Cigars...

[MilitantMedic]

Ok, but this has nothing to do with the effect of CO during the dive. And PaO2 is normal, 1/2 life HbCO is 320min for FIO2=21%, ppO2 increases with depth, no more smoke inhalation during the dive ....
is there any significant effect from smoke inhalation?
I'm waiting for a comment from Dr Deco

Sorry not Dr. Deco, but yes there are significant effects from smoke inhalation. As I stated before the negative effects on your lungs are fairly significant. As far as cigars go, I will say that the damage is likely to be far less than smokeing cigarettes (such as I do).

As far as nicotine goes (which all tobacco users get in their bloodstream) it acts as a vasoconstrictor, lessing peripheral blood flow. Leading to a higher susceptabilty of hypothermia. And now that I think about it more than likely DCS as well, but that's just supposition.

 

[perche]

Sorry not Dr. Deco, but yes there are significant effects from smoke inhalation. As I stated before the negative effects on your lungs are fairly significant. As far as cigars go, I will say that the damage is likely to be far less than smokeing cigarettes (such as I do).

As far as nicotine goes (which all tobacco users get in their bloodstream) it acts as a vasoconstrictor, lessing peripheral blood flow. Leading to a higher susceptabilty of hypothermia. And now that I think about it more than likely DCS as well, but that's just supposition.

O2 is carried in the blood in 2 forms: dissolved and in combination with hemoglobin. As mentionned above CO binds with Hb. Its binding reduces oxygen transport by Haemoglobin and also decrease the release of O2 in tissue. So that your performance in the real world may be decreased. However remind you the PO2 of blood is normal. During the dive, the depth increases, the partial pressure of O2 increases, so that maybe (?) we could conclude there is no significant effect of CO during the dive nor an increased nitrogenous level.


Smoking before a dive is (perhaps) no more dangerous than in the life of everyday..


In addition the question was about cigars not cigarettes . It makes a little difference!
I'm not sure if the risks of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pumonary disease, cardiovascular diseases is the same (!!!).

Due to the type of smoke(alkaline pH) cigars smokers tend no to inhale smoke beacause there is a sufficient absorption of nicotine across the oral mucosa to satisfy their addiction. For the rest statistics are not also in your favor.

(be carreful, my mother tongue is not english and I'm not saying: pls smoke cigars - I discuss about nitrogenous level, CO effect, cigars and what happens during a dive )

regards

François

 

[perche]

Addendum: I don't smoke cigarettes or cigars or pipes or whatever-----

:14: :14:

 

[david.tolan]

http://whyquit.com/joel/Joel_02_18_circulatory_damage.html

Please remember that our tax pays your hospital bills.

Dave

 

[perche]

cigar smoking is also dangerous for the life. No doubt about that. I didn't say the opposite. Every physician should be urged to encourage their patient to stop smoking. No doubt about that.

regards

 

[HowardE]

It seems that most of what I have read in this thread is really off topic. The question was about cigars. Most cigar smokers DON'T INHALE or at least, like myself, inhale very little. Nicotine is NOT added to cigars either. This was not a question about cigarettes, which are obviously bad for you, nobody can deny. Cigars while they are not good for you, don't effect the lungs, as much as the mouth and throat (the most common cancers for cigar smokers). Personally, I don't know if there is an effect on Deco from smoking a cigar, but I can't imagine that it would greatly impact it, unless you inhale every puff, which like I said, most people don't.

The main reason I wouldn't smoke a cigar on a surface interval, is that I don't usually have enough time to smoke a whole cigar on a surface interval...

 

[perche]

It seems that most of what I have read in this thread is really off topic. The question was about cigars. Most cigar smokers DON'T INHALE or at least, like myself, inhale very little. Nicotine is NOT added to cigars either. This was not a question about cigarettes, which are obviously bad for you, nobody can deny. Cigars while they are not good for you, don't effect the lungs, as much as the mouth and throat (the most common cancers for cigar smokers). Personally, I don't know if there is an effect on Deco from smoking a cigar, but I can't imagine that it would greatly impact it, unless you inhale every puff, which like I said, most people don't.

The main reason I wouldn't smoke a cigar on a surface interval, is that I don't usually have enough time to smoke a whole cigar on a surface interval...

I agree with you: most thread are really off topic. It turns out a discussion about dangerousness of cigars. And there is no doubt about that. And there is an absorption of Nicotine. No doubt about that.

We should stop the discussion about the dangerousness of cigars

We should focus on cigar smoking effect during the dive.


regards

 

[DiveGolfSki]

Please remember that our tax pays your hospital bills.

Dave

Maybe in Canada but I've got to pay my own ...

The article in your link is typical example of anti-smoking groups try to get their message accross ... shock tactics ... and it can be effective. PETA uses the same strategy but they have pictures of decapitated animals....

Here are some excerpts from that link:

1. the two chemicals in cigarettes that stand out as the biggest problems are nicotine and carbon monoxide.

2. Cigarette smoking increases risks of blood clots significantly.

3. Then one night at a party, a friend offered her a cigarette. She figured that since she had been off cigarettes for so long, she now had control over her dependency. If she liked the cigarette, she would smoke one or two a day. If she didn't like the cigarette, she just wouldn't smoke anymore.

Well, she took the cigarette. She didn't particularly like the cigarette, but the next day she was up to her old level of consumption.

It's also typical of the anti-smokers campaign to lump cigar smoking in with cigarette smoking. I've heard all the arguments on this post as well as elsewhere (i.e., nicotine still gets into your blood, high risk of mouth and throat cancer, etc.). However, if nicotine is the main suspect for addiction, why can I go weeks or months between cigars. Cigarette smokers can't go hours between smokes or, as in #3 above, take one hit and they're addicted again (same thing happened with Peter Jennings).

I don't want to hijack this thread into a cigar vs cigarette thread. The thread was created questioning when or if cigars have any effect on DCS. So far, I haven't seen any posts that definitively answers this.

I've seen a lot of lecturing (thou shalt not smoke) but if awestholm wants to smoke a cigar and understands all the risk, LET HIM. Hell, we're divers. We understand all the risks about diving and we still to it.

 

[Doc]

why can I go weeks or months between cigars.

I've come close to doing a backroll with the unlit chomp of my cigar clenched between my teeth.

fftopic:

So far that's been the most deleterious effect.

 

[MilitantMedic]

Maybe in Canada but I've got to pay my own ...

The article in your link is typical example of anti-smoking groups try to get their message accross ... shock tactics ... and it can be effective. PETA uses the same strategy but they have pictures of decapitated animals....

Here are some excerpts from that link:

It's also typical of the anti-smokers campaign to lump cigar smoking in with cigarette smoking. I've heard all the arguments on this post as well as elsewhere (i.e., nicotine still gets into your blood, high risk of mouth and throat cancer, etc.). However, if nicotine is the main suspect for addiction, why can I go weeks or months between cigars. Cigarette smokers can't go hours between smokes or, as in #3 above, take one hit and they're addicted again (same thing happened with Peter Jennings).

I don't want to hijack this thread into a cigar vs cigarette thread. The thread was created questioning when or if cigars have any effect on DCS. So far, I haven't seen any posts that definitively answers this.

I've seen a lot of lecturing (thou shalt not smoke) but if awestholm wants to smoke a cigar and understands all the risk, LET HIM. Hell, we're divers. We understand all the risks about diving and we still to it.

He asked about problems asscociated with cigar smoking, that's what we've been doing. No one is going to hold his hand. And I did answer about the risk of DCS with the use of nicotine.