Cigarette vs. Dart

Cigarette

A cigarette, also known colloquially as a fag in British English, is a narrow cylinder containing psychoactive material, usually tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. Most cigarettes contain a “reconstituted tobacco” product known as “sheet”, which consists of “recycled [tobacco] stems, stalks, scraps, collected dust, and floor sweepings”, to which are added glue, chemicals and fillers; the product is then sprayed with nicotine that was extracted from the tobacco scraps, and shaped into curls. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not decrease health risks associated with smoking. Cigarette manufacturers have described cigarettes as a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form. Cigarettes are addictive (because of nicotine) and cause cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other health problems.

The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, and paper wrapping, which is typically white. Cigar wrappers are typically composed of tobacco leaf or paper dipped in tobacco extract.

Smoking rates have generally declined in the developed world, but continue to rise in developing nations. Cigarette smoking is associated with serious health risks; nicotine is also highly addictive. About half of cigarette smokers die of tobacco-related disease and lose on average 14 years of life. Cigarettes cause between 1 and 1.4 deaths per million smoked, with a lag period of roughly 25 years. According to Dr. Robert Proctor, the 6 trillion cigarettes smoked in 1990 caused around 1 death every 5 seconds in 2015.Cigarette use by pregnant women has also been shown to cause birth defects, including low birth weight, fetal abnormalities, and premature birth. Second-hand smoke from cigarettes causes many of the same health problems as smoking, including cancer, which has led to legislation and policy that has prohibited smoking in many workplaces and public areas. Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemical compounds, including arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, lead, nicotine, carbon monoxide, acrolein, and other poisonous substances. Over 70 of these are carcinogenic. Additionally, cigarettes are a frequent source of mortality-associated fires in private homes, which prompted both the European Union and the United States to ban cigarettes that are not fire-standard compliant from 2011 onwards.