Cigars as harmful as cigarettes, says study.

Washington DC: Some people believe cigars pose fewer health risks than 

cigarettes, but a new research suggests it isn't so.

Cigars may be just as harmful and addictive, according to Penn State 

researchers, who add that small cigars have just as much if not more nicotine 

than cigarettes.

The researchers analyzed the nicotine in smoke from popular brands of "small"

or "filtered" cigars -- cigars that are almost identical to cigarettes except they're

wrapped in leaf tobacco instead of paper. The researchers found that the level

of nicotine found in small cigar smoke is similar to or greater than cigarette 

smoke.

Researcher Reema Goel said that the study shows that nicotine is pretty high 

in this class of cigars, and future regulation that affects cigarettes should also 

affect these cigars.

John Richie said that the confusion surrounding the safety of cigars may stem 

from tobacco companies using clever tricks to get around current regulations.

"There are many misconceptions about cigars. The truth is, cigar smoke is 

inhaled and is just as harmful to the lungs," Richie said. "Tobacco companies 

use loopholes in the way these products are taxed to allow these small cigars 

to be substantially cheaper than cigarettes. They can also get around the 

regulation that says cigarettes can't be flavored, to avoid making them 

appealing to children. These small cigars come in all kinds of flavors."

The researchers compared the nicotine delivery in eight common brands of 

small cigars with two types of cigarettes commonly used in research. Nicotine 

was measured by first collecting the smoke from each cigar with a smoking 

machine in the laboratory, which "smoked" the product using two different 

methods to account for the different ways people smoke.

Using the International Organization of Standardization method (ISO), the 

machine took two-second puffs every 60 seconds, with no filter vents blocked. 

With the Canada Intense (CI) method, the machine also took two-second puffs,

but they were only 30 seconds apart, and the vents were blocked with tape. 

Nicotine was then extracted and analyzed from both groups.

The researchers found that when the ISO method was used, the mean average

nicotine delivered by the small cigars sampled was 1.24 milligrams per cigar, 

compared to 0.87 in cigarettes. Using the CI method, the mean average of 

nicotine delivered by the small cigars was 3.49 milligrams per cigar, compared 

to 2.13 in cigarettes.

The study appears in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.