The trend toward increased smoking of flavoured mini-cigars among Canadian teenagers poses a significant danger. Adolescents metabolize nicotine more rapidly than adults do, which makes their smoke exposure, carbon monoxide levels, and plasma nicotine levels higher than those of adults (Moolchan et al., 2009, p. 1578). Moreover, new evidence suggests that this higher nicotine metabolism exerts an influence on the volume, velocity, and duration of the puffs a person takes when smoking (Moolchan et al., 2009, p. 1578). This finding indicates that the significantly higher tar and carbon monoxide levels found in flavoured mini-cigars could be more dangerous for adolescent smokers than for adults. Research shows that in more than 80% of COPD patients, the primary cause is cigarette smoking (van Dijk et al., 2010, p. 277). Thus, since the mini-cigars have a higher content of tar and carbon monoxide than cigarettes, it can be hypothesized that they may cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adolescent smokers at a higher rate than cigarettes.
1. Smoking of higher-tar, higher-CO mini-cigars will cause a higher rate of COPD in adolescents than smoking of cigarettes does.
2. Smoking of mini-cigars will result in a higher rate of lung cancer incidence than cigarette smoking does.
3. Smoking of mini-cigars will be positively correlated with a higher level of inflammation in the body than smoking of cigarettes, as measured by the inflammation marker C-reactive protein.
Moolchan, E.T., Parzynski, C.S., JaszynaGasior, M., Collins, C.C., Leff, M.K., Zimmerman, D.L. (2009). A Link between Adolescent Nicotine Metabolism and Smoking Topography. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 18, (May), 1578. Retrieved on February 6, 2010 from: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/18/5/1578.abstract
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