Nicotine - Smoking Can Be More Than An Addiction
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As a society, we focus heavily on the addiction to nicotine and ignore what is missing from the person’s life that makes a cigarette a desirable companion.
Background
- The inspiration behind this page.
Friendship and Companionship
Lived Experience
- "She came right out and said it--tobacco was her closest companion." (Annabel Ascher)
- "I’ve believed that smoking was my friend, my confidant, my crutch, and my boost for 16 years." (Susannah B. Lewis)
- “Smoking was my crutch, my gold star, my friend I wanted to share in the good and the bad. Cigarettes were my good friend who couldn’t say anything back to me.” (Marlene K.)
- "I used to smoke. I thought of cigarettes as my best friend." (John)
- "I also thought cigarettes were my best friend. And then they gave me peripheral artery disease."(Elizabeth)
- “Cigarettes were my best friend. My new best friend is now crocheting.” (Teresa)
Scientific Evidence
- "The cigarette as a 'companion' emerged as the main empirical category, as something always available to quell anxiety and loneliness, as well as a source of pleasure and relaxation."
- "Almost 90% believed that even though smoking was dangerous, it was their ‘friend.’ The danger of losing a friend was more threatening to them than the dangers of smoking, and they worried about what would take the place of cigarettes emotionally."
- "In some ethnographic work, for example, people describe cigarettes as being like friends or companions accompanying them through life in the absence of less reliable (human) friends."
Always There: Constancy and Reliability
Lived Experience
- "Cigarettes have been the only constant thing in my life for over 20 years."(sfbuddy)
- "They were always there for me when I needed a break." (Noel)
- “Smoking was the one thing that had always been there for me and for the most part, I couldn’t imagine my life without it.” (Liz)
- "You were my closest friend, my best companion, whom I shared with all the great and worst moments of my life. You were always there for me…supporting me with out any doubt or questions asked." (yanivriz)
Scientific Evidence
- “Smoking is seen as a dependable way for them to cope with what they perceive as the many stresses they face in their daily lives.”
- "Many smokers have been smoking since they were young, and cigarettes can be a familiar and reliable companion, a source of continuity in the smokers’ life."
Comfort During Loneliness, Grief, Stress, and Trauma
Lived Experience
- "It was my crutch that got me through a war, friends and families deaths and plenty of other depressing events."(sfbuddy)
- "Smoking is an escape valve, when you are very anxious, light a cigarette and that moment of lighting a cigarette and taking the first puff, the person relaxes, it seems like you forget the rest of the world." (G4 - veterinary medicine students)
- "Gives a sense of relief right? At that moment you forget [...]; it is like everything around you collapsed. There was nothing else, just you and the cigarette. It is like a child in a playground, playing, kind of." (G2 - workers of frontline jobs)
Scientific Evidence
- “Some participants recognized the cigarette as a companion in times of loneliness (14.6%) and as a facilitator of social interactions (6.3%).”
- “Smoking was frequently used as a coping mechanism to manage stress linked to family responsibilities, work or personal challenges.”
Emotional Regulation and Coping
Lived Experience
- "Then it came time for a test and I said: I will explode! I will smoke because I am stressed, scared to hell of having to repeat grades. Then, there are a lot of tests for me to do, so I smoke. It gives me that relief [...]." (G5 - medical students)
- "Smoking is an escape valve. We need to take refuge in something." (S95)
- "Anytime that I had any kind of feelings about being lesbian I’d just smoke. I used cigarettes to cover up who I really truly was." (Angie P)
Scientific Evidence
- “Smoking was used as a coping mechanism to alleviate stress, defuse anger, relieve physical symptoms from diseases or prescription medications, and to withdraw from people or keep people away.”
- “Results demonstrated that elevated PTSS [posttraumatic stress symptoms] were associated with increased smoking to reduce negative affect and barriers to cessation, and that emotion dysregulation mediated these relationships.”
- "The findings of the present study also provided important clues on how the participants used smoking as a source of comfort and a form of avoidance coping."
