# Does the air in a cigar shop affect the body?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-air-in-a-cigar-shop-affect-the-body/144590>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-air-in-a-cigar-shop-affect-the-body/144590 "2002-12-23T20:41:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-air-in-a-cigar-shop-affect-the-body/144590/1 "2002-12-23T20:41:01Z")

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I’m talking about both human and animal. The human for curiousity sake and the animal because I know of one that practically lives in the cigar shop.  
Earlier this year, the owner got a small puppy. Since he’s there every day, the dog is too. I have no idea what kind it is but it’s probably 4 months old now and only about a foot long. The dog sleeps most of the day and doesn’t seem all that active. Then again, I don’t go in there but maybe once every two weeks anyway.  
So could it just be this particular breed of puppy, whatever kind it is. Could it be that the puppy is so young it’s not all that active yet? Or is living in a humidor bad for animals?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-air-in-a-cigar-shop-affect-the-body/144590/2 "2002-12-24T00:00:40Z")

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Well, are people standing there and smoking 24/7? I doubt whether simply the aroma of cigars is harmful, but second-hand smoke probably isn’t good for the puppy. However, I doubt whether second-hand smoke is stunting the puppy’s growth _that_ much. It’s much more likely that it’s just a small breed of dog, and it sleeps all day because…that’s what dogs do, Ender, if they lead boring lives in a cigar store. They sleep all day. 😃

And, er, on a more serious note, one of the symptoms of heartworm infection in dogs is extreme sluggishness.

[http://www.sarl-nh.org/heartworm.htm](http://www.sarl-nh.org/heartworm.htm)

If Puppy has never had any heartworm preventative pills, he may be sick.

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**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\
**Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-air-in-a-cigar-shop-affect-the-body/144590/3 "2002-12-24T02:29:03Z")

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Puppies, like any young animals, are almost certainly adversely affected by secondhand smoke. A [Tufts University study](http://enews.tufts.edu/stories/080102PetsAndSmoke.htm) found that cats who lived in smokers’ households got cancer at a much higher rate that cats in non-smoking households.

> [@](#):
>
> “They found that, adjusting for age and other factors, cats exposed to secondhand smoke had more than double the risk of acquiring the disease,” reported the Associated Press. “In households where they were exposed five years or more, cats had more than triple the risk. In a two-smoker household, the risk went up by a factor of four.”
> 
> In some cases, cats were at higher risk for cancer than humans living in the same home.

Granted, this doesn’t directly address the question of what cigar smoke might do to a puppy, but it certainly suggests it’s nothing good.