Nick Greene is Editor-at-Large for MentalFloss.com. He has written about trying to ride the entire New York Subway system in one day, surviving the apocalypse without a spare set of contact lenses, and whether or not Elvis was actually any good at karate. Originally from Chicago, he currently lives in Brooklyn. View the discussion thread.
Ammonia (in Cigs). Ammonia is one of the many chemicals present in cigarettes. Ammonia is a chemical compound formed from the elements nitrogen and hydrogen. It has chemical formula: NH 3. At room temperature and pressure ammonia is a gas. It is toxic (poisonous), and corrosive to some materials, and has a strong and distinctive smell.
Tobacco smoke contains many chemicals that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers. Breathing even a little tobacco smoke can be harmful (1 - 4). Of the more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia (1, 2, 5).Among the 250 known harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 69 can cause cancer.These cancer-causing chemicals include the following (1, 2, 5): 1  Acetaldehyde.igarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products vary widely in their content of nicotine, cancer-causing substances, and other toxicants. In a cigarette (which contains 0.49 to 0.89 gram of tobacco), the nicotine content can vary between 13.79 and 22.68 milligrams per gram of dry tobacco (12, 13).