• Question: how does tar get on your windpipe when you smoke?

    Asked by sebisepic to Jen, Jill, Mel, Phil, Stef on 18 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Phil Rice

      Phil Rice answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      Hi, tar is present in cigarette smoke – it’s just that you can’t see it. I am so glad I no longer smoke.

    • Photo: Jennifer Paxton

      Jennifer Paxton answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      When you breathe in the cigarette smoke you also breathe in the tar thanks in the smoke. Gradually it will build up on your windpipe – yuck!! That’s why passive smoking is also bad- you don’t need to be the one actually smoking the cigarette to inhale some of the smoke. Scary stuff!

    • Photo: Stefan Piatek

      Stefan Piatek answered on 22 Mar 2013:

      I guess the only thing that I can add is that when you burn a cigarette the tar is heated up so much that it can be taken up in the smoke that you breathe in, but then it coats your windpipe and lungs and sticks there!

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