Many smokers have chosen "light," "mild," or "low-tar" cigarettes because they think these cigarettes may be less harmful to their health and healthier than "regular" cigarettes. Cigarette brands that yield approximately 1-6 mg of tar are called "ultra-light." Those that yield 6-15 mg of tar are called "light," and those that yield more than 15 mg of tar are called regular or full-flavor. Although the smoke from light cigarettes does feel smoother and lighter on the throat and chest than regular cigarettes, they are not healthier than regular cigarettes because the numbers are misleading.

Characteristics of Light Cigarette Smokers

As age, educational level, and income level increase in individuals, their use of light or ultra-light cigarettes also increases dramatically. Use of light cigarettes is also higher among women than men. This is likely because many smokers consider light cigarettes to be safer than smoking regular cigarettes.

Why Light Cigarettes Aren’t Any Safer

Light and ultra light cigarette packs, and advertisements for these products, boast lower tar and nicotine numbers than regular cigarettes, like those mentioned above. This is because light cigarettes are tested on smoking machines that don't mimic how people truly smoke cigarettes. In essence, light cigarettes trick smoking machines.

Tobacco companies design light cigarettes with tiny pinholes in the filters. These holes or "filter vents" dilute cigarette smoke with air when the smoking machine "puffs" on the filter, causing an artificially low measure of tar and nicotine levels.

Many smokers don't even know that these tiny vents exist in light cigarettes. Unlike the smoking machine, when people smoke, they tend to cover the holes with their lips or fingers, and effectively block the vents. This inadvertently turns a light cigarette into a regular cigarette, yielding much higher tar and nicotine levels than the smoker expects.

Because people, unlike machines, crave nicotine, they may inhale more deeply on a cigarette; take larger, quicker, or more puffs on a cigarette; or smoke a few extra cigarettes each day to get enough nicotine to satisfy the craving. This is called "compensating," and it means that smokers end up inhaling more tar, nicotine, and other harmful chemicals than the machine-based numbers suggest.

Health Effects of Light Cigarette Smoking

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has concluded that light cigarettes provide no benefit to smokers' health.

According to an NCI report, people who switch to light cigarettes from regular cigarettes are likely to inhale the same amount of hazardous chemicals and they remain at high risk for developing the same smoking-related cancers and other diseases.

Although research indicates that the tobacco industry employs strategies to advertise and promote light cigarettes as safer alternatives to regular cigarettes and a means to quitting, there is no evidence that switching to light or ultra-light cigarettes is any safer or actually assists smokers in quitting.

The bottom line for smokers who want to protect their health is that there is no such thing as a safe cigarette. The only proven way to reduce the risk of smoking-related diseases is to quit smoking completely.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Smoking and Tobacco Use. "Fact Sheet: Low-Yield Cigarettes and Cigarette-like Products," November 2005. National Cancer Institute. "Fact Sheet. The Truth about "Light" Cigarettes: Questions and Answers." August 17, 2004.