With a cigar smoldering and the smoke wafting throughout, O’Toole’s Irish Pub doesn’t hide the fact it serves smokers. “I’m okay with that. I’m not proud of it. I’m just okay with it. It’s an economic reality,” said Bill Comerford, President of E&J Lounge Operating Co. which runs O’Toole’s, Kelley O’Neil’s and the Irish Rose Saloon. Three years ago the state passed ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

A group of Florida smokers asked a federal appeals court Tuesday not to force each of them to prove that smoking causes illness in the thousands of individual lawsuits moving through federal court. Such a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals would mean that the more than 4,000 plaintiffs wouldn’t need extensive — and costly — expert testimony to prove to each jury that their nicotine addiction caused lung cancer and other ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Babies of women who smoked during pregnancy have blood pressure problems at birth that persisted through the first year of life, a new study finds. “What is of concern is that the problems are present at birth and get worse over time,” said Gary Cohen, a senior research scientist in the department of women and child health at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and lead author of a report in the Jan. 25 online edition of Hypertension. “T ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

What kind of smoker are you? People have all kinds of reasons to smoke: enjoyment, stress relief, weight control, peer pressure. Smokers may have different reasons for lighting up, but they all have one thing in common: They should quit. Knowing why you smoke may be the first step in that direction. Check out these profiles of the seven most common types of smokers. Which one are you? Skinny smoker The profile: You’re worried about your weight. ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If asthma, lung cancer, and emphysema aren’t enough to scare you off, it turns out smokers are two to four times more likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD) than nonsmokers. Cardiovascular disease—including CAD, heart failure, and heart attack—is the leading killer in the U.S., claiming more than 860,000 lives in 2005. Smoking ups your risk for heart disease by decreasing the flow of oxygen to the heart and raises your risk for ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

There’s a species of smoker among us that is common yet poorly understood. Their habitat consists of parties, barbecues, and the sidewalks outside bars and restaurants. They prefer to scrounge for their cigarettes, and if they do buy a pack, they’re apt to nurse it for a week or more. You may hear them say, “I’m not a smoker,” or “Only on weekends.” These are “social smokers”—and there are more of them ... Jump to full article >>

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!