# Is the butt of the cigarette the most unhealthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043 "2007-08-18T07:49:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/1 "2007-08-18T07:49:16Z")
A friend of mine who smokes was told by his parents that the part of the cigarette near and after the filter was the unhealthiest part of the cigarette. Is that true? (Ok it was me), Auto ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/2 "2007-08-18T07:54:50Z")
Considering that the tobacco that is not actually burning acts as a filter, you could argue that the but is the most unhealthy. This however is untrue, the first drag is the most unhealthy:) ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/3 "2007-08-18T08:02:32Z")
Never once have I seen them depicted as a cereal topping in any commercial that purported to be “part of this nutritional breakfast”. Take from that what you will. Also, they taste like butt. No pun intended. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/4 "2007-08-18T08:05:27Z")
When you smoke a cigarette, some of the stuff in the smoke will deposit on the tobacco further up the cigarette, and be re-vaporised when you smoke it down to that point. So whatever is in the tobacco, you will get more of it from that last bit down close to the butt end. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/5 "2007-08-18T08:09:31Z")
I’d say so. When I was a smoker, the last few drags were the roughest, and I can’t attribute the phenomena to angel’s kisses and faberge eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/6 "2007-08-18T08:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] A friend of mine who smokes was told by his parents that the part of the cigarette near and after the filter was the unhealthiest part of the cigarette. Is that true? (Ok it was me), Auto [/QUOTE] After the filter? I don’t get it? You smoke your lips? ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/7 "2007-08-18T18:02:37Z")
Also, I always assumed that as you smoked the cig, the filter got more and more gummed up with goop and would lose its effectiveness by the end. So when you’re close to the filter, it hardly works anymore. That’s what I convinced myself of anyway, when I was trying to cut down. I would light a cig, take a few drags (with fresh filter), and then throw it away. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/8 "2007-08-19T06:40:56Z")
[QUOTE=Manduck] When you smoke a cigarette, some of the stuff in the smoke will deposit on the tobacco further up the cigarette, and be re-vaporised when you smoke it down to that point. So whatever is in the tobacco, you will get more of it from that last bit down close to the butt end. [/QUOTE] That’s one thing I’ve noticed about many smokers in Japan. They would only smoke 1/3-1/2 of the cigarrette then discard the rest and light up another one. I thought it was a “waste” of a smoke since I had seen Americans smoke all the way closer to the butt. By the way, IANASmoker. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2007, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-butt-of-the-cigarette-the-most-unhealthy/416043/9 "2007-08-19T07:35:25Z")
Any inveterate smoker will tell you that all the crack is hidden in the final quarter inch of a cigarette. While I don’t have a good GQ-style cite to back this up with, I would be absolutely amazed if there is a significant difference in the health effects of smoking the beginning of a cigarette versus the end. I just ran a little experiment, and after smoking a cigarette all the way down to the tip (charring my fingertips in the process), I cut open the filter. While the ends look fairly foul, the vast majority of the filter looks relatively clean. This suggests to me that the filter probably retains most of its functionality for the length of the smoke.