed tobacco and other chemicals while cigars and pipes use cured tobacco absent of additives.

• The average pipe and cigar smoker will smoke a few times a week, while the average cigarette smoker has 10 cigarettes a day.

In the data on this website, note that when it says “risk of cancer” and it shows “1.x” for the numbers it is saying the person is that many times more likely to contract cancer from smoking than non-smokers. So the number 3.2 means this person is 3.2 times more likely to contract cancer than someone who never smokes. You can read through the site yourself if you'd like, but the relevant pieces I wish to speak about are found just below.

Degree of risk of cancer from all types of smoking

Risk                                                                 Primary Risk

#1)       Cigarettes                                           Lungs, throat (Erytroplaleia)

#2)       Cigars                                                 Lip, tongue

#3)       Smokeless – snuff, chew etc.            Gum line (Leukoplakia)

#4)       Pipes                                                   Tongue

Risk of lung cancer specifically

                                                                 Risk

·       Non-smoker                                               1.0      (base number)

·       Cigarette – 20 grams / day                     16.0     (i.e. 16 x the risk of  non-smokers)

·       Cigar – 20 grams / day                             3.2

·       Pipe – if > 10 bowls per day                     6.7      

·       Pipe – if 5 bowls per day                           3.2      

·       Pipe – if 3 bowls per day                           1.5

·       Pipe – if 2 bowls per day                           1.26

·       typical - 2 bowls every 2-3 days              ~1.05 (almost  same as non-smoker)

You may be reading these charts of info and be thinking "But all increase your risk of cancer! Why partake in it at all when it's bad for you?" Well, "bad for you" is true or not true depending on what you mean by it and the situation you're in. For example, a steak could be "bad for you" if you have heart problems, driving could be "bad for you" if you're a narcoleptic, sleeping a lot can be "bad for you" if you have depression. "But it does increase your risk of cancer" - well hold on, it does partly. I will speak on that in a moment, but I want to point out that you increase your risk of cancer by eating red meat, consuming corn syrup, spending too much time in the sun, being overweight, taking certain medications prescribed by your doctor, and in so many other ways. I know most of you don't live your life trying to avoid cancer, that would be miserable if that's how you're conducting yourself. If you were just trying to avoid cancer you'd be eating only homemade food which doesn't touch plastic, made in stainless steel or cast iron pots and pans, drinking from metal or glass water bottles and glasses, never have candy or soda again, never let yourself tan again, and so on. Most of us are not trying to avoid cancer, we are mitigating cancer risk which means we make educated decisions to enjoy or consume certain things which have possible negative side effects. We do this all of the time, smoking is no different.

Next, the "it increases your risk of cancer, therefore you shouldn't do it" argument. From this site it shows that the risk of cancer of any site - meaning cancer anywhere in the body - is 440.5 per 100,000 people. That means 440.5 people out of every 100,000 have cancer. And, deaths brought on by cancer is 146 people out of every 100,000. Now let me break this down further. This means that, if we maintain these ratios, for every 100 people there are 0.4405 people who have cancer, or you can read it as each person having a 0.5% (rounding up) average chance of having cancer. Returning to the above charts, the base number of 1.0 for cancer likelihood is equal to a 0.5% of getting cancer for each person. If you look at cigars and multiply 0.5% by 3.2x likelihood of developing cancer you get a 1.4% chance of cancer developing. Most of the pipe smokers I know either smoke a few times a week or a few times every few weeks, so taking the bottom number where the likelihood of cancer is 1.05x that of a non-smoker you get 0.5% (still rounding up).

Three more things, then I'll move on from talking about just how low the risk of cancer is. One, there are 146 people who die from cancer out of every 100,000, and that comes out to a 0.146% chance of you - if you haven't had cancer before - contracting the disease, then dying from it. Those are pretty good odds. Two, cigar and pipe smokers normally smoke out of enjoyment rather than habit, and though it depends on the cigarette smoker they are more often doing it out of habit which is more likely to lead to issues over simply enjoying a smoke. If you have a cigarette just for fun on occasion, that would generally exempt you from the dangers of cancer mentioned. Three, cancer is scary, but as established the chance of you gaining cancer when smoking regularly is incredibly low, but even more than that the lifespan of specifically pipe smokers live longer than those who don't smoke at all ("Smoking and Health", page 92). If you see someone who is a chronic smoker then feel free to mention to them that their habit is not good for their health, just as you would tell an alcoholic or a binge eater that what they're doing is not good for them. But for those who partake infrequently, even if regularly, of pipes and cigars, their lifespans will typically be the same or longer than would be the case if they didn't smoke, and the factors that go into that will be explained in a bit.

