Snuff - Advantages Over Cigarettes

Advantages Over Cigarettes

Users of smokeless tobacco products, including snuff, face no known cancer risk to the lungs but more of a risk in the oral region than smokers, and have a greater cancer risk than people who do not use any tobacco products. As the primary harm from smoking comes from the smoke itself, snuff has been proposed as a way of reducing harm from tobacco.

An article from the 1981 British Medical Journal examining "Nicotine intake by snuff users" concluded thus:

Unlike tobacco smoke, snuff is free of tar and harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Since it cannot be inhaled into the lungs, there is no risk of lung cancer, bronchitis, and emphysema ... Though we are not aware of any direct evidence, prolonged heavy use of dry snuff might well carry a slight risk of nasopharyngeal cancer ... The position with coronary heart disease is not clear. It is not known whether nicotine or carbon monoxide is the major culprit responsible for cigarette-induced coronary heart disease. If it is carbon monoxide a switch to snuff would reduce the risk substantially, but even if nicotine plays a part our results show that the intake from snuff is no greater than from smoking.

In conclusion, the rapid absorption of nicotine from snuff confirms its potential as an acceptable substitute for smoking. Switching from cigarettes to snuff would substantially reduce the risk of lung cancer, bronchitis, emphysema, and possibly coronary heart disease as well, at the cost of a slight increase in the risk of cancer of the nasopharynx (or oral cavity in the case of wet snuff). Another advantage of snuff is that it does not contaminate the atmosphere for non-users.