Smoking has been an old addiction for some people. Smoking is a term describing a practice of burning a substance and resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and some substances absorbed into the blood stream. The most commonly subtance in smoking activity is the dried tobacco leaves which has been rolled or packed into a small cylinder shape called cigarette.The english word or tobacco originates from spanish word “tabaco” which means “by whom” and in arabic the word Tobacco or Nicotiana tabacum is a plant that grows most in North and South America since 6.000 BC. American indian was the firstly who began to use tobacco as medicine and another religious purpose. At that time chewing tobacco was believed to relieve the pain of toothache. Later when Columbus arrived on America, he bought the tobacco and start to growing the tobacco plant to Europe, soon the plant was being grown all over Europe and they believed tobacco can cure almost anything from bad breath to cancer.
Beside smoking the tobacco in the form of cigarette, people tend to use smokeless tobacco which they think is saver than the burned one. There are some types of smokeless tobacco include :
- Snuff is a type of tobacco which is finely ground and intended for comsumption by being inhaled or sniffed into the nose. There are two types of snuff, dipping tobacco or moist snuff and creamy snuff
- Dipping tobacco is referred to a moist snuff. This type of moistened smokeless tobacco is finely ground and shredded. It is also called as Dip or Rub. People used to placing a pinch of this tobacco between the lip and the gum which activity called as dipping.
- Creamy snuff is a paste of tobacco which mixed with clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, mentol and camphor. Creamy snuff largely famous used by Indian people.
- Chewing Tobacco is a kind of smokeless tobacco which consumed by placing some portion of tobacco between cheek and gum or upper lip teeth. Its different with dipping tobacco, while chewing tobacco should be manually crushed with the teeth in effort to release the nicotine juice and not commonly to be grounded.
- Iqmik also known as blackbull, is a smokeless tobacco product which used in many parts of Alaska mainly among native Americans. It is made from mixture of tobacco and a kind of mushroom, Phellinus igniarius. It is believed that Iqmik is healthier is because there is no chemical added on it.
- Snus (pronounced snoos) is a moist powder tobacco product originated from Sweden. It is dried snuff which has similarly usage as American dipping tobacco. It was illegal in most country except Sweden.
- Tobacco Gum is a type of chewing gum that contain nicotine from tobacco.
- Dissolved tobacco is similarly to tobacco powdered that packed in any form of lozenges, orbs or such candies that dissolve in mouth and requiring no tobacco juice spitting .
- Naswar is similar to dipping tobacco that used by peoples most in South Asia, Russia, and Ireland. Naswar is a moist powdered tobacco that consumed by stuffing it in the floor of the mouth under the lower lip or inside the cheek.
- Gutka, famous Indian smokeless tobacco that made by mixture of crush tobacco, areca nut, catechu, paraffin wax and slaked lime with sweet or savoury flavourings. Gutka is consumed by placing a pinch of it between the gum and cheek.
- Many other kind of smokeless tobacco that used by people around the world like Toombak and Shammah from East and North Africa also Arabian Peninsula.
Smokeless tobacco include all those types is believed healthier than smoking cigarette so hence most teenagers and adults using it nowaday. The fact is smokeless tobacco aint harmless for health either. Think that smokeless is safe way to use tobacco is totally wrong. Serious health problems appear do not appear by the cause of the smoke of tobacco but from the nicotine that contained in the tobacco itself. People who use any kind of smokeless tobacco will face and experience major health risks. It is less lethal than smoking tobacco but far away from the word healthy.
The production of smokeless tobacco in market is just a solution to find substitute for smoking cigarette where smoking is not allowed in some places like in public place. Those substitutes are not healthier at all and no form of smokeless tobacco is safe to be used. There is no proof that any smokeless product of tobacco can stop people from smoking. The fact is when teenagers start using smokeless tobacco they will get nicotine addiction which leads to the higher the chance of smoking cigarette in future.
Some health risk like Cancer, Heart disease and other serious diseases are a strong reason why people should quit using smokeless tobacco. These are some proven health benefits that you will gain when you quitting smokeless tobacco
- Reduce the risk of Cancer
People who use smokeless tobacco get almost similar number of nicotine as smoking cigarette plus 30 more chemical substances that trigger the development of cancer. Types of cancer that may developed as the effects of smokelsess tobacco are Mouth, Tongue, cheek, Gum, Esophagus and Pancreatic cancer.
- Keeping you away from Leukoplakia
Leukoplakia is a grey white patch in the mouth that can be sign of cancer. The more people using smokeless tobacco the higher risk of growing leukoplakia and increasing of chance to destroy the gum. We can say that all this may cause teeth to loosen and fall out.
- Get rid of Bad Breath
Using smokeless tobacco never be a cure just as it was noted in history. Tobacco that chewed will create stains teeth and causes bad breath or halitosis. A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Chemistry reported that some chemicals were found in saliva of people who use tobacco. Some of the substances were Pyridines and Pyrazynes.
- Reduce the risk Cardiovascular diseases
Smokeless tobacco also serve the risk of causing heart disease, high blood pressure also heart attack and stroke. A journal of US National Library of Medicine National Institute of health reported that various form of smokeless tobacco can cause an immediate increase in heart rate and blood pressure but even its not as harmful as smoker, quitting smokeless tobacco means you give more chance to your heart to be healthy and live longer.
- Save kids from nicotine poisoning
Adults or parents who used to chew dissolved tobacco in form of candy sometime put the candies carelessly so kids may find and chew it by mistake. Some cases are reported that kids died after got nicotine poisoned by chewing smokeless tobacco.
- Let nicotine leave your body
The hardest thing to quit smokeless tobacco is to get rid of the habit of enjoying to chew or dip the nicotine along to reduce the stress. It will be hard because nicotine will make your body craves for it. For first 2 until 3 weeks the feeling of sad, grouchy or restless after you quit but when nicotine addiction leave your body,
Those are some benefits that you will get after quitting smokeless cigarette. Strong willing and faith can make you to reach the goal of having healthy body. Try it now and stay away from any smokeless tobacco types and start a new healthier life with lovely people around you.