The reason why people perceive cigars and pipes to be just as dangerous as cigarettes is because of the huge anti-tobacco movement of the past. The FDA changed its tune and admitted that it was lumping in all smoking together and stated that pipes and cigars are actually much less of a danger. In the past the FDA bundled all types of tobacco together as one type, but it has since been forced to recognize that not all tobacco consumption is equal in regards to addiction or dangers to the body. As well as that we know that they’ve been misleading in the past.

Cigars and cancer

I will not harp on cancer for this entire article, but that is the major concern people bring up regarding smoking, so I want to make sure it's well-addressed. The FDA has now retracted previous statements it's made about cigars and pipes, updating its estimates for mortality because further research of the subject revealed, as mentioned already, the mortality rate for cigars is similar to that of non-smokers:

Studies on the mortality rate for cigar smokers

Publication, Year	Relative Risk (95% Confidence Interval, CI)
Best, 1966	1.06 (0.92 – 1.22)
Kahn, 1966	1.10 (1.05 – 1.16)
Cole, 1974	1.15 (0.70 – 1.90)
Carstensen, 1987	1.39 (1.16 – 1.65)
Lange, 1992	1.60 (1.30 – 2.00)
Ben-Schlomo, 1994	0.48 (0.25 – 0.93)
Shanks, 1998	1.08 (1.05 – 1.12)

The Found likelihood of dying from specific cancers

Cancer Site	Relative Risk Range	No. of Studies / No. of Significant Elevated Estimates
Mouth/throat	4.0 – 7.9	3 / 3
Esophagus	1.8 – 6.5	4 / 2
Stomach	1.2 – 2.3	2 / 1
Liver	3.1 – 7.2	2 / 2
Pancreas	1.0 – 1.6	4 / 1
Larynx	10.0 – 10.3	3 / 3
Lung	1.6 – 7.6	6 / 5
Bladder	0.9 – 1.9	4 / 0

The found likelihood of cancer for those that smoke 1-2 a day

Cancer Site	Relative Risk Range	No. of Studies / No. of Significant Elevated Estimates
Mouth/throat	4.0 – 7.9	3 / 3
Esophagus	1.8 – 6.5	4 / 2
Stomach	1.2 – 2.3	2 / 1
Liver	3.1 – 7.2	2 / 2
Pancreas	1.0 – 1.6	4 / 1
Larynx	10.0 – 10.3	3 / 3
Lung	1.6 – 7.6	6 / 5
Bladder	0.9 – 1.9	4 / 0

Pipes, nicotine, and tobacco

Now, when it comes to people who smoke pipes, it is similar to that of cigars in that pipe smokers don't inhale the smoke (or at least, that's the way it's supposed to be done). As I've touched on already, additional studies of smokers have found that smoking a pipe has even less averse affects than cigars do. All increases of cancer risk are considered by the FDA’s standards to be statistically insignificant. There are the studies which have data showing that pipe smokers live longer than those that don’t smoke at all, but many attribute this to the relaxed and low-stress lifestyle of a pipe-smoker - which is a fair point. But, of course, someone will come out and say "if smoking isn't the thing that extends your life and being relaxed is, then why can't you just quick smoking and live even longer?" I will speak more on this in the next, and final, section, but here is a response in brief: smoking is the thing which is relaxing in the first place and so telling someone to stop doing the thing that they find relaxing won't equate to them having an even longer life - and in addition to that, there is an idea so many hold to that we should live long, when in reality we should be living well, and for some that may mean the occasional bowl of tobacco.

