While drinking can be a threat to your health, smoking is certainly worse. Unlike alcohol at low or moderate levels, there is no benefit to tobacco use at any level. When you smoke, you inhale various chemicals that can injure cells, causing both cancer and artery damage (e.g. heart attacks and strokes).
“Take lung cancer for example. For lung cancer, drinking a bottle of wine would not have the same effect as smoking 10 cigarettes, because smoking has a much bigger impact on lung cancer risk than drinking alcohol does.”
</p><p>Regular smoking and drinking increases your risk of cancers of the lung and liver. The damage to your body starts from smoking just one cigarette. Some people believe alcohol is good for the heart but it is not entirely true.
Moreover, several researchers have indicated that a substantial shared genetic risk exists between smoking and alcoholism—that is, genetic factors that increase the risk for smoking also increase the risk for alcoholism and vice versa (e.g., Koopmans et al.
1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.
The long-term effects of vaping are unknown but vaping has been estimated to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking. Colin Mendelsohn was a Sydney GP for 27 years with a special interest in smoking cessation and now works exclusively in tobacco treatment, helping smokers to quit.
A smoker typically puffs on a cigarette around 10-15 times before putting it out, so let's be conservative and estimate that puffing on a vape 15 times is approximately equal to smoking one cigarette. If that's the case, then a disposable vape that delivers 600 puffs is equal to about two packs of cigarettes.
Some researchers have proposed that people use tobacco when they drink to counteract alcohol's depressant effects with nicotine's stimulant effects (Lyon et al. 1975). In addition, alcohol may release inhibitions that restrain smoking (Shiffman 1982; Shiffman et al. 1994).
People who drink and smoke are at higher risk for certain types of cancer, particularly those of the mouth and throat (12–14). Alcohol and tobacco cause approximately 80 percent of cases of cancer of the mouth and throat in men and about 65 percent in women (11,16–18).
Smoking and drinking by the numbers
70 percent of American smokers, more than 26 million people, also drink. Up to 95 percent of alcoholics are smokers. 70 percent of alcoholics are heavy smokers (more than one pack of cigarettes per day).
Would you stick to the advice? A study was published indicating that never smoking, maintaining a healthy body mass index, keeping up moderate to vigorous exercise, not drinking too much alcohol and eating a healthy diet will all help you live 10 years longer.
After one year your lungs will be healthier and breathing will be easier than if you'd kept smoking. Within two to five years your risk of heart disease will have dropped significantly (and will continue to do so over time).
Alcoholics generally drink excessively, often much more than four drinks per day and in a manner they can't control. Excessive drinking is a serious health problem for millions of people in the United States. Alcohol addiction, or alcohol use disorder (AUD), is one facet of problem drinking.
Generally, people drink to either increase positive emotions or decrease negative ones. This results in all drinking motives falling into one of four categories: enhancement (because it's exciting), coping (to forget about my worries), social (to celebrate), and conformity (to fit in).
The 'cigarette equivalent' of a bottle of wine is five cigarettes for men and ten for women.
The Qur'ān, does not specifically prohibit or denounce smoking, but gives behavioral guidance: “Don't throw yourself into danger by your own hands...” (Al Baqarah 2:195) “You may eat, drink, but not waste” (Al-A'râf 7:31) "Do not kill yourselves for God Almighty is most merciful to you" (An-Nisa 4:29)
Summary: Along with many other harmful health consequences, smoking tobacco causes chemical changes, oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain. Excessive alcohol use can have similar effects.
Lung and Other Cancers
For daily smokers (> 20 cig/day), the risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher in men and about 13 times higher in women than nonsmokers (1). The risks for light smokers, while lower, are still substantial.
It has been found that tobacco enhances the subjective effects of alcohol. This means that tobacco can enhance the high brought on by drinking. Nicotine has been found to boost an individual's interest in alcohol when they are already tipsy. This creates a vicious circle of craving for both cigarettes and alcohol.
As nicotine stimulates parts of your brain over and over, your brain gets used to having nicotine around. Over time, nicotine changes how your brain works and makes it seem like you need nicotine just to feel okay. When you stop smoking, your brain gets irritable. As a result, you might get anxious or upset.
But one vape can contain the equivalent of 50 cigarettes of nicotine in the one product. They also contain a complex combination of chemicals including nicotine, nickel, tin, arsenic, chlorine and lead.
A 1oz/30ml bottle of e-liquid contains about 600 drops (30 * 20 drops/ml) which would theoretically give you about 6000 puffs. Approximately 10 puffs is equivalent to 1 cigarette. Therefore, there are roughly 600 cigarettes per 30ml e-liquid container.
For reference, 5% of nicotine vape juice contains 50 milligrams, which in a rough estimate is equivalent to an entire pack of cigarettes. Five cigarettes are equivalent to 20 milligrams of nicotine.