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(More customer reviews)I recently acquired this book, and couldn't put it down. I have smoked for 21 years, a pack-a-day. Before I bought this book (about a week or so), I made the decision to switch to smokeless tobacco. I came across this book and bought it to reinforce my decision.
Dr. Brad Rodu, Professor and Chair of Oral Pathology with the School of Dentistry with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, explodes all the myths and misconceptions concerning smokeless tobacco and it's health risks, including the big one that switchers trade one form of cancer for another. He includes many useful statistics to back up his claims, which are ignored by the fanatical anti-tobacco prohibitionists. While there is a slight increase of risk for oral cancer among smokeless users over the risk among non-tobacco users, the other problems associated with smokeless tobacco use are minimal, especially when compared with smoking tobacco use. The problem, you see, is with the nicotine delivery system. Combustion of tobacco causes 3,000 different chemicals to enter the lungs and all other organs and systems in the body. Not good. Radu points out that nicotine is what we are addicted to, NOT all the carcinogens and deadly toxins contained in tobacco smoke. Smokeless also doesn't produce harmful second-hand smoke, or discolor clothes and homes, or make burn-holes in beds and car seats, or cause house and forest fires, or stink up everything around it in general, like automobiles. He compares nicotine to caffeine, as both drugs have similar effects on the body, are both addictive, and neither is thought to directly contribute to any serious disease or health problem.
Rodu does not advocate starting any tobacco use if not currently using, and in fact would like to see its use eradicated in the next generation or two - he properly notes that the safest thing is to not use any tobacco at all, but nicotine is such a difficult addiction to shake. If other smoking-cessation programs don't work for you (which they often don't), then switching to smokeless tobacco is a viable and MUCH SAFER alternative. In fact, it is 98% SAFER THAN SMOKING. The life expectancy of a smokeless tobacco user is almost identical to that of a non-tobacco user, while smokers lose an average of 8-15 years of life, and those last years are often a horrible, miserable experience.
I have been off of cigs for almost 3 weeks now, using various U.S. Tobacco products, mostly the pouches in some yummy flavors. I have almost no desire to light up - in fact they stink to me now, and I can really smell a smoker when they get within range. The only time I want a smoke is when I wake up, or after a large meal, but that desire quickly goes away after I put in some smokeless tobacco. The only drawback so far is that it stains my teeth quite a bit, but I can breathe so much easier, and have so much more energy. The teeth-staining problem just requires more teeth maintenance, i.e. using mouthwash, a tooth pick, floss, etc. There is also a risk of gum or tooth loss, but my dentist has assured me that he would much rather see me using smokeless tobacco than smoking, and that I would just need to see him twice a year or so. As Radu points out, soon I will have a much lessened (almost non-existent in a few years) risk of heart attack, lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, shortness-of-breath, COPD and all the other horrible things and cancers associated with long-term smoking.
I have recently talked to two older gentlemen that have used smokeless for 50 and 42 years, respectively, and no problems were noted, except one guy said he had some receding gum problems, but has not lost any teeth.
Smokeless tobacco is also much cheaper than cigarettes, as Rodu points out that smokers pay more money for less (but far more dangerous) tobacco.
Cigarette smoking kills about 420,000 people each year. It is the largest identifiable and PREVENTABLE cause of premature death in the United States. 20% of all deaths annually are because of smoking. If all of the 46 million American smokers would take Dr. Rodu's unconventional yet quite possibly effective advice, more lives would be saved, if not lengthened. The deaths from tobacco use would be down to about 6,000 per year!!! About 1.7 million smokers have made the switch, according to his stats, although the copy I have was printed in 1995.
If you are a smoker and have failed many times at quitting (as I had), this book is for you. It even illustrates (in pictures) how to properly use smokeless tobacco for 'rookies', and even shows women using the stuff. More 'spitless' products are available, to be even more discreet. If you have switched, and are meeting resistance with the same old tired (and inaccurate) mantras unjustifiably aimed at smokeless tobacco from friends, family members or health-care professionals, then this book is also for you. If you are tired of being a pariah in today's increasingly anti-smoking society, this book is for you. (Just try and find public places to light up these days - you can enjoy smokeless tobacco nearly everywhere, discreetly - and he points out the myth about swallowing tobacco juice being harmful is false, except for maybe an upset stomach.....)
Best of luck to all you current smokers out there - there is hope! I plan on using this as a stepping-stone to quit my personal tobacco use altogether.... But for the time being, I am not going crazy while I can now call myself, for the first time in 21 years, a non-smoker......
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An explanation on the advantages of smokeless tobacco to cigarettes and as a better alternative to the nicotine patch.
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