How Many Chemicals Are In Cigarettes?

Tobacco smoke is a mixture of gases and small particles made up of water, tar and nicotine. The tar is a messy mixture of hundreds of toxic chemicals, many of which are known to cause cancer (for example, nitrosamines, benzpyrene).
Many of the gases in tobacco smoke are harmful. These include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, and other toxic irritants such as acrolein and formaldehyde. Due to the high temperatures (over 800°C or 1400°F), the burning end of a cigarette is like a miniature chemical factory. It churns out many more noxious chemicals than are found in unlit tobacco or taken in by use of smokeless tobacco (for example, snuff, which contains no tar or gases). Altogether more than 4,000 chemical compounds have been identified in tobacco smoke.
However, the other negative effects from smoking are reversed within 24 hours of stopping, when nicotine and carbon monoxide have cleared from the body. So it's never too late to give up!

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There are 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette.

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