Covid-19 had us all fooled, but now we might have finally found its secret.

[Hitch]

I recently read an article that stated a statistically significant protective effect for smokers in China, (in addition to the above). A couple months ago I read an article stating exactly the opposite. I guess I would tend toward the more recent of the two. I'm gonna go out and grab a pack of Winston. Haven't had one in 37 years. Yum! Or maybe a pack of non-filter Pall Mall. Ah, fuck it, I'm gonna grab a giant stogey, maybe a Cuban. Yeah, I'll have a stroke but by God that virus won't get me.

You could have a giant stogey enjoying a Gin and Tonic as well? God works in mysterious ways. He might have mutated the virus so we can enjoy some of the little "bad" things in life, during this whole mess. Good tobacco, and a good drink, for health of course.

[Amanda]

I recently read an article that stated a statistically significant protective effect for smokers in China, (in addition to the above). A couple months ago I read an article stating exactly the opposite. I guess I would tend toward the more recent of the two. I'm gonna go out and grab a pack of Winston. Haven't had one in 37 years. Yum! Or maybe a pack of non-filter Pall Mall. Ah, fuck it, I'm gonna grab a giant stogey, maybe a Cuban. Yeah, I'll have a stroke but by God that virus won't get me.

fwiw-years ago, over at sott.net they had a bunch of articles on the protective effects of tobacco---apparently, back in the day of the real plagues (bubonic?), the guys who were going around in horse and carriages to pick up the dead bodies were always smoking tobacco, which helped protect them from getting sick/catching the plague, even though they were directly handling the bodies. The lady over there who runs that site is really into the health benefits tobacco (I guess before it got contaminated with pesticides), and I've seen a bunch of stories like that. She also has old drawings/artist renderings from that time, where you see the guys picking up the bodies while they were smoking.

[BrewTech]

Bill Sardi knows what's up... has for a long time.

(Trump just went on record tonight mentioning hydroxychloroquine + ZINC to be an effective treatment. I officially became a Trumptard)

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/04/...ine-laid-bare/
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/...nc-deficiency/

[Neuro]

Neuro, any links to smokers and covid studies? I keep meaning to quit, at least I've scaled smoking back a bit. I'm sitting on months of organic tobacco leaf that I shred and roll my own. Reading this makes me rethink quitting until this whole pandemic is over.

From the CDC. Statistics of risk factors. Between 12th and 28th of March some 12,000 Americans seeked medical help for breathing issues with COVID 19. 91 (1.3%) were current smokers. Out of the more than 1000 people that required ICU treatment 5 patients(<1%) were current smokers. Also having formerly been a smoker seems to have protective effects, but less so...

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/...mm6913e2-H.pdf

The absurdity if you read the article is that CDC still warns against smoking as it could cause more severe disease, while smokers are heavily underrepresented in the statustics, as around 15% of US population are smokers. The statistics from China are similar.

Now why haven’t we heard any of this from media? It is really difficult to find any of this information on a google search (instead pages and pages warning us against the risk of smoking because of ‘pneumonia’ risk. I am a smoker myself, and I accept that I am at a greater lifetime risk of having respiratory issues vs non-smokers with or without COVID19. But when you see all these Drs, Health Orgs, Media warning of smoking in light of current epidemic, you know that to them ideology trumps facts. How they feel about something is more important than what is true.

As I have said before. I think i have had this virus, and the symptoms fits with hypoxia. Especially in the first week or so whenever I smoked i felt dizzy and unwell for an hour, so I smoked perhaps half a cigarette twice in a day after having discovered the connection after a few days (so I dont think it is a good idea to start smoking if you have COVID19, its a good idea to stop or much restrict smoking while you have the disease).

[Neuro]

I recently read an article that stated a statistically significant protective effect for smokers in China, (in addition to the above). A couple months ago I read an article stating exactly the opposite. I guess I would tend toward the more recent of the two. I'm gonna go out and grab a pack of Winston. Haven't had one in 37 years. Yum! Or maybe a pack of non-filter Pall Mall. Ah, fuck it, I'm gonna grab a giant stogey, maybe a Cuban. Yeah, I'll have a stroke but by God that virus won't get me.

I hope you can get the protective effect of being a bona fide smoker prior to getting the virus. I dont recommend it as a treatment for Coronavirus...

