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Question

What does smoking cloves do to your body? My friend is getting ready to smoke a clove cigarette and I told him that it makes your lungs bleed, is that true?

Answer

Clove cigarettes are about as "herbal" and "natural" as smoking a filterless Lucky Strike. The types of tobacco used in clove cigarettes (yes, 2/3 of the cigarette is tobacco!) typically have twice the tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide as regular cigarettes. What's worse, the cloves contain a drug eugenol, that acts as a local anesthetic. So you don't feel all these nasty toxins irritating your throat and lungs. Cute, huh? But there's more bad news. The health effects of eugenol are unknown.

I was not able to find data on cloves affecting the blood/tissue barrier in the lungs. But I think the real data is bad enough. Stay cool. Steer away from nicotine.

02/19/98

Reid K. Hester, Ph.D.
Director, Research Division
Behavior Therapy Associates
3810 Osuna Rd NE Suite 1
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505.345.6100 ph
505.342.2454 fax
Behavioral Self-control Program for Windows