Chemicals in cigarettes and cigarette smoke
Cigarette smoke is a complex mixture of over 4000 chemicals. Many of these chemicals come from burning tobacco; the remainder come from burning cigarette paper, agricultural chemicals left on the tobacco leaves, and chemicals added during the cigarette making process.
The chemicals go everywhere your blood goes
Once inhaled into the lungs, many of these chemicals pass through the lung walls into the blood stream, and are pumped around the body.
Effects on your body
Many chemicals in tobacco smoke have a role in causing disease. These include the cancer causing substances in tar, radioactive compounds, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and other noxious gases. Thirty metals have been detected in tobacco smoke.
Addiction
Nicotine is a drug that occurs naturally in tobacco and causes addiction in smokers. It has a number of immediate and long-term effects on the body.
Types of tobacco products
'Light' or low-tar cigarettes are not less dangerous than regular cigarettes. There is no evidence that smokers of 'light' or ‘mild' cigarettes have less risk of smoking caused diseases than smokers of other cigarettes.
While manufactured cigarettes are the most popular form of tobacco, other tobacco products include cigars, pipe tobacco, bidis, kreteks or clove cigarettes, water pipes and roll-your-own. These products also cause smoking related disease, although some risks may differ from cigarettes. Other substances that are smoked include herbal cigarettes and cannabis.