i am doing a speech for public speaking class and the subject is pipes are a safer alternative to cigarettes wondering if anyone had any good links to some good reliable information
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A lot here, maybe a little dated, but maybe you can find something to help you out.
http://www.lcolby.com/index.html
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There's the good old info we all love. The (1964?) Report to the Surgeon General observed pipe smokers may actually live longer than the non-smoking public, blah blah blah.
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As someone who has taught speech, that 1964 report would not be an acceptable source. At over 40 years old, it doesn't pass the "currency" test.
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Is this supposed to be an informative or persuasive speech?
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PM me your email addy
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Here's a fun stat from a NOV 2010 article

They studied 102,395 men in Europe, with 9 year followup afterwards.
Cases of cancers of the lung, upper aerodigestive tract and bladder.
Exclusive cigar smokers: 16 cases
Exclusive pipe smokers: 33 cases
Exclusive cigarette smokers: 1069 cases

Took me longer to type that than it did to find it. Peer reviewed scholarly journals are your friend.
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Small world. I'm also a former public speaking instructor... Regardless, I've got to agree w/Tenor on this. Try Google Scholar (though often you may run into issues with actually locating full-text articles) or if you're on the University level your library may have access to Jstor, Lexis Nexis, or other journal search engines that could be useful.
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a persuasive speech
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Alright, a couple questions. What is the length expectation on your speech? 4-6 mins? Less, more?

Have you outlined 3 arguments (3 "points") that help support your main premise (i.e. pipe smoking is a safe alternative to cigarettes)?

Perhaps with your class they don't require you to utilize 3 different points supporting your central argument, I don't know. But, if you argument centers on pipe smoking as safer, it may be difficult to come up with 3 distinct points supporting that argument. What you might be able to do is broaden your discussion a bit and have your central premise as "Pipe smoking is a preferable alternative to smoking cigarettes because 1) you get MORE for less money 2) it is more environmentally sound & 3) pipe smoking is actually SAFER for health of the smoker than cigarettes.

So you could elaborate in #1 about the price of an average carton of cigarettes, which is approx what? $40? And there's, what? 10 packs/carton. Well, if someone smokes 1 pack/day that's only 10 days worth of smoke. But let's say you get you a relatively cheap pipe ~$20 Dr. Grabow & maybe 4oz of tobacco at your local B&M for $15. Total investment $35. That smoke is likely going to last much longer, provide more sustained smokes (~60mins) and require even less investment the next purchase b/c they won't HAVE to buy a new pipe, just more tobacco; whereas, the cigarette smoker has to re-invest $40 on another carton of cigs. You could also do some math on the average amount of tobacco (e.g. what fraction of an ounce is smoked in an average-sized bowl) to discern how long 4oz of tobacco would last if someone smoked 2 bowls/day - or something to that effect.

In two you could discuss the fact that pipe tobacco provides an environmentally clean smoke (i.e. no cigarette butts to clutter up the house, car, dorm room, work place break-room, etc). Simply a white ash. You could prob stretch it some to try to figure out estimated wildfires resulting from cigarettes vs. those resulting from suspected pipe issues (It's a bit of a strech, but not terribly unreasonable)

And then point 3 close it up w/all the info you're locating for the SAFER alternative argument.

Anyway, just my perspective on it. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
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SeeingRed13 makes excellent points.

Any decent university should have access to any number of databases.
I found tons of articles by searching using the "Web of Science" database.

You may need to tweak your keywords a bit.
Things that worked for me were tobacco cancer pipes cigars cigarettes health risks

Lexis Nexis is also good.
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1 last word of advice, and I think SeeingRed13 will back me up on this:

Never lose sight of the fact that this is "just" a class, not real life. First and foremost, you must pick a topic that allows you to meet the rubric of the assignment, EVEN IF it means that you don't get to speak on the topic that you are really itching to do.
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This. 100%. I always encouraged my students to pick something they're familiar with and that they care about b/c it makes giving the speech easier/more comfortable for the individual giving it. BUT if your topic of choice falls outside of reason or is only substantiated by opinion - without supporting evidence or reputable sources - pick another topic that will be easier to meet the requirements of the class.
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