Plastice cigarette holders/filters...

[justincyder]

They have virtually no benefit at all, it would be like wearing a padded coat while a car drove 60 miles an hour at you.

if you want to give up smoking maybe this will help. My partner who is a nurse, had a patient die on her today. The reason - heavy smoker for years late 60's in for cardiac problems. Started coughing heavily and quite suddenly the tubes that form his airway ruptured ( i dont remember their technical names)

This caused sudden and massive bleeding, she and her colleagues desperately tried to clear the blood with suction whilst he as she put it 'grasped at them and with a look of utter terror in his eyes gargled for help'

Regrettably there being little they could do to stem the bleeding due to the nature of the damage caused by years of heavy smoking with the added effect that the wracking cough smokers develop had thinned the lining of his tubes to such an extent that they simply gave up and split open when he coughed.

So he simply drowned/suffocated in his own blood. took about 90 seconds ish.

So burden the NHS some more and light up another fag if you want to run the risk of this happening anyway. Enjoy!

[max_tranmere]

justin, that sounds horrific and would certainly encourage people to give up. As you say though this guy was in his late-60's and had been a heavy smoker all his life (probably about 50-55 years). I on the other hand only smoke when I drink (about 10 fags, 3 times a week) and smoke ones that are less bad for you (Silk Cut blues) and am considering using the palstic filter thing to take out even more of the crap that would otherwise go in me. There has to be some benefit to using them as they have black blobs on the back of them after you have had a fag - and that WOULD have gone inside you without the plastic filter. I am very very aware that smoking at all is bad for you, but if I could get it down to what would be the equivilant of smoking 10 normal fags a week (I am smoking 30 low tar, low nictoine, low several other things, fags, and using the plastic filter) then I would imagine it would be the same as smoking an even lower quantity of normal B&H without the filter, then the effects would be minimal. 30 low-everything fags with the plastic thing, maybe the same as 10 normal fags, I would suggest would not put me in the same danger catagory as this old guy who probably did 40-60 a day for over half a century. I'm in my late-30's by the way.

[justincyder]

Aye the example I gave was for a heavy smoker, the fact is I suppose is that everyone is different. There are many old folk well into their 80's who puff quite merrily away on 2-40 a day and have done for years without suffering from the horrific effects generally associated.

Then you have folk like yourself who are light/moderate smokers who for whatever reason develop some nasty as a result. One doctor friend at my partners hospital suggests that everyone has a different 'trigger' in them as it were.

So you might smoke 10 a day but your bodies trigger threshold is set quite low and so you're unlucky to set off cancer cells or some other dysfunction earlier than some other 'lucky' bugger who has a higher trigger. Essentially its gambling so 'do you feel lucky punk' etc

I've asked about the holders and the general thought is yes maybe a bit less is going into your lungs but its no real difference given that the ordinary filter on a cigarrette is essentially useless despite being discoloured after being smoked. Its like wearing a leaky gas mask and breathing in chlorine gas, less might be going in but its still lethal so best none at all

[justincyder]

No i agree there aren't many in the context of a percentage of all heavy smokers but nonetheless there are still thousands of heavy smokers who don't appear to suffer from ill effects, to me thousands is still many although agrreably it might only be 2 or 3% of a total.

So yes many many more DO suffer from the crippling diseases associated with heavy smoking. But it is impossible to say for sure who will who won't be affected, as I said its like gambling, there will be some winners ( metaphorically speaking) but many many more losers.

So back to the plastic thing Mr Tranmere first asked about, to me mate its like ordering a diet coke with a pizza, a wee bit better perhaps but ultimately still fairly pointless