What Is In a Cigarette?

Cigarette contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. Nicotine is highly addictive. When this nicotine is inhaled into the lungs, the nicotine reach the brain in just six seconds. Nicotine in small doses is a stimulant to the brain. In large doses, it's a depressant by blocking the signals between nerve cells. In even larger doses, it's a lethal poison, affecting the heart, blood vessels, and hormones. Nicotine in the cigarette will make the smoker feel calm. As a cigarette is smoked, the amount of tar inhaled into the lungs increases, and the last puff contains more than twice as much tar as the first puff. Carbon monoxide makes it harder for red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. Tar is a mixture of substances that will form a sticky mass in the lungs after sometime. Most of the chemicals in cigarette smoke stay in the lungs. Remember, the more you inhale, the better it feels and the greater the damage to your lungs.