What happens if you smoke paper?


Quick Answer

While smoking paper is not as hazardous as smoking tobacco, any type of smoke inhalation is still unhealthy. Smoking paper with ink or other chemicals on it is more hazardous than smoking untreated paper.

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Full Answer

Regular paper lacks the addictive and cancer-causing properties of conventional tobacco, making it a healthier alternative, but it?s still not an advisable practice. It?s difficult to predict the exact results of smoking paper without knowledge of where the paper comes from, its manufacture and the chemicals used in the process. Smoking paper produces a combination of particles and gases that varies depending on all these factors. Paper heavily treated with ink or other chemicals can produce a more hazardous combination when smoked.

Even if a piece of paper is completely free of ink and other chemicals, smoking it still results in smoke inhalation, which can cause damage to lungs over time. While not as extreme as the smoke inhalation caused by a real fire, the inhalation that results from smoking paper can still cause irritation and asphyxiation. Smoking a small amount of paper is unlikely to cause any immediate health problems, but excessive amounts of paper smoked over a prolonged period of time can cause damage to the smoker?s lungs. The safest option is not to smoke at all.

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