# How bad are Hollywood "fake" herbal cigarettes for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637 "2015-01-12T17:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/1 "2015-01-12T17:55:10Z")
These are used in the production of TV shows and movies either for health reasons or because the actors are non-smokers, but how healthy are they? If they are burning plant matter a lot of the downsides of cigs will still be present, carbon dioxide and some amount of tar and particulates. If you’re a non-smoker on a show like Mad Men, over the run of the show that is a LOT of smoke to be inhaling. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/2 "2015-01-12T18:36:53Z")
According to this site they are Ecstacy herbal cigarettes, or maybe another brand called Honeyrose. > **[These Are The Herbal Cigarettes They Smoke On Mad Men](https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/these-are-the-herbal-cigarettes-they-smoke-on-emmad-menem)** > > The people at Mad Men tell us the herbal brand the cast is smoking is called Ecstacy. In the linked article, one of the actors jokes a bit about how safe they are, so the actors at least are aware of the risks. I also found this, though I have no idea how accurate this site is: > [@](#): > > According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Herbal Gold and other herbal cigarettes produce many of the same toxins found in tobacco smoke, including tar and carbon monoxide. In April 2000, the commission ordered the makers of Herbal Gold (as well as another herbal cigarette manufacturer) to add the following warning to all packages: “Herbal cigarettes are dangerous to your health. They produce tar and carbon monoxide.” Another FTC complaint against Alternative Cigarettes and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company – the makers of “Natural American Spirit” cigarettes – ended with the manufacturers agreeing to discontinue advertising claims that their cigarettes were safer because they contained no additives. > **[Herbal Cigarettes: Are They Really Any Healthier?](https://www.healthday.com/encyclopedia/smoking-and-tobacco-cessation-36/smoking-cessation-news-628/the-hazards-of-herbal-cigarettes-645340.html)** > > THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Herbal cigarettes: They carry a certain "coolness factor" and sound like they might be a healthier alternative to tob ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/3 "2015-01-12T18:40:12Z")
There was a Straight Dope article about clove cigarettes years ago. Cecil claimed that they’d kill you faster than normal cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/4 "2015-01-12T18:46:30Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > There was a Straight Dope article about clove cigarettes years ago. Cecil claimed that they’d kill you faster than normal cigarettes. Is this the one? [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/256/are-clove-cigarettes-10-times-worse-than-the-regular-kind](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/256/are-clove-cigarettes-10-times-worse-than-the-regular-kind) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/5 "2015-01-12T18:51:46Z")
They don’t, however, produce nicotine, so you don’t get addicted to them and don’t have the urge to smoke them when not on the set. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/6 "2015-01-12T19:27:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > They don’t, however, produce nicotine, so you don’t get addicted to them and don’t have the urge to smoke them when not on the set. This. It obviously takes a very large number of cigarettes to actually kill a person. If the lethal dose is 1 pack per day for 20 years, then that is 20_365_20 = 146k cigarettes. I’ve heard of smokers with 40 pack year smoking histories, so this probably isn’t quite enough to kill the average person. In any case, it’s the addiction that causes people to keep smoking. An actor who smokes a clover cigarette in a movie might not smoke more than 100-1000 of them his entire lifetime, factoring in multiple takes and multiple movies. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/7 "2015-01-13T01:33:10Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > There was a Straight Dope article about clove cigarettes years ago. Cecil claimed that they’d kill you faster than normal cigarettes. Clove cigarettes aren’t herbal cigarettes. Their main component is still good ol’ tobacco. Crushed cloves are added in to the tobacco mix. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/8 "2015-01-13T03:29:29Z")
Cecil also[wrote this article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2167/do-non-smoking-actors-use-fake-cigarettes-when-playing-a-part)specifically about cigarettes’ use by actors in theater & film… ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/9 "2015-01-13T04:04:54Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > This. It obviously takes a very large number of cigarettes to actually kill a person. If the lethal dose is 1 pack per day for 20 years, then that is 20_365_20 = 146k cigarettes. I’ve heard of smokers with 40 pack year smoking histories, so this probably isn’t quite enough to kill the average person. In any case, it’s the addiction that causes people to keep smoking. An actor who smokes a clover cigarette in a movie might not smoke more than 100-1000 of them his entire lifetime, factoring in multiple takes and multiple movies. Yea but nicotine by itself is basically harmless(in the amounts possible to consume via cig, don’t make me beat a pedant!) this sounds like the line of argument that e-cigs are going to kill teens since it will somehow lead them to real cigs. These herb cigs sound like they are almost as bad for your lungs in the immediate time frame as real cigs, so it seems kind of misguided. If they are concerned about second hand smoke in the workplace they are just as bad. Oh and I wonder if any workplaces allow use of these in non acting situations but ban cigarettes? ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/10 "2015-01-13T04:58:14Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Yea but nicotine by itself is basically harmless(in the amounts possible to consume via cig, don’t make me beat a pedant!) this sounds like the line of argument that e-cigs are going to kill teens since it will somehow lead them to real cigs. > > These herb cigs sound like they are almost as bad for your lungs in the immediate time frame as real cigs, so it seems kind of misguided. If they are concerned about second hand smoke in the workplace they are just as bad. > > Oh and I wonder if any workplaces allow use of these in non acting situations but ban cigarettes? Don’t be pendantic, please. Obvious it requires an addictive substance to make you keep using the product _and_ a toxic delivery system to result in something that kills people commonly. This means that cigarettes lacking an addictive substance and e-cigs without the carcinogens are both safe. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/11 "2015-01-13T15:23:04Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Don’t be pendantic, please. Obvious it requires an addictive substance to make you keep using the product _and_ a toxic delivery system to result in something that kills people commonly. This means that cigarettes lacking an addictive substance and e-cigs without the carcinogens are both safe. Herbal cigarettes arguably do a non-zero amount of damage. The important thing is that the damage is so small that you’re significantly more likely to die of something else first. This is similar to what happens when you eat two Double Big Macs or do three shots of vodka on one or two occasions. Is it harmful? Yes, to some extent. Am I likely to seriously shorten my life if I do it once or twice? No. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-hollywood-fake-herbal-cigarettes-for-you/709637/12 "2015-01-13T15:43:11Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Don’t be pendantic, please. Obvious it requires an addictive substance to make you keep using the product _and_ a toxic delivery system to result in something that kills people commonly. This means that cigarettes lacking an addictive substance and e-cigs without the carcinogens are both safe. Sorry I meant in the context of second hand smoke for the other crew members.