# How dangerous is smokeless tobbacco, really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898 "2006-05-01T01:50:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AnabolicDoberman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@AnabolicDoberman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnabolicDoberman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/1 "2006-05-01T01:50:37Z")
All the information I see comes from places like [stopsmoking.com](http://stopsmoking.com) or [truth.com](http://truth.com), all places with an agenda. I never really though smokeless tobbacco could be near as bad as smoking. I mean, there is no second hand smoke, and you can always wash your mouth out, but not your lungs! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/2 "2006-05-01T01:58:21Z")
> [@AnabolicDoberman](#): > > I mean, there is no second hand smoke, and you can always wash your mouth out, but not your lungs! This presumes that washing out your mouth undoes the irritation of the mucosa that is believed to lead to oral cancer. That is not the case. If you don’t believe the anti-smoking lobby, would you believe the [Mayo Clinic](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chewing-tobacco/CA00019)? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/3 "2006-05-01T02:03:27Z")
My uncle chewed for years, and had two episodes of oral cancer-the last time they had to remove some of his saliva glands. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/4 "2006-05-01T02:51:06Z")
Smokeless tobacco is not risk-free (nothing is) but the general [mortality risk](http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/13/12/2035) is 5 to 9% of smoked cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/5 "2006-05-01T03:43:55Z")
Your chance of oral cancer is higher than of a cig smoker with lung cancer. On the other hand, unless you are clueless, it is easy to detect and remove, so your chances of dying are rather low. However, it also damages your gums, causing expensive denatl bills, and a higher chance of losing teeth. So, IF you absoluteley had to use tobacco, then a little snuff/chew once in a while - as long as you promise twice yearly Dentist and Doctors visits- is much safer than smoking cigs. More or less that same is true with pipes and cigars- but with cigars you have to be careful to not inhale. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/6 "2006-05-01T12:39:21Z")
Th eUK banned the baccy pouches that you put in your mouth, Skoal Bandits and even now the industry is trying to sneak something else in, > **[Smokeless tobacco test on the way](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/19/smoking.jamiedoward)** > > With the smoking ban now passed, cigarette firms plough cash into alternative nicotine hit. There’s a lot of propaganda from the pros and the antis, but the industry know that its user base in developed nations is shrinking rapidly and is desperate to get us hooked on something else. Such is the tarnished reputation of the tobacco industry that any claims it makes about a reduced cacer risk are treated with a cerain amount of disdain, and anyway when it comes to poltical considerations, it would be very easy for the opponents of any elected governement to point out that legalisation would amount to a tacit acceptance of a number of fatalities from tobacco related illness, this would go down very badly with the electorate in Europe, but particualarly the UK which is bringing in ban on smoking in public places. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/7 "2006-05-01T13:02:20Z")
One other concern with smokeless tobacco is that it provides a very large initial bolus of nicotine to the dipper, much higher than the gum or patch or nasal spray, or even the cigarette. This can, in susceptible individuals, cause a bit of artery spasm. That can be a problem for folks with coronary artery disease. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/8 "2006-05-01T13:12:31Z")
1.) I used to work with a guy who chewed. He used to spit in a Coke can, which he’f leave lying around where some unintended vixctim could accidentaly … well, I’;ll leave it to you. He’s also spit into the garbage cans, which was disgusting. I hate cigarette smikers (the smoke gives me a headache), but I’d take them over this, anyday. 2.) I used to work in a plant that made nitrocellulose (guncotton, among other things). The stuff is insanely inflammable and, if confined, explosive. They were paranoid about keeping even the temptation of flames and sources of ignition away from the plant. There was a “halfway house” on the way in where you were supposed to ditch all your smokes, not to mention matches and lighters. Just before you got out, there was a vending machine full of “smokeless” so that the hard-core nicotine addicts could have their fix without risk of blowing the place up. I think it’s the one case where chewing tobacco proved a significant health _plus_. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/9 "2006-05-01T13:19:57Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > One other concern with smokeless tobacco is that it provides a very large initial bolus of nicotine to the dipper, much higher than the gum or patch or nasal spray, or even the cigarette. This can, in susceptible individuals, cause a bit of artery spasm. That can be a problem for folks with coronary artery disease. Bolus? Artery Spasm? Please enlighten me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/10 "2006-05-01T14:15:14Z")
> [@drhess](#): > > Bolus? Artery Spasm? Please enlighten me. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Nicotine is a central stimulant that relaxes skeletal muscles, constricts blood vessels, and increases heart rate and blood pressure. Nicotine can cause coronary artery spasm and lower the threshold for ventricular fibrillation, and death has been reported in athletes using smokeless tobacco following vigorous exercise. Cregler L. Substance abuse in sports: The impact of cocaine, alcohol, steroids, and other drugs. In: Williams RA, ed. The Athlete and Heart Disease. