Having a conversation with my mom this week, she said she sees a spike in the consistency and amount of my cigar smoking. I think it's relativly tame (usually between 2 and 4 a week) but she is an ex-smoker and says I'm moving towards addiction. I don't feel addicted, as this is a hobby for me -one I am quite involved in. I love cigars because they are relaxing and tasty, NOT because they are a nicotine filled product.

To prove her wrong I'm not smoking at all this week.

I'd love to hear others' opinions on this situation.

aj
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Here is my take on it:

Addiction
1 : the quality or state of being addicted <addiction to reading>
2 : compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful

Hobby
: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation
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I AM addicted...to the hobby and the community, not to the nicotine.
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:-)
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:-) Gotta agree with Tim and Darrell on this one.
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I am addicted to nothing.

Cigars are my passion and hobby.
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I smoke about 2-3 a week.
I'd say I'm definately not addicted. I don't feel the need to have a cigar. It's more of a want. I'll go outside w/ my laptop or iPhone and surf or watch a movie or read.
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Phaneuf!!!


God Bless You.... :-)
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My thoughts exactly... well stated by everyone's favorite Admiral. :-)
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I agree with Shawn, it's a passion of mine, not an addition. P**n on the other hand is an addiction.
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I was concerned about this after I had been in the hobby for a while and began to smoke a few a week, then one week I was busy and didn't smoke for 10 days or so, and it was no big deal. Since then "dry spells" happen for one reason or another and it's still not a big deal, glad to not be additcted. :-)
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It's much harder to become addicted to cigars (though not impossible) due to the way that the nicotine is absorbed.

Inhaling cigarettes will give you a nic fix in a matter of seconds instead of minutes with puffing on cigars.

I could easily give up cigars if needed. Though I'd miss them, there would be no jonesing, shakes or edginess like quitting cigarettes.

I think alot of people here would miss hanging out with friends sharing a good stogie than the stogie itself. :-)
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:-)Gotta agree with Tom, Tim, Darrell, Mac and Joe on this one.
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Agreed. I would also add one more thing to what Tom wrote, I AM addicted to the pursuit of buying more and more, not smoking more and more. I work at a non-smoking b&m :-) and I am here up to 12 hours a day and even though I would love to have a cigar or two or three, I don't crave them and it doesn't bother me at all, like a cigarette smoker would be. We are next to a beauty shop and the girls that fix hair go out 8 or 9 times a day to have a cigarette.

Please tell her to not to lump cigarette smokers and cigar smokers together. They are totally different animals. Cigars are a choice. Cigarettes seem to be a necessity, to my anyway.
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:-):-):-) Now that's funny!


Cigars are probably the least efficient means of delivering nicotine to the bloodstream. Given that you do not inhale, the only absorption occurs through the mouth and nose. You would have to smoke an awful lot of cigars(a la George Burns) to become physically addicted. Mental addiction probably occurs more easily but is much harder to quantify.
But I am more addicted to the friendships I have formed since joining CS/CA than I ever will be to a bunch of rolled up leaves. :-)
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Addiction itself typically refers to two elements:

1) physiological changes that produce both a tolerance of the substance and rebound physiologically stressful response to the removal of the substance (withdrawl). Not all of this has to be present (no withdrawl phenomenon is easily identifiable with halucinogens for instance).

2) maladaptive behaviours that are adopted to obtain, secure or use substance. So, by maladaptive, this means that the behaviours are continued despite the real/understood and accepted understanding that what you are doing is ultimately harming you.

So, you may very well be dependant on the nicotine. I will give you that one, but many could argue either way on this. To me its rather inconsequential.

Now, if you are spending more than you should on cigars, if you are missing work or risking trouble at work to smoke a cigar. If.....blah blah blah. Then there may be a problem. If you accept that cigars are GOING to 100% give you cancer (if it could ever be stated with such certainty) and you can't quit, then there may be a problem. Otherwise, probably not, at least psycho-physiologically.
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We are addicted to you too, Buddy!!!:-)
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Smoking cigars is a hobby. Collecting them, now *that's* an addiction. :-)
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Listen to your Mother. :-)

She sounds like she's just looking out for you and your health. As cigar smokers we can easily see the benifits to the spirit and sanity that a simple cigar can offer but she will always see you as her baby. It's enough to concern her about you and your health. If all it takes is backing down a few sticks to take some worry from Mom's shoulders, it's well worth it.

There will be plenty of chances to catch up on missed sticks down the road.

:-)

P.s.
I'm not addicted either.:-)
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I call it a hobby, because i don't like to call it an addiction, but like John said, if you aren't missing work for a cigar, or making excuses why you "need" to have a cigar instead of doing important tasks in life, who cares :-)

I've been addicted to drugs before, and this ain't anything like that :-)

Hobdiction! Addobby? :-)
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