The Tobacco Thread

[JamesR]

I've talked about this on the World Orthodoxy sites and I was wondering what the good folks over here have to say about it.

What are your thoughts on tobacco usage and how should the Church, if at all, handle it?

I know that many Saints such as St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. John Kronstandt, and St. Nectarios of Aegina even worked for a tobacco shop and is said to have chain-smoked like a madman. Tsar Nicholas II who's a canonized Passion-Bearer also smoked, and there's a picture of him allowing one of his daughters to smoke his pipe.

That being said, science has told us now that smoking anything is really unhealthy because of tar and TSNAs which come from the curing process of tobacco, and that's not even including the toxic chemicals that cigarette manufacturers add to their products, I don't think that this knowledge was available prior to the 20th century.

However, I am a strong supporter of Swedish Snus and I enjoy using it on occasion. Snus is a form of non-cured tobacco that is placed in a tea bag-like pouch called a "portion" and is placed behind the top lip. The Swedish government considers it a health product, and as such, it is extremely regulated. Swedish brands such as "General" (my favorite) are required to list the ingredients in their product, and instead of curing the tobacco (which produces TSNAs) they steam-pasteurize it which reduces the TSNAs down to almost nothing.

So far, despite several medicals studies, some funded by European governments, no health risks have been associated with Swedish Snus except for a slight risk of pancreatic cancer, which can be combated by spitting the juices of the tobacco.

Do you think God minds me enjoying nicotine? It relaxes me, and I enjoy using it when I'm falling asleep in the car listening to the Paraklesis to the Theotokos.

[jgress]

I think most here would say that smoking or using tobacco habitually is a sin, though how serious a sin is a good question. The occasional cigar for a special occasion is probably not sinful in itself, at least for laymen, but as we're talking about habitual use, I think you should ask yourself honestly why you are doing it. Is it for any reason that you could justify before God? It might help to consider the following:

• You say that snus does not have many bad health effects. Perhaps this is true, but even if it is relatively less harmful than smoking cigarettes, I don't think you'll find any doctor willing to recommend it, so you can't use an authority to argue that you're doing it for reason of health.
• You might then say that, even if it's not medically prescribed, you find it enjoyable or pleasurable and don't see the harm in it. But these kinds of medically unnecessary "needs" are precisely the kind of passions we have to struggle against. Indulging our every impulse is spiritually problematic in and of itself.
• Even snus costs money, money which may be better spent on something else or given away to a good cause or even just saved.

I know that if you've been to any Orthodox church, especially a Greek one, the crowds of smoking men (and women) outside the church after the service might suggest that Orthodoxy sees nothing wrong with the habit. Unfortunately, you can't use the sins of others to justify your own. Smoking became normative in many traditionally Orthodox cultures and often priests just have to accept certain behaviors in order not to drive people away from the Church completely. I guess you could say that smoking or tobacco use is not viewed as a particularly serious sin, at least compared to things like theft or fornication or murder, but the seriousness of a sin also depends on your own spiritual disposition, which no one here is properly equipped to evaluate. I would advise telling your priest that you use snus and hear what he has to say about it.

[Jean-Serge]

There are some saints that said that the smoke of tobacco was full of demon, which I would be ready to believe because it stinks! Another one, Parthenios of Chios, would throw stones to people who had smoked and came to visit him. I think that since it creates a dependency, it can be assimilated to a passion that prevents you from having normal activities. Have you seen how smokers cannot stay in class for more than n hours without receiving their inhalation of nicotine? Just imagine the smoker that needs to pray at church and feels the urge to have his dose!!

Anyway, the church never considered smoking positively. Normally, you will never smoke in a place where there is an icon or in front of the church. Smoke of cigarette is not incense. Even in traditional non religious society, moking was not accepted: no lady would have smoked in public before WWI and no child in front of his parents.

There is a book on the topic: "Smoking and the orthodox christian" http://ctosonline.org/contemp/SmOC.html

The body is the temple of the Spirit, so it is better not polluting it.