I was reading the earlier post about nicotine being addictive or not which made me wonder, are cigars addictive? Now don't get me wrong here, as a matter of preference I would not give up my cigars for anything. But with that said I don't think I am "addicted". I enjoy the taste and aroma but if, god forbid, I should have some freak medical condition spring up I could close my humidor forever tomorrow. Aside from the obvious wanting pleasure, has anyone been physically dependant to cigars much like cigarettes?

I don't think either cigarettes nor cigars are addictive in the classical sense of the definition, but of the two cigarettes naturally harder to shake.

I told people twenty years ago the thing that made cigarettes addictive and dangerous was not the nicotine, but all the chemicals that were put into them. I was laughed at then, but information that has come to light from all the litigation of late has shut a lot of people up.
The fact that cigarettes and cigars both contain tobacco and a certain amount of nicotine is really a coincidence. It’s like comparing Mad Dog and Chateau Lafitte Rothschild. That fact that both contain alcohol and grape juice is just a coincidence. One is a product made with great care and pride, while the other is nothing but an alcohol delivery system. Premium cigars are the pride of their makers, while cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system specifically designed to addict their users.
I personally know two ex-heroin addicts. Both have told me cigarettes are just as or more addictive than heroin. Both kicked the junk (one had a $150/day habit), but both are still smoking cigarettes.

From personal experience, I don't find nicotine to be addictive. My example: Prior to college, I never took a drag off anything. In college, during a mode of self-destruction, I took up smoking a pack of cigarettes a day (I know, WHAT A REBEL!! 😉. That lasted for two months until I noticed my once bright white teeth turning a faint shade of yellow. I immediately gave up cigarettes cold-turkey with no withdrawal effects whatsoever. While smoking, I didn't "crave" cigarettes, it was just a thing to do. I think the whole mystique with cigarettes and their "addictiveness" is a combination of different factors, pick and choose from the following; 1) oral fixation 2) an alternative to nervousness and figgitting/figiting 3) repetetive stress disorder and 4)not for nothing, but it does still look kind of cool/gives someone the feeling that they look like James Dean while smoking 🙂 That's just my opinion/observation. If I had to give cigars up tomorrow, I'd do so pretty easily, but why would I?

I did the same thing in college, then gave it up when I joined the military. Once I was in the Army my roommate smoked and I smoked right along with him, but never could get addicted. Believe me, I tried. No luck. He, and several others I have known, fidget and fuss if they don't get a regular fix. I think it just an addictive personality issue.

Sounds like a good explaination to me. Probably the same thing for drinkers. Some can drink socially, and others become alcoholics. Everyone is different, and I believe some are more prone to addiction than others ...

exactly slimboli, and that is why I don't consider the product itself to be addictive. I also think the dangers of cigarettes are overstated. There are many other factors involved, and if one takes a survey of the effects of cigarettes on people across the world, the results are far from consistent, in Greece for example the rate of lung cancer for smokers and non smokers does not differ very much. I think diet is equally important. I mean if you are a smoker and eat McDonald's everyday, I think the big macs would knock you off faster than the cigarettes, but most likely your cause of death would be attributed to cigarettes. Plus with anything there is a threshold. When do cigarettes becomes dangerous? If I smoke one cigarette a week or one pack a week, a pack a day or 5 a day, or five a month, or one a month? I would say if done in moderation and with a healthy diet, cigarettes probably would have no ill effect on the person. Obesity to me is this country's biggest health problem.

This post was written actually for earlier "Smoking at Home" thread. How can you possibly say that the danger of smoking cigarettes are understated. C'mon, that is totally ill-advised as well as ludicrous considering what we know today. Clinically speaking, yes, there are those who are much more susceptable to differing forms of addiction or dependancy if you like. It is a fact that children of alcoholics are much more likely to have problems with addiction to alcohol. We believe the same is true of most forms of addiction, that it may be gentically acquired. I think the facts about nicotine addiction speak for themself. This country has spent billions of dollars arguing that same question about "social smokers" with no real clear-cut answer. One answer is for sure and that is the conspiracy by tobacco companies to continually increase the amounts of harmful substances in cigarettes that in themselves are addictive. Now, dependacy is another issue. One can become dependant on ANYTHING, cigars included. To be dependant, a person is fixated on acquiring and maintaining their "object of dependancy". That could be anything. People who are dependant feel incomplete without the object they are fixated on. For some, its food, sex, or love. Addiction requires that it is physical and psychological. There is no doubt now the effects of nicotine on the central nervous system as well as the respiratory and cardiac system. Just watch someone die from emphsema for awhile and tell me that cigarettes are not addictive. These patients will tell you they would have stopped if they could. Heck, I even saw a woman taking a drag off a cigarette who had a tracheotomy in! Don't even try to say cigarettes are not addicting....Brent

quite plainly I can tell you that there are many people who use cigarettes on a take it or leave it basis, that is a fact, and that does not fit nicely into the definition of addiction. Also I am saying the effects are overstated because of other factors in a person's life and the amount they smoke certainly is very important

I’m more “addicted” to the nightly ritual than I am of the tobacco / nicotine.

Smoked cigarettes for 20yrs and then about 5yrs for cigars. It's not the same. I'd get anxious a couple hours after my last cigarette. I've gone a week or two without a cigar and while I crave the experience, Mrs. Beach's head remains intact as opposed to being bitten off

Ditto.

Smoked cigarettes for years, years ago. They were kinda tough to quit, but also mainly because of the habit more than the chemicals.