# How much healthier is a hand-rolled cigarette than one from a pack? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886 "2007-11-27T05:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/1 "2007-11-27T05:10:48Z")
I would call myself an occasional smoker. Every now and then - maybe once a week, maybe three times a week, maybe once a month, maybe not at all for a month - I will smoke a cigarette. Hand-rolled, with Zig-Zag papers, using bulk shag tobacco from a local tobacconist which I am told is imported from Norway and is completely additive-free. I never smoke more than one cigarette a day, and I only inhale a little bit of the smoke into my lungs, keeping most of it in my mouth in the manner of a pipe or a cigar to savor the taste of the quality tobacco. What is the health detriment of this versus the health detriment of smoking in the same fashion, but using say a Camel or Marlboro cigarette? I know they’re both not good for you - trust me, I don’t need to be told that, I know it already. But surely one is better than the other. I’m under the impression that name brand pack cigarettes are loaded with all sorts of chemicals, both in the tobacco and in the paper. Surely this would be worse for my health than smoking tobacco with no added chemicals, rolled in a simple, thin Zig Zag paper? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/2 "2007-11-27T05:20:14Z")
Are you comparing an unfiltered hand rolled cigarette to a filtered pre-made? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/3 "2007-11-27T05:36:28Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/4 "2007-11-27T06:22:07Z")
I was that way for several years. A pack of smokes would last 2 months if I didn’t give them away at the bar. I could have walked away from smoking at any time. Then…I dunno…it took off, and now I’m a pack a day. I know this isn’t what you asked, but dude - walk away while it’s easy and while your stuff still doesn’t reek. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/5 "2007-11-27T06:41:29Z")
Can’t weigh in with a definite answer, just telling you that you can buy a bag of filters too. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/6 "2007-11-27T06:44:43Z")
At least I’m not a woman and I don’t have to worry about harming a **fetus.** ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/7 "2007-11-27T06:58:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sanity Challenged] I was that way for several years. A pack of smokes would last 2 months if I didn’t give them away at the bar. I could have walked away from smoking at any time. Then…I dunno…it took off, and now I’m a pack a day. [/QUOTE] That is a concerning story, but I wonder… what is the real rate of people progressing from casual smokers to habitual ones? But anyway, barring the prospect of turning into a pack-a-day smoker, holding smoke in your mouth every few days doesn’t really affect your health much. Thing is, low doses of stressors typically stimulate the body and immune system. I don’t know what that amount is, but at a certain low level smoke will even make you a bit healthier. (This is called hormesis and an example is feeding some arsenic to poultry and pigs is a popular way to make them grow better.) Don’t be paranoid about the small stuff, I’m sure you make many far unhealthier choices in your life. ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/8 "2007-11-27T14:34:22Z")
I roll my own, and use filters. I can barely stand the taste of “ready-rolled” cigarettes - the taste makes me nauseous. The main difference, as I understand it, is that ready-rolled cigs contain saltpetre and/or other additives to increase the burning temperature, ensuring that the cigarette doesn’t go out if it’s left aside in the ashtray or just held in your fingers. Presumably, this is done to sell more cigs. A side-effect of this is that the smoke you’re inhaling is substantially hotter, which increases the damage to your lungs. ETA: [This article](http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=1015) backs up that understanding: > [@](#): > > Roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco is very different to that used in ready-made (RM) cigarettes which each contain some 4000 chemicals. Whilst most criticism revolves around the tars, carbon monoxide and so on, what is not perhaps sufficiently well understood is that RM cigarettes contain chemicals that keep the cigarette burning whether or not it is actually being smoked; burning at such an intense heat that the tars that are inhaled cause very great damage; burning so fast that the cigarette is gone before you’ve really ‘had a smoke’ so, of course, quite quickly you light up another, then another, then … ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/9 "2007-11-27T16:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] At least I’m not a woman and I don’t have to worry about harming a **fetus.** [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > There is increasing evidence that the harmful products of tobacco smoking kill sperm cells. Therefore, some governments require manufacturers to put warnings on packets. Smoking tobacco increases intake of cadmium, because the tobacco plant absorbs the metal. Cadmium, being chemically similar to zinc, may replace zinc in the DNA polymerase, which plays a critical role in sperm production. Zinc replaced by cadmium in DNA polymerase can be paticularly damaging to the testes. Source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health\_effects\_of\_tobacco\_smoking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tobacco_smoking) ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/10 "2007-11-27T16:51:23Z")
Methinks you got [whooshed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=445476). ---
**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:** [November 29, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/11 "2007-11-29T05:02:05Z")
Nova did an excellent show on cigarettes a while back. Most interesting thing I took from it was that there’s not really anything all that bad for you in tobacco. Its not good for you, but all the carcinogens get created from the burning of it. Chemical reactions take place at the 1000°F+ that simply don’t happen in anything else a human body ingests (breathes). The point of the show was that even though companies were trying to make a much safer cigarette (the so-called ‘smokeless’ ones) anti-smoking groups would have none of it. They continued to simply insist on banning it. Although the big tobacco firms made progress they were forced to give up on the idea. Point is that, IMO, rolling your own won’t make a bit of difference… ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/12 "2007-11-29T17:33:49Z")
RJ Reynolds put out a smokeless cigarette and it stands to this day as the most unappealing thing I have ever had the misfortune to taste. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/13 "2007-11-29T18:57:56Z")
Fat, slow burning cigars filter the smoke so much it ends up coming out not as smoke but pure flavor. That’s pretty appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/14 "2007-11-29T20:28:01Z")
This may be a bit of a hijack, but wouldn’t a frugal smoker be able to save a bunch by rolling his own cigarettes, even if he used filters? (I remember that Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes once took a carton of cigarettes, cut all of them open and then weighed the pile of tobacco. I think he compared it against a bag of loose leaf tobacco and found that there was a big difference in the cost.) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/15 "2007-11-29T20:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] This may be a bit of a hijack, but wouldn’t a frugal smoker be able to save a bunch by rolling his own cigarettes, even if he used filters? (I remember that Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes once took a carton of cigarettes, cut all of them open and then weighed the pile of tobacco. I think he compared it against a bag of loose leaf tobacco and found that there was a big difference in the cost.) [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, making your own smokes is increadibly cheaper. Every “Tobacco” store has some different tobaccos and gimmicky machines designed to facilitate the construction of your own, it’s just a pain in my ass and I don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/16 "2007-11-29T20:46:26Z")
To continue this hijack, a bag of (cheap, dunno what kind **Argent Towers** uses) tobacco costs about $2, and comes with 40 cigarette papers. You can roll well more than 40 cigarettes out of one of these bags (although if you use the machine, which works quite well, you get a much fatter cigarette than I can manage rolling by hand, therefore fewer cigarettes). That’s basically $1 a “pack”, plus the cost of filters. Even if the filters make it $2 a pack, that’s still at least $1.50 savings. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-healthier-is-a-hand-rolled-cigarette-than-one-from-a-pack/427886/17 "2007-11-29T20:51:07Z")
If you can roll a decent joint, you can roll a workable cigarette. Tobacco burns more evenly than marijuana, so it’s actually easier as long as you remember to pack the damn thing tight with tobacco. Of course, there are machines that do it for you, too, and I don’t think they’re very expensive (my WAG is you can get one of the better ones for $20 or so).