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1999:131-153. > [@](#): > > Smokeless tobacco is NOT a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. > Smokeless tobacco includes BOTH chewing tobacco and snuff. > The use of smokeless tobacco is considered to be a directly related cause of oral cancer and gum disease. > Smokeless tobacco use CAN lead to dependence on nicotine. > Smokeless tobacco users have displayed blood nicotine levels equivalent to those of cigarette smokers. > If you dip, 2.0 mg. - 3.5 mg of nicotine per dip enters your bloodstream twice the dose delivered by a standard 1 mg cigarette. > Users who consume 8 to 10 dips or chews per day (one-third-1/2 of a can of snuff or 1.3 - 1.2 of a pouch per day) receive a NICOTINE DOSE equal to that taken by a heavy cigarette smoker (30-40 cigarettes daily). > A recent report indicates that users who went through two cans of snuff per week had a saliva nicotine level equal that of people smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. > Nicotine and other harmful chemicals found in tobacco are NOT removed by spitting; they mix with saliva which, after contact with tissues of the mouth and throat, is absorbed through the oral mucous into the bloodstream. > Smokeless tobacco users have a substantially increased risk of oral health disorders. > Just a few months of dipping or chewing is often enough to cause development of white or red leathery patches (leukoplakia) on the gum or cheek where the tobacco is held. > Leukoplakia is the first step down a path to dental problems, followed by severe gum inflammation and receding gums. This condition can be reversed and corrected, however, if you quit using smokeless tobacco and follow up with good dental care. > Risk of cancer of the mouth increases, especially in parts of the mouth where the tobacco is placed. > Health risk for oral cancers decreases once you discontinue use of smokeless tobacco products. [http://www.trytostop.org/more\_info/other-tobacco-products.asp](http://www.trytostop.org/more_info/other-tobacco-products.asp) ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/11 "2006-05-01T14:37:09Z")
Just out of curiosity, has anybody heard of smokeless cigarettes? I couls heve sworn I’d seen them. If not that then how do the little vaporizers that heat but don’t burn the tobacco compare? ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/12 "2006-05-01T16:09:17Z")
[NicStic](http://www.nicstic.com/engl/index.php) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/13 "2006-05-01T16:35:40Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > Th eUK banned the baccy pouches that you put in your mouth, Skoal Bandits and even now the industry is trying to sneak something else in, > > [Smokeless tobacco test on the way | UK news | The Guardian](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1713148,00.html) > > . Any Gov’t that bans smokeless tobacco/“snus”, but _not_ cigs is silly and ignorant. :rolleyes: Not that “snus” are by any means safe or even close to safe, but cigs are the real killer here. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/14 "2006-05-01T19:54:23Z")
> [@Christopher](#): > > Just out of curiosity, has anybody heard of smokeless cigarettes? I couls heve sworn I’d seen them. If not that then how do the little vaporizers that heat but don’t burn the tobacco compare? RJR Nabisco tried a smokeless cigarette. They called it the Premier. OTTOMH It would not light with butane lighters. The intsruction manual it came with included something like 30 steps, none of them unnecessary. The nugget of activated charcoal that made the Premier smokeless also made it extremely difficult to draw air through the cigarette and into your mouth. They smelled bad. They tasted worse. Surgeon General C Everett Coope revealed that you could easily open the Premier, remove the charcoal and tobacco and turn it into a crack pipe. For a full rundown see the film Barbarians At The Gates, or check out the entry in Paradox Press Big Book Of Failures.(Or was it in the Bad Idea section of the Big Book Of Bad?) ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/15 "2006-05-01T20:14:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Your chance of oral cancer is higher than of a cig smoker with lung cancer. Do you have a cite for that? I’d always heard that the risk of cancer from using oral tobacco was much less than that from smoking. And there’s one more method of smokeless tobacco that I haven’t seen mentioned here (and my preferred method – I started up again and am back to being a heavy user) – nasal snuff. I’ve looked at the literature, but there doesn’t seem to be much research on its risks. There was one study of snuff users in India that showed long-term irritation of the nasal membranes, but to my knowledge there’s never been a case of nasal cancer linked with snuff usage. It’s probably the safest form of tobacco usage. And the EU ban of oral tobacco is absolutely stupid, for multiple reasons. I just pray and pray some more that nasal snuff is going to stay under their radar, because virtually all commercially available snuff is made in England or Germany. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/16 "2006-05-01T21:50:11Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Do you have a cite for that? I’d always heard that the risk of cancer from using oral tobacco was much less than that from smoking. Check my cite above. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/17 "2006-05-01T22:02:38Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Do you have a cite for that? I’d always heard that the risk of cancer from using oral tobacco was much less than that from smoking. Oral cancer, he said. Overall cancer risk is higher with cigs, mostly with lung cancer. But your oral cancer risk increase is lower (but not zero!) from smoking than from chewing … ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/18 "2006-05-01T22:14:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Oral cancer, he said. Overall cancer risk is higher with cigs, mostly with lung cancer. But your oral cancer risk increase is lower (but not zero!) from smoking than from chewing … No, he said that a user of oral tobacco had a greater chance of getting oral cancer than a smoker had of getting lung cancer. That’s what I was disputing. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-dangerous-is-smokeless-tobbacco-really/354898/19 "2006-05-02T05:18:07Z")
I recently applied for supplimental medicare insurance. My wife and I investigated and she applied for a “non-smoker” policy and I applied for a “smoker”. Of course things did not go smoothly and they sent me a questionaire. On it they asked if I’d smoked a cigarette in the last year. Fact was that I’d been smoking up a storm with some cheap cigars, but hadn’t touched a cigarette since 1997. I discussed this with the rep and she said that cigarettes are what they are worried about. Take that information for whatever it is worth. P.S. I quit smoking the cigars on the 2nd of January and it had nothing to do with a resolution.