Ritual, Routine, and Structure
Lived Experience
- "I like coffee and a cigarette, telephone and a cigarette, driving the car and a cigarette, conversation and a cigarette, beer and a cigarette" (Hannah)
- "She'd get up in the morning and light a cigarette first thing, she loved her cigarettes. She smoked with everything, she'd be ironing, she'd smoke, there was a cigarette attached to every event." (Bess)
- "I have still not found anything that can replace the cigarette." (S28)
- "Somehow, it [the cigarette] supplies something here." (S72)
Scientific Evidence
- "These findings suggest that gestural components of smoking—such as the hand-to-mouth movement, object manipulation, or ritualized motor routines—may reflect a dimension of tobacco use that is functionally distinct from the pharmacological need for nicotine."
- "For various informants, cigarettes serve as a ritual artifact that communicates temporal organization (when to wake up, the beginning or end of the day, after lunch, beginning and end of work, etc.); and different tasks and emotional states (activating, concentrating, relaxing, socializing, etc.)."
- "As a shared ritual, smoking was a self-evident part of daily routines at the workplaces under scrutiny. The study shows how smoking was a legitimate way to challenge the official rules and to make the work more bearable by increasing social contacts and a sense of belonging. Paradoxically, smoking was to a great extent an unquestioned routine, but at the same time it increased the autonomy of the workers in terms of their daily tasks."
Identity and Sense of Self
Lived Experience
- “It’s part of who I am. It’s how other people—and me—see me.” (Annie Hamilton)
- "I am a person of the world, sophisticated, I make my own decisions about myself" (Sky)
- "For my age group, it's probably the whole rebel anarchist society, I'm cool, I'm alternative, I'm a rebel, I'll do what I want." (Participant)
- "I idealized my mom and dad, I thought they were so cool when they smoked." (Amanda)
- “Ive been smoking for 10 years. Its part of my identity, i am a smoker. And i think that is the strongest pull towards smoking. Not nicotine addiction, not sociability, not the ritual. Identity.” (Holo-Dragonfly)
Scientific Evidence
- "Smoking...contributes to their identity and sense of personal agency."
- "The smoker identity phenomenon was considerably more complex than a binary construct (i.e., being a smoker vs. nonsmoker), and many current smoker identities were identified...The nature of a smoker’s identity can play an important role in smoking cessation.”
- “People who smoke often develop a smoking identity, making it challenging to quit.”
- "The interaction of baseline measures of the smoker self-concept and abstainer self-concept predicted smoking status three months after treatment; subjects were most likely to be abstinent if they began treatment with a strong abstainer self-concept and a weak smoker self-concept."
Social Connection and Belonging
Lived Experience
- "Sitting around the table and enjoy what I'm doing when smoking, more than the smoking, maybe it's just an excuse to sit down and talk to people. The friendship and communication that comes from it especially now, your all bad and your all outlaws and you're out the back of some building and its just the two of you, it's so friendly, lots oflaughter, feels like non-smokers are definitely missing out. (Smokers) have a camaraderie" (Andrea)
- "I wouldn't have wanted to be in the geeky group there were the geeks and the 'in group' and the geeks didn't smoke. And I wasn't a geek. I wasn't right in the 'in group' I was just trying to be there." (Janet)
- “When we smoke it seems like the conversation flows. It seems like you have the strength to continue talking, to be freer, more secure.” (S46)
- “Sometimes when I go clubbing, if I smoke, the guys will come and talk to me. So, I smoke, they come and talk to me more. We have conversations, a common thing to do.” (P7, 41-year-old)
Scientific Evidence
- “For addiction in that same factor, smokers found the social aspects related to smoking, such as being out with friends and taking breaks at work, as being reinforcing (57%).”
- “In certain settings, smoking was perceived to ease social interaction, which complicates motivation to quit.”
- “Smoking together sets up an atmosphere where bonding can take place; it allows comfortable access to both familiar and new smoking locations and the social support and exchange systems attached to these environments.”
Solitude and Private Companionship
Lived Experience
- "The cigarette is a friend, a companion. Even when I'm alone it is my companion. It cannot talk, but it is always there with me." (S70)
- “I was never alone when I had my cigarettes.” (Richard Cohen)
- “Cigarette for me is a way to spend time, whenever I have nothing to do, I smoke cigarettes…. cigarette is my companion of loneliness” (Participant C)
- "I adore moments of solitude where I'm left to my thoughts. A short walk alone is one of life's great joys... Step out for a smoke." (Rob Peoni)
- "It asked me, sometimes demanded me, to find a place apart, a few moments of solitude. It required me to breathe. It gave me a sense of self reflection." (Brian Busse)
Scientific Evidence
- “Cigarettes can also act as a friend and a companion, particularly at times when the smoker is unexpectedly alone.”
