Using a pipe to smoke tobacco has been a common practice in all corners of the world and has been present for centuries. It was utilized as an important part of various ceremonies, however, its use stuck around to modern times and is now a huge part of the mainstream tobacco smoking community.

Although certain health effects of pipe smoking have caused a significant drop in its popularity since the 1960s, this trend is still among the most widely spread tobacco smoking methods and is mostly favored by older men.

So, is smoking pipe tobacco worse than smoking traditional cigarettes, is it addictive, and what are occasional pipe smoking health risks? Let’s find out.  

Pipe Tobacco and Addiction

We must first learn how pipe tobacco is made. Basically, we are talking about loose fire-cured tobacco leaves that are most commonly grown in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Fire-cured means the leaves were slowly smoked and dried over a smoldering hardwood fire (as opposed to them being dried in a barn), and the end product is low-sugar, aromatic, rich in taste tobacco that is packed with nicotine.

These high nicotine levels make pipe tobacco quite addictive. Three grams of pipe tobacco (which is the average dosage for one pipe session) typically contain anywhere from 60 to 150 milligrams of nicotine.

Of course, as pipe smokers tend not to inhale pipe smoke into their lungs as much as those who smoke regular cigarettes, and since the smoking pipe is typically not as frequent an act in a day of a regular consumer, we can say that it is less addictive than smoking traditional cigarettes.

Pipe Smoking and Health

Occasional pipe smoking health risks are present but minimal. Since the majority of pipe smokers don’t actually inhale the smoke coming from the pipe, the health risks are negligible in comparison to smoking traditional cigarettes that are high, not only in nicotine but tar as well.

Regardless of the fact that there are not strong scientific proofs regarding health effects of pipe smoking and the risks involved, pipe tobacco is still associated with some health hazards linked with those who smoke cigars and cigarettes on a regular basis, and those include: lung, bladder, pancreatic, and mouth cancers (that can appear in tongue, larynx, and throat), as well as an increased risk of developing COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

There’s also talk about an elevated risk of heart disease in users who inhale the pipe smoke, but this is still inconclusive and more tangible data needs to be gleaned concerning this area.

Cigarettes VS Pipe Tobacco

Pipe smoking health benefits include the fact that pipe tobacco doesn’t contain certain ingredients that regular tobacco found in cigarettes does. However, the researches have shown that some health risks are present in both products as they both have the capacity to cause following diseases that have been linked to consuming tobacco:

  • Stroke
  • Heart and cardiovascular disease
  • Lung and mouth cancer

At the end of the day, we at Smokey News tobacco shop believe that it all comes down to how much tobacco you are smoking, and the quality of the product you are consuming.

Simple logic tells us that the very method and frequency of smoking tobacco can make a crucial difference as not inhaling the smoke directly into your lungs is much less severe than actually inhaling these substances. Plus, pipe smokers, in general, tend to smoke less often during the course of a day in comparison to consumers who smoke regular cigarettes.