What’s In a Cigarette? Every Time You Smoke, This Is What You Are Actually Consuming

Smoking cigarettes can make some people feel calm, centered and empty of stress. We all know it’s bad for us, but cigarettes are still one of the most popular vices in existence. However, knowing what exactly is in cigarettes may make you think twice before lighting up.

As the Center for Disease Control says, tobacco use is one of the biggest preventable causes of death among American adults now. Not just that, but Medical Daily says that more than 3,200 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette every day.

Take a close look at the graph above. It’s obvious what is in a cigarette, but this graph really pulls back the curtain to reveal the dirty truth. Cigarettes have the same ingredients that are in batteries, candle wax, toilet cleaner and barbecue lighters. If it sounds gross, it should.

What’s In a Cigarette?

The American Lung Association says they’re around 600 ingredients in cigarettes. When the cigarette is burned, they create more than 7,000 chemicals.

Here’s the shocking part…

69 of these chemicals are are poisonous and known to cause cancer!

Many of these chemicals also are found in consumer products, but these products have warning labels. While the public is warned about the danger of the poisons in these products, there is no such warning for the toxins in tobacco smoke.

Here are a few of the chemicals in tobacco smoke and other places they are found:

• Acetone – found in nail polish remover
• Acetic Acid –  an ingredient in hair dye
• Ammonia – a common household cleaner
• Arsenic – used in rat poison
• Benzene – found in rubber cement
• Butane – used in lighter fluid
• Cadmium – active component in battery acid
• Carbon Monoxide – released in car exhaust fumes
• Formaldehyde – embalming fluid
• Hexamine – found in barbecue lighter fluid
• Lead – used in batteries
• Naphthalene – an ingredient in mothballs
• Methanol – a main component in rocket fuel
• Nicotine – used as insecticide
• Tar – material for paving roads
• Toluene – used to manufacture paint

However, if you need more reason to quit, what about how quickly your body can heal? According to one report in the American Cancer Society, within just a few hours of quitting, your blood pressure goes down and your heart rate goes down. It also reduces the carbon monoxide levels of your blood. Just a year after quitting, your chances of getting heart disease are cut in half.

Of course, if you can’t wait that long, there are immediate benefits you will love. In fact, food will taste better, you will stop smelling, and your skin will be better. There is a reason all girl;s magazines say not to smoke. You will not just look better, you will feel better.

So quit smoking now. Your body will thank you immensely and you will feel so much better almost instantly. Not only that, but you will look better, too. If that appeals to you, why put it off? You can look and smell better any time you like.

Do You Need Help Quitting Smoking?

Learn about the American Lung Association’s programs to help you or a loved one quit smoking, and join their advocacy efforts to help reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. You can go visit Lung.org or call the Lung HelpLine at 1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872).

Here’s a list of the best quit smoking apps of the year for iPhone and Android phones. These apps were selected based on their usability, user ratings, frequent updates, and valuable contribution to people’s efforts to quit smoking.

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