"But nicotine is addictive, and Christians (if you are one) shouldn't make themselves slaves to anything!" You, imaginary friend, are correct that we should not allow ourselves to be slaves to things of this world, but I want a definition from you on what "addiction" is, as well to challenge the idea that nicotine is addictive. Actually, not challenge, refute it. There is a Harvard study which showed that pure nicotine is not at all addictive, so these scares people have of someone getting hooked on cigars is unfounded. Rather it is the processing and chemicals added to tobacco which causes it to be addictive, chemicals added to the processed cigarettes, not the cigars and pipes which are pure tobacco. Nicotine is not a danger, man-added chemicals are. Cigars and pipe tobacco only have the tobacco itself and other oils to give it a specific taste and smell; on top of that these oils only enter into your mouth, not you lungs, so if there is any danger it is minimal.

On leisure

Now is the part of the paper that I was really wanting to get to. I have finished my apologetics for the non-lethality of different types of smoking. I know the type of person that is going to remain unconvinced at the idea that cigars and pipes are a harmless activity (as drinking a Coke, or eating red meat is "harmless"), and I am not thinking of them. Just as there are those that are resolutely "the Pope is the antichrist", "all Christians are hypocrites", "women are manipulators", "men are predators", "my race is superior to the others", so there are those that are so convinced that "smoking kills you" where nothing you will say or show them could convince them otherwise. These people I am not trying to convince. It is everyone else, those with open hearts and open ears which I appeal to with what I write.

Now, this article is not meant to just speak on cancer-related possibilities with smoking. I set out with the intention to also speak of the reasons why - the specific reasons why a man may choose to smoke. In one word: leisure. If I could add a second word: fellowship. Though not always the case, it is often true that when a man chooses to smoke a cigar or pipe he must make himself immobile in order to attend to his flame and to truly enjoy the smoke. To get the best flavor, and experience, out of a smoke you need to be thoughtful and slow when you draw the smoke out of your instrument - if you are not careful and slow then you overheat the tobacco and cause it to sour the taste of the burn and ruin either part or all of the tobacco. Ideally you would be sitting down or standing in one place while you smoked.

This "posture", if you'll allow me to describe it that way, is part of what makes a smoke so great. To actually get true enjoyment out of it, you have to be still and calm. This is also good for your body and soul, to be still for a moment. You're not doing nothing - the point isn't to be still in itself, but to find calm which you can enter into and reside in it, and enjoy it. This is part of why someone who may choose to not smoke may not get the benefits of an extended life past that of a smoker, because it's not simply residing in stillness but finding enjoyment and calm in it.

To share a personal story, my mother was not at all a fan of when my brother, and then I myself, started taking an interest in cigars and pipes. The two of us invested into the practice and came to enjoy it, and would step out onto the deck away from everyone else so that our smoke would not bother others. For years this is what we did - and when we welcomed a brother-in-law into the family he regularly participated with us in our step-outs for a smoke. It was a great opportunity to develop in relationship with each other and speak on any topic we wished to, and we knew we had plenty of time to discuss whatever we wished because pipes and cigars are not a one-minute activity but normally take between twenty minutes and two hours to smoke. In this time we were able to discuss things close to our hearts, or just talk about something fun. It was a chance for good conversation, forcing ourselves into leisure among friends.

The second part to my story is that for a long time it was just the boys enjoying each other's company, but then the rest of the family realized that those of us smoking couldn't go anywhere while we were smoking so they started joining us on the deck since we could not escape them and their questions in this state - at least that's how I like to put it. What was an opportunity for a few to gather, became a chance for family to grow in relationship as a whole. The purpose - or perhaps not the purpose, but what is the natural consequence - of smoking is leisure and fellowship. Enjoying well a moment, and (though not all of the time) doing it alongside a kindred spirit.

I've also heard of smoking being the incense of the temple of our bodies, as the incense of the Sunday Liturgy is used to lift up our prayers to God. The incense within the church will sometimes cause discoloration to the interior of the church, maybe build up gunk in corners, and cause some people to have reactions to it. But, it is a means with which to raise us up higher to the Lord. So perhaps do we utilize tobacco, when we wield it properly, as a layman's incense for his own temple to give glory to God and offer thanks for that which God has blessed man with. I think that seeing smoking as an indulgence is disordered, and if that is what we are doing then perhaps we should abstain from it, and I rather see it as a small form of worship of God. Rather than offering him the sacrifice of a burn offering, or of His only Son, we offer instead our time, our moment right now, to Him in conversation and contemplation. We worship Him in our calm, we love Him in our leisure.

Written for VME Catholic, by Ethan Hall