Are we being lied to about smokeless tobacco?

Okay I've got to start off with a crazy story. I was at a wedding a few months ago in a very rural part of the diocese and had to fill up my car. As I was pumping a redneck came ambling over to me and said, and I am not making this up, "Fatha, I've got an extra tin of tabaccy and God told me to give it to you."
Well what was I supposed to say. I thanked him. As I had a long drive back I thought I would give it a try. I haven't used chew since high school. Anyway, it was a mess but fairly enjoyable. I threw away the can when I got home.

I was filling up the other day and was inspired to look behind the counter and saw pouches of chewing tobacco. I got some and enjoyed it again this time without the mess. I found that when I put it in I can get a little more work done, especially in the evenings. Anyway, I decided to look into the science behind it and there is some conflicting information out there.

First of all it seems very clear to me that despite the warning label, it is a very safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. Of course eating crap is a safe alternative to smoking, but seriously it is way safer. Apparently the oral cancer rates are based on an outdated study and that recent evidence suggests that there is not a higher rate of mouth cancer due to dip. I don't know what do you guys think?

Not according to the MCF. 90% of mouth cancer
is chew related.

http://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/patients-guide/chewing-tobacco

Not sure but wouldn't want egg on my face finding out they were right and having half a face. Snus might be another story, I am not sure. Using the nicotine lozenges gave me immediate discomfort in my gums so I stopped using them.

There is no doubt that smoking tobacco is the number one cause of oral cancer, followed up by alcohol. So while it may be true 90% of mouth cancer is caused by tobacco products I still wonder the percentage that is caused by smoking versus smokeless.

Here is another link: tobacco harm reduction

The ACS says:

Smokeless tobacco products are less lethal than cigarettes: On average, they kill fewer people than cigarettes. But smokeless tobacco hurts and kills people all the same. Even though they are marketed as a less harmful alternative to smoking, smokeless products can be deadly. And they have not been proven to help smokers quit.

Chew is marketed by big tobacco as harmless,
but it's a killer.

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/smokeless-tobacco

Marijuana and now chew tobacco?

FrGamble you need to take a vacay to crack island and get this substance abuse out of your system all in one shebang.

Then come back after a week, and you'll have all that behind you.

(I don't know where crack island is, just a place I imagine where you can fry your brain for a week, then come back without the monkey on your back)

I don't want to deny anyone experimenting life's little pleasures though, just sayin'.

Have you tried expensive scotch? Good cigars? Maybe Face knows some peyote using natives you can spend a weekend with.

When I was in high school that stuff was big and at the same time they were just starting the push that it was bad for you. It might not be the tobacco that is bad but the additives they put in it for flavor or something.

FWIW I never tried it because I found it a disgusting habit. Back then you could tell who used it by the ring on the back pants pocket. Teachers seemed to selectively enforce the rule against it. One guy cut a piece of wood in the shape of a can and put it in his pocket, leaning hard while sharpening a pencil, daring the teacher to bust him. The teacher didn't bite.

Anyhow, I would be careful, at the least you are asking for rotted teeth from crap they add to it. Just say no.

Its a combination of uncertainty of the event and real long time before any adverse situations will be encountered. You should be smarter than this, you really should. Now maybe in a very rural area you do not want to alienate people by appearing to be bright, but that too seems strange.

I have quit smoking cigarettes over 30 years ago, but have used all kinds of tobacco in my day and can still get a Jones for snuff [the kind you chew]

When I was a teenager, someone would offer me a "chew" and taking it would cause me to feel nauseous. I never actually upchucked, but was irritated because everybody said "oh, you swallowed it" ... and I thought I had accidentally swallowed some of the spit somehow. Much later in life I realized that it was the rather large dose of nicotine a wad of tobacco in the mouth can deliver that was causing the reaction. It is really quite substantial. Realizing this finally [and having built up some nicotine tolerance by smoking] I experimented more and decided I liked snuff the best. It actually helped me quit smoking cigarettes. The mess of the spitting, though, finally got me to quit.

Lately there is some evidence that nicotine helps you concentrate; This has to be something that a gambler investigates, a gambler like me anyway, that has concentration problems occasionally

Currently I am trying to test my capacity for the type of snuff that comes in pouches and you don't have to spit

The spitting with chewing/dip tobacco is nasty. The two guys I know who do it have nasty coughs from the juice. It's as daft looking as the vaporizers.