That's an interesting question because it's the first time I hear about radium in artificial fertilizers. Will need to dig into these Wikipedia sources.
That tobacco contains lead and polonium had been known for decades, but I used to think that it originated from the decay of natural atmospheric radon and these plants just had some unusual tendency to accumulate heavy metals.
Maybe I should put my tinfoil hat on and run away from non-organic food too?
edit:
From the first source:
Tobacco farmers in developed countries primarily use manufactured fertilizer high in phosphates produced from apatite rock that contains radium-226 and descendant radioisotopes such as lead-210 and PO-210. Tobacco is a unique agricultural crop in that its flavor depends on nitrogen reduction, which occurs through the repeated application of high-phosphate fertilizers. The higher the phosphate level of the fertilizer, the higher the concentration of PO-210 in the tobacco plant. Tobacco grown in certain developing countries has approximately one third less radioactivity than tobacco grown in developed countries, and the radioactivity of tobacco grown in the United States has increased over time.
The safest way possible to smoke tobacco is to grow it yourself.
The small yields will limit you to smoking only a few time a month.
You will want to taste that homegrown tobacco so you will most likely invest in a good old wooden pipe. This will make it so that you don't inhale the smoke into your lungs.
You will however still be at risk of mouth and throat cancer.
So the "you don't inhale it" part of that has absolutely nothing to do with the properties of the pipe/cigar. You can easily inhale on both and you can also choose not to inhale with a cigarette.
You can with a cigarette but it won't be any fun. Pipe enthusiasts will pay premium to smoke different blends of tobacco. It's all about the taste, the quality of the smoke and the ability to sit in a rocking chair and relax.
The best comparaison would be downing a shot of jager bomb vs. a nice glass of single malt whiskey that you will sip for an hour.
No need. Nicotine is absorbed by the soft tissues of the mouth. Inhaling prevents you from "correctly" smoking a pipe.
Take a look at this (formatting mine):
"The Breath Smoking Technique
It requires a relaxed setting, preferably sedentary and a very slow and calm breathing pattern.
The pipe bit is held to the lips continuously and all breathing is through the nose.
Every 2nd or 3rd slow breath through the nose, a tiny puff is taken through the stem, held in the mouth and slowly, very slowly, discharged back through the stem, raising but the faintest wisp of smoke from the top of the tobacco bowl, and then re-drawn back through the stem.
One does NOT inhale the smoke, but if one gets very good at it, one does not even have to puff: the slight vacuum created in the mouth by nose breathing will draw the finest of puffs through the stem.
The blowing back through the stem is alternated with regular, but very slight puffs so that the whole process of smoking seems as natural, regular and effortless as breathing.
I'm sure many smokers have discovered this technique, or variations of it, on their own.
The advantages are that mastering it will produce the coolest and most flavorful smoke possible, and the slow regular breathing will invoke the calmness and clarity of mind to perceive the results at their fullest."
There's a risk from radioactive elements in the tobacco, from the air which in turn is from the fertilizer used. Maybe growing it yourself doesn't change this risk?
That tobacco contains lead and polonium had been known for decades, but I used to think that it originated from the decay of natural atmospheric radon and these plants just had some unusual tendency to accumulate heavy metals.
Maybe I should put my tinfoil hat on and run away from non-organic food too?
edit:
From the first source:
Tobacco farmers in developed countries primarily use manufactured fertilizer high in phosphates produced from apatite rock that contains radium-226 and descendant radioisotopes such as lead-210 and PO-210. Tobacco is a unique agricultural crop in that its flavor depends on nitrogen reduction, which occurs through the repeated application of high-phosphate fertilizers. The higher the phosphate level of the fertilizer, the higher the concentration of PO-210 in the tobacco plant. Tobacco grown in certain developing countries has approximately one third less radioactivity than tobacco grown in developed countries, and the radioactivity of tobacco grown in the United States has increased over time.
So maybe you are right.