Smoking

We have to admit being more than a little surprised that in this increasingly health-conscious world, Porsche Design has released a new luxury Shisha waterpipe. Also known as a hookah or narghile, Shisha is becoming increasingly trendy in Western countries by "social" tobacco smokers and is already deeply embedded in African and Middle Eastern cultures. Porsche is one of the strongest, well respected brand names in the world, synonymous not only with uncompromising engineering and innovation, but with the deepest concern and respect for the safety of its customers. Why then would such a company create a product which is known to be so injurious to its users? Are Porsche's brand custodians asleep? Read More

New research published in two studies suggests that smoking may also affect another vital organ: the brain. In one study, smoking was found to thin the brain cortex in an area suggested to be linked to addiction, meaning long-term smokers could become more prone to addiction the longer they continue to smoke. In the second, successful quitters were found to enjoy the most happiness during periods of abstinence, while a subsequent return to smoking was found to depress mood, suggesting that perceived psychological dependence on smoking as a mood enhancer is in fact quite the reverse. Read More

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, have some bad news for smokers looking to put a halt to the filthy habit by using electronic quitting aids. After examining various aspects of a handful of commercially-available electronic nicotine delivery systems, the team concluded that so-called e-cigarettes are unsafe and pose a health risk. They are now calling for such devices to be withdrawn from sale pending a rigid safety evaluation. Read More

Early detection of lung cancer is vital for increasing a patient’s survival rate and to prescribe the best form of treatment. Now New York researchers have developed an early detection method involving a simple cheek swab. Called partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, this new technique involves shining diffuse light on cells from the swab. The test is able to distinguish individuals with or without lung cancer, even if the patient has been a lifelong smoker or suffers from other smoking related illnesses. Read More

Let’s start by saying Gizmag doesn’t condone any form of smoking – they’re all bad for you. But we recognize that millions of people do, and it’s not just the extra cost on the community for smoking-related illnesses that irks most non-smokers, it’s also the trillions of cigarette butts that end up littering our sidewalks, roadways, parks, etc., many of which end up in our waterways. Greenbutts wants to tackle the problem with a 100 percent biodegradable cigarette filter... with extra benefits. The manufacturers say when a green butt is placed under a thin layer of soil it sprouts into green grass shoots or even blooming flowers. Read More

Smokers don’t get excited - science hasn’t found a way to genetically engineer tobacco for smoking to be good for you. What science has done however is to genetically engineer tobacco plants to produce medicines that could assist in the treatment of several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. Read More

Wrinkly skin, breathlessness and a chesty cough are regularly associated with heavy smoking. They can belie a person's age by making someone seem older than they actually are, but until now, scientists have known little about the biological mechanisms that appear to accelerate the aging process. Read More

January 26, 2009 About one third of the male adult global population smokes, two thirds in Asia where tobacco advertising is largely still legal. Among teens aged 13 to 15, about one in five smokes worldwide. Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death. Smoking related-diseases currently kill one in 10 adults globally, and on current trends, one in six of ALL people two decades from now. New UK research has found that smokers are twice as likely to kick the habit if they use a support group rather than trying to give up alone. Read More

Storing and maturing cigars successfully relies heavily on the regulation of air temperature and humidity, and the new ZKes 453 humidor from Liebherr achieves this using a stainless steel housing lined with Spanish cedar wood that incorporates sensitive electronic control system in conjunction with temperature and humidity sensors, all operated via an electronic SoftTouch panel. Read More