I had a tabacco inforcment officer come into my store today and tell me that i need to put up a sighn over my humidor that says tobacco contains formaldehyde.
First off I will tell you that up here in Canada, all our cigarettes have warning sighns on them about the dangers of smoking. example
All stores that sell tobacco have to have large warning sighns up or eles we get fined. This years sighn says "tobacco smoke contains formaldehyde". well i thought that only cigarette smoke contained formaldehyde, as it was one of the crazy chemicals that was put in there. Am i wrong?

I am surprised that they don't make you tell people that the smoke contains Carbon Monoxide and that the hot ash could cause severe burns.

No wonder I feel a little stiff now & then..
just rigor setting in....

rigor isnt caused by formaldehyde, its caused by the myosin in your muscles not detatching from the actin (how muscles contract) so they stay stiff. ALso, lactic acid builds up.
Formaldehyde is a preservative thats a carcinogen.
not that anyone cares...

quote:

Originally posted by jadawin:
rigor isnt caused by formaldehyde, its caused by the myosin in your muscles not detatching from the actin (how muscles contract) so they stay stiff. ALso, lactic acid builds up.
Formaldehyde is a preservative thats a carcinogen.
not that anyone cares...

Actualy im quite interested in this subject. would the formaldehyde be a natural chemical in the tobbacco leaf or is it added? maybe as a preservitve?

quote:

Originally posted by jadawin:
rigor isnt caused by formaldehyde, its caused by the myosin in your muscles not detatching from the actin (how muscles contract) so they stay stiff. ALso, lactic acid builds up.
Formaldehyde is a preservative thats a carcinogen.
not that anyone cares...

Ok jadawin, you gotta let go of the books now and then. You're scaring the hell out of us!

quote:

Originally posted by Docbarry:
I am surprised that they don't make you tell people that the smoke contains Carbon Monoxide and that the hot ash could cause severe burns.

lol nice Doc. How about the flame you lighter produces can burn you?

quote:

Originally posted by dre:
Actualy im quite interested in this subject. would the formaldehyde be a natural chemical in the tobbacco leaf or is it added? maybe as a preservitve?

AFAIK, there is no formaldehyde used in the processing of premium cigar tobacco. Cigarette tobacco, absolutely. Two vastly different products and production methods.

There should also be a warning about being careful not to put the lit end in your mouth!

Isnt that what they put in Budweiser Beer?

quote:

Originally posted by AZsteelman:
There should also be a warning about being careful not to put the lit end in your mouth!

What have I been doing this wrong?

I posted several rants about the differences in cigarette smoke and cigar smoke. If someone finds them post them here, I'd appreciate it.

Basically cigarette tobacco is a higly modified, chemically treated nicotine delivery system and cigar tobacco is a natural product produced for maximum flavor and construction properties.

Formaldehyde is a cross-linking fixative that, in simple terms, connects proteins together permanently. Tissue treated with formaldehyde becomes hard and stiff, which is similar to rigor. Rigor is the result of depletion of ATP in which the muscles are contracted until they decay.

Formaldehyde is thought to increase the sensation or high from various substances including nicotine, THC, PCP, etc. Kids dip cigarettes in embalming fluid to get a poor man's high or they dip marijuana in it to alter the high from weed. It's called "wet" smoking.

When the liver metabolizes ethanol some formaldehyde is created.
This is thought to be in part responsible for yummy hangover breath and for liver cirossis (sic).


I think the formaldehyde in tobacco smoke is the result of incomplete combustion (smoldering) of the tobacco.

You are probably thinking acetaldehyde.

My above post is a bit misleading. While cigarette tobacco has lots of chemicals added, formaldehyde being the simplest of aldehydes (methanal) is present naturally in tobacco smoke so would be present in both cigar and tobacco smoke.

The other 60+ additives used in cigarettes however are a different story.

quote:

Originally posted by jadawin:
Formaldehyde is a preservative thats a carcinogen....

Now that's an oxymoron.......a preservative that eats away at you. Nice.

it was used alot in labs for preserving small animals and things of that sort, but they figured out that its not the safest stuff for us to be handling...

Its still used in a lot of labs. Formalin is what we used in the vet industry to preserve excised tissue for the journey to the pathologist. Its just a brand name for formaldehyde I believe. I used to spill that stuff on myself a lot. Its no big deal unless you get it in your mouth. Keeps your hands looking young too!

quote:

Originally posted by BinDerSmokDat:
My above post is a bit misleading. While cigarette tobacco has lots of chemicals added, formaldehyde being the simplest of aldehydes (methanal) is present naturally in tobacco smoke so would be present in both cigar and tobacco smoke.

The other 60+ additives used in cigarettes however are a different story.

Thats all i was wondering, just if there was formaldehyde naturaly in cigar smoke. Great, now i have to put up this stupid sighn.

Thanks for all the imput all.