eli5: if cigarettes contain so many bad chemicals, then can’t we just take them out?

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my biology textbook says that there are over 60 carcinogens in cigarettes that cause cancer, but can’t we take them out? aren’t people just addicted to the nicotine? couldn’t we just put nicotine and some sort of smoke producing substance that isn’t a carcinogen and leave it at that

Edit: Thank you for the answers, everyone!

In: 43

17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nicotine itself also goes through reactions that create carcinogens. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco-specific_nitrosamines

Anonymous 0 Comments

You just described a Vape pen. MOST of those 60 chemicals are added by the tobacco companies, each for a specific purpose > Self extinguishing, preservative, moisture retaining, burn rate control, flavor enhancement, etc. They ain’t real likely to take those out. As a 70yo who smoke 3 packs a day for almost 60 years, my best advice is just DON’T. We ALL have a tendency to feel immortal and invulnerable UP UNTIL the time things start to catch up with us. In my case, COPD and emphysema. And it fucking hurts. And scares the shit outta me. And THAT ain’t easy to do. I’m a war hardened ole cuss, and there are only two things on this rock that I am actually afraid of. They’re both spiders. But smothering for air sucks worse than anything else.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Cigarette companies aren’t adding poison because they’re evil. The dangerous chemicals are from creating the smoke and inhaling it. A cigar is basically just rolled tobacco leaves and it’s still bad for you.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You can vape nicotine and avoid the 100 other chemicals that you inhale when combusting tobacco.

Of course smoking is bad for you. Of course it is expensive. However, if you have had a hard time quitting tobacco in the past, try nicotine patches and possibly vaping nicotine. You can control how much nicotine you consume, and that is the fear from nay-sayers, patches and vaping gives you the ability to overdose on nicotine too.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some of the things they add to cigarettes make the smoking experience better, which is important when you’re competing with dozens of other brands. Some chemicals make the smoke less harsh, others make the tobacco burn more evenly, etc.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes, it is possible to remove some of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes, but it is not possible to remove all of them. Even if all of the harmful chemicals were removed, cigarettes would still be addictive and harmful to your health.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s expensive, that’s why. Cigarette companies don’t care about health, they care about profit. This is just unregulated capitalism working as designed.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The extras are also part of the flavor so lots of tobacco lovers would not like not having all the extras. It just wouldn’t taste or feel right. Some smokers need the nicotine but also the light asphyxiation to get their desired results (buzzed + light headed vs just buzzed).

Anonymous 0 Comments

Your lungs are designed to breathe in air and use the oxygen as fuel. If you’re filling your lungs with anything else, you’re poisoning yourself.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most of the toxic ingredients in cigarettes are preservatives. You can buy cigars or loose tobacco and enjoy it that way, but it’s less convenient and it has a shelf life where it will dry out. That’s pretty much why cigarettes are the way they are.