[woodman]

I hope you can get the protective effect of being a bona fide smoker prior to getting the virus. I dont recommend it as a treatment for Coronavirus...

Was pretty much joking around about starting again. I got nostalgic for cigars (won't ever start cigarettes again) about 4 years ago. Bought a couple of nice cigars and tried to enjoy one. I have lung issues from years of working in the dusty trades and also arryhthmia. Well the smoke from the cigar made me feel like shit so it was a no go. I did enjoy smoking very much but quit when I found out I had been exposed to asbestos. I was 24 then, so almost 40 years since I've had a cigarette.

Said this before but it is worth repeating; according to an old chemistry book from my college days, the phosphate fertilizers they use on the tobacco fields contain trace amount of uranium 238 which breaks down into radioactive polonium and lead in the cigarette smoke. They surmised this to be a credible reason for some of the detrimental effects of smoking. Could very well be, but all the particulates and gasses can't be good either.

I wonder if something in the tobacco is responsible for hampering the tendency of some viruses to form biofilms. Maybe an enzyme present in the tobacco smoke? I have read that enzymes, especially digestive enzymes can profoundly effect bio-films in the sinuses so why not the lungs. Perhaps a biofilm is responsible for respiratory distress and this without any attendant pnuemonia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21458997

So, a blockage of alveoli without buildup of fluid could wreak havoc on a persons ability to assimilate oxygen.

[woodman]

Was pretty much joking around about starting again. I got nostalgic for cigars (won't ever start cigarettes again) about 4 years ago. Bought a couple of nice cigars and tried to enjoy one. I have lung issues from years of working in the dusty trades and also arryhthmia. Well the smoke from the cigar made me feel like shit so it was a no go. I did enjoy smoking very much but quit when I found out I had been exposed to asbestos. I was 24 then, so almost 40 years since I've had a cigarette.

Said this before but it is worth repeating; according to an old chemistry book from my college days, the phosphate fertilizers they use on the tobacco fields contain trace amount of uranium 238 which breaks down into radioactive polonium and lead in the cigarette smoke. They surmised this to be a credible reason for some of the detrimental effects of smoking. Could very well be, but all the particulates and gasses can't be good either.

I wonder if something in the tobacco is responsible for hampering the tendency of some viruses to form biofilms. Maybe an enzyme present in the tobacco smoke? I have read that enzymes, especially digestive enzymes can profoundly effect bio-films in the sinuses so why not the lungs. Perhaps a biofilm is responsible for respiratory distress and this without any attendant pnuemonia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21458997

So, a blockage of alveoli without buildup of fluid could wreak havoc on a persons ability to assimilate oxygen.

Thinking more about this. Not sure how much enzyme can be left from heat in smoking but surely some of the inhalant is due to a vaping effect just prior to ignition, so, much enzyme rich moisture is brought into the lungs I would think. Dunno. I would think a whole research paper could be done on this subject. Bio-films are fascinating and the ability of extremely primitive organisms to organize into something that almost has an intellect of it's own is also fascinating. Just as when code is being written, and strange, unexpected protocols emerge, so too it must be with organisms that form survival groups. It is interesting to note that usually you must be exposed to a certain 'load', that is more than just one viral particle or bacterium in order to become infected. Am I wrong here? This would point to a certain tendency of these primitive things to rely on a 'group' strategy for survival in what would be an otherwise overwhelming soup of antagonistic principals for a lone particle.

Shit, I am up early, can't sleep and rambling.

[Jewboo]

I am a smoker myself, and.. I think i have had this virus, and the symptoms fits with hypoxia. Especially in the first week or so whenever I smoked i felt dizzy and unwell for an hour, so I smoked perhaps half a cigarette twice in a day after having discovered the connection after a few days (so I dont think it is a good idea to start smoking if you have COVID19, its a good idea to stop or much restrict smoking while you have the disease).

I quit smoking three years ago. The reason you smokers get less COVID-19 is because you clear your lungs every morning via the SMOKER'S MORNING COUGH. I seldom cough now.

[ziero0]

I should have picked up some bundles of sage several months ago at the Tuscon rock show. They are burned as an incense to cleanse a house.

[Tumbleweed]

They are burned as an incense to cleanse a house.

I think burning sage is used to drive away evil spirits.