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Calling all Diabetic Forum Members (type 1 or 2):

DanfriedmanDanfriedman Master
edited December 2018 in General

As a Type 1 Diabetic since childhood, I would like to know if anyone has noticed any correlation between pipe tobacco usage and your blood sugar levels. I have not noticed any unusual changes in my levels with pipe use. I have noticed a definite decrease in blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) just after enjoying a pipe. 

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    motie2motie2 Master
    As far as smoking and diabetes go together, this is what I can tell you. As pipe smokers, we know the risks involved with smoking. However, the ...
    More results from pipesmagazine.com

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    Nicotine and Blood Sugar a Dangerous Combo - WebMD

    https://www.webmd.com › Diabetes › News
    Mar 28, 2011 - -- Nicotine appears to be the main culprit responsible for high blood sugar levels in smokers with diabetes, according to new research presented here at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. Those constantly high blood sugar levels, in turn, increase the risk of ...

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    Smoking as a Modifiable Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes in Middle ...

    care.diabetesjournals.org/content/24/9/1590

    by SG Wannamethee - ‎2001 - ‎Related articles

    OBJECTIVE—To examine the effects of cigarette smoking, giving up smoking, and primary or secondary pipe or cigar smoking on the risk of type 2 diabetes.
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    MangoandyMangoandy Master
    @Danfriedman
    I successfully reversed my Type2 diabetes through diet, exercise and lifestyle. The pipe played a large part of this accomplishment and continues to serve as a great help. How? Slowing down. Relaxing. Metered breathing. All of those have led to less stress and less depression. Most of my pipe smoking is spent with others who are willing to sit and slow together. I love to go lunting, so I'm walking more for exercise and general sauntering.
    I'm off my oral meds and hoping to eliminate my BP medication too. 
    The only thing I will mention about my health and the pipe is that for a while I thought my blood pressure was going crazy it turned out I was smoking too much nicotine in Dunhill's Royal Yacht in one sitting. :) 

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    MangoandyMangoandy Master
    @motie2 Thanks for those links. Although the American Diabetes Association study was a prospective study and it has some inherent bias/flaws, the size of the study was interesting enough to perk up my ears. I did enjoy this statement:

    Pipe/cigar smokers

    Primary pipe/cigar smokers (defined as men who have only ever smoked pipes/cigars) [sic] showed similar risk to never-smokers, but men who switched from smoking cigarettes to pipe/cigar showed increased risk similar to current cigarette smokers. The high risk of diabetes retained in secondary pipe/cigar smokers may reflect inhalation habits and tobacco consumption levels as well as the chronic effects of previous cigarette smoking.

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    AnantaAndroscogginAnantaAndroscoggin Master
    Type 2 here . . .

    I find myself stuffing a pipe to help keep me from nibbling on snacks during the day or evening. Some days, several pipes.

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    PappyJoePappyJoe Master
    Call me a cynic but I've always believed that the studies done about the dangers of smoking done in the past 30 years are done with the conclusion they want done first and then the research results is molded to fit the conclusion. I say in the last 30 years because the initial study done about the dangers of cigarette smoking done in the 60s specifically noted that cigar and pipe smokers were just fractionally more likely to get smoking related cancer than non-smokers.  Now the studies don't differentiate between the type of smoking nor the type of cancer. To put it bluntly, smoking was initially connected to lung cancer. Now they consider any smoker who dies from colon or cervical cancer to be a smoking related death.

    As a side note, I have noticed that my fasting blood sugar the morning after I have a pipe and an alcoholic drink to be lower than on the days following not having a pipe or drink.

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    ghostsofpompeiighostsofpompeii Master
    @AnantaAnddroscoggin I'm doing the same as you. Substituting my craving for sweets and bakery products with tobacco blends that mimic those flavors. I can't say my major weakness has been for sweets ... I'm more of a guy that craves salty treats like potato chips. But when I do get that craving for a cookie I'll reach for Boswell Christmas Cookie or Cupcake blend.  
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    CACooperCACooper Enthusiast
    34 year Type 1. Smoking a pipe for 42 years. Never noticed any effect on blood sugar. Only odd thing I experience is more tongue bite if my sugars are over 200. Weird. Kind of an alert system. I immediately test and correct if that happens, which I do several times a day anyway.
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    DanfriedmanDanfriedman Master
    Thank you @CACooper for your response. As a type 1 your observation is similar to my own. As close as I watch my Bg level throughout the day I have yet to see any change with pipe use. I have also noticed irritation of my toung and gums when my Bg's start to get high. Thank you again for your response.
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