- “Seven participants explained that loneliness, often due to a lack of social network … or being alone … was a reason they smoked, and that cigarettes became a form of companionship.”
Something to Do: Boredom, Time, and Occupation
Lived Experience
- "its something to have in your hand, worried, fidgety or anything, I'd pick up a cigarette to relax, almost for something to do" (Morgan)
- "In my case [...] I had nothing to do, [...] everybody drinking in the public square [...] and I could not find a place. [...] Then, I took a beer can and then the cigarette. [...] It gives that feeling of power, pleasure." (G1 - homeless individual)
- “I started smoking again because most of the time I had to be alone. I did not have anything to do. I did not have much workload. So, I restarted smoking”… (Participant D)
- “Now I’m back up to a pack a day, because there’s nothing to do. You’re bored because there’s only so much cleaning you can do.” (Female, 57)
Scientific Evidence
- "Tobacco was used...as a distraction to pass the time (18.8%)."
- “Several studies suggest that individuals may persist in smoking because they perceive tobacco consumption and nicotine exposure as coping mechanisms to alleviate feelings of emptiness and apathy linked to boredom.”
- "The participants did not smoke so much when they were working, but rather when they relax or 'are bored'."
- “The most common reasons for smoking mentioned were enjoyment of smoking, boredom, force of habit, dependency, stress, seeing others smoke, and association with alcohol.”
Reward, Pleasure, and Celebration
Lived Experience
- "I started [smoking] at thirteen, but at the time [...] why did I start? Because I saw my brother smoking and I found it beautiful. I wanted to follow my brother's footsteps. It was the thrill of doing what my brother did." (G1 - homeless individual)
- “Cigarettes were always there for me. True friends, together when crying and when celebrating.” (OneManState
- "I know it’s probably killing me, I’ve got smokers’ cough, I’m not as fit as I was, but I just enjoy it." (Participant)
- "it's fun, I don't know, I enjoy just having a cigarette and mellowing out." (Sharon)
- “I trained my brain to WANT to do difficult stuff for the reward of a cigarette at the end.” (einlikoachleshit)
Scientific Evidence
- "Tobacco was used for pleasure (28.1%)..."
- “Findings revealed a number of common, emergent themes: … ‘smoking as a pleasure and reward’…”
- "In summary, we found that DS [daily smokers] find smoking quite pleasurable, thus displaying liking as well as wanting."
Quitting as Loss: Grief and Bereavement
Lived Experience
- "Tbh I feel like I lost my best friend."(sfbuddy)
- "That grief is real! It is a loss of a constant companion and comfort." (heylistenlady)
- "Ever since quitting... I find it impossible to drink coffee. That happened the first time as well. I lost two good friends." (OneManState
- "When I have a craving it feels depressing, like I’ve lost or let down my best friend. A feeling of guilt." (Massi1799_)
- " Even when I did quit, within a few months, or even a year or two, I would start to feel like a lost my best friend. I'd make a decision to go back to it." (Name deleted)
- “I feel like I've lost my best friend, a part of me...I feel like I have chopped off my left hand - a necessary part of me.” (Leanne)
Scientific Evidence
- “These findings suggest that the magnitude of the stress of smoking cessation is related to the perception of loss as a form of grief resulting from the smoking cessation process.”
- "These neuropharmacologic data are supported by self-report data from addicted smokers that report that cigarettes come to share many of the same affective and motivational properties as attractive social stimuli (i.e., friends) and that withdrawal from tobacco is tantamount to social loss or mourning"
- “Over three-fourths of participants felt that the social pressure to smoke was too strong in their own environments and they feared losing their smoking friends (78%).”
- "Smoking relapse is conceptualized as a situated rational response to a “disruption” in individual narrative identity formation, and an attempt to recover a lost social identity."
- "Some also see smoking as an old friend, and can experience significant grief and feelings of loss at having to give that friend up."