Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health

People have many questions about tobacco that can sometimes be hard to answer. They might have questions about cigarettes, cigars, spit and other types of smokeless tobacco, other tobacco products, nicotine, addiction, or quitting. Many of these questions are answered here. We also answer some questions about how smoking and tobacco can affect a person's health, including the heart, circulation, and lungs; its effect on unborn babies; and how it affects the risk of cancer and other diseases.

1. Is there a safe way to smoke cigarettes?

2. Are menthol cigarettes safer than those without menthol?

3. Is cigarette smoking really addictive?

4. What does nicotine do?

5. Why do people begin to smoke?

6. Who is most likely to become addicted?

7. How many people smoke cigarettes?

8. Is smoking common among young people?

9. What in cigarette smoke is harmful?

10. Does smoking cause cancer?

11. How does cigarette smoke affect the lungs?

12. Chronic bronchitis

13. Emphysema

14. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

15. Why do smokers have "smoker's cough?"

16. If you smoke but don't inhale, is there any danger?

17. Does cigarette smoking affect your heart?

18. How does smoking affect pregnant women and their babies?

19. What are some of the short- and long-term effects of smoking cigarettes?

20. What are the chances that smoking will kill you?

21. What are the dangers of environmental (secondhand) tobacco smoke?

22. Can secondhand smoke cause breast cancer?

23. Am I at risk for getting lung cancer from smoke odors on clothing or from being in a room that still smells of tobacco smoke?

24. What is being done to protect people from the hazards of smoking?

25. Are spit tobacco and snuff safe alternatives to cigarette smoking?

26. What is snus? Is it safe?

27. What are the health risks of smoking pipes or cigars?

28. What about more exotic forms of smoking tobacco, such as clove cigarettes, bidis, and hookahs?

29. Clove cigarettes

30. Bidis

31. Hookah (water pipes)

32. What can I do to help with any damage that may have been caused by smoking?

33. How does tobacco use affect the economy?

34. Can quitting really help a lifelong smoker?

35. Are there some benefits of quitting that I'll notice right away?

36. Suppose I smoke for a while and then quit?

37. How do people quit smoking?

38. What are nicotine replacement therapies?

39. Are there other medicines or vaccines to help smokers quit?

40. Where can I go for help?

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