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Heads in the clouds
Thursday, April 16, 1998 By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer:
Tom Frank puffed on his cigar as he contemplated the question.
What would he do if the federal government decided to require cigar makers to place surgeon general warning labels on cigars similar to the ones now printed on cigarette packs?
"Nothing," he said with a smile as a Market Square breeze whisked away the smoke of his lunchtime cigar.
"It wouldn't dissuade me one way or the other," said the 52-year-old consultant from Peters. His comment was echoed by others during a casual survey of cigar smokers and sellers in the Downtown area.
A report released Friday by the National Cancer Institute said cigars could be as hazardous to health as cigarettes and increase the risk of cancer of the tongue, mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus and lungs.
Among other things, the 232-page report, prepared by 50 scientists, urged the Federal Trade Commission to consider mandating warning notices on cigars.
The Cigar Association of America, the industry's trade organization, said in a statement that cigar smokers "are mature, well-informed adults who freely choose to enjoy a product that has brought pleasure to millions of people over the past 500 years and, to the extent that this report adds to their body of knowledge, we welcome it."
David Emerick, 37, of Shaler, who operates the Market Street Cigar Shoppe, said some cigar makers already had posted warnings on their products.
He welcomed a visitor into a thermidor, a temperature and humidity-controlled room at the back of the shop where boxes of sweet-smelling cigars are stored on shelves that begin at shin-level and climb above head-level.
The warning on a box of Macanudo cigars was identical to that printed on the bottom of the inside lids on several other boxes of cigars:
"This product contains/produces chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."
Emerick, who has been smoking two cigars a day -- one in the morning, another in the evening -- for 13 years, doesn't believe the warnings have dissuaded any of his customers, including physicians who specialize in heart and lung problems, from buying cigars.
"They enjoy them," Emerick said.
Frank agreed.
"Smoking a cigar is a good way to relax," said Frank, who smokes about two mild Dominican cigars a day. "Of course, if you inhale, you're nuts. I realize I'd probably be better off chewing gum, but I enjoy cigars."
Frank started smoking cigarettes in high school but switched to cigars about three years ago.
"Cigarettes aren't worth dying over," he said. "I'm not 25 anymore and I'm not bulletproof.
"I've found cigars to be a pretty good substitute for cigarettes."
George Lavrusky, 44, of Gibsonia, said he was "indifferent" to the warning labels now being considered by the Federal Trade Commission.
"It wouldn't affect me at all," said Lavrusky, an account manager who has been smoking cigars for about a year.
"I'm a casual smoker, about one or two a week," said Lavrusky, who prefers Lars Tetens, a blended cigar that costs $15 each.
"You either love them or hate them," he said, as he pulled one out of the plastic bag in Emerick's shop and passed it under a visitor's nose.
It had an off-putting medicinal smell.
"See what I mean?" he asked.
Kim Lambert, 31, of Brentwood, an accountant whose office is above Emerick's shop, described herself as an occasional cigar smoker.
Lambert, a cigarette smoker, said cigars had a better taste.
"I might smoke more of them if a $1.10 a pack tax on cigarettes is passed."
A federal report said a $1.10 per pack tax on cigarettes would cut the rate of teen-age smoking by almost half in five years.
Dr. Marc Schneiderman, 44, of Moon, a family doctor who smokes about one or two Honduran cigars a day, said moderation was the key.
"There is no question that cigars are associated with cancer, especially mouth and throat cancers," he said. "If (the cigar smoker) also consumes significant amounts of alcohol, the number of mouth and throat cancers go up.
"And if a cigar smoker inhales, the risk of lung cancer goes to two to three times that of the general population."
He said potential cigar smokers should consider their health and their family medical history before lighting up.
They should pay special attention, too, to any history of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, he said.
The cancer institute report, which he described as a rehash of earlier studies of cigar smoking, surprised him with its finding that there was more nicotine in cigars than in cigarettes, he said.
"But that doesn't mean anything," he said, "if you don't inhale (cigars)."
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