smoking

Introduction & Top Questions
Smoking and health
- Health consequences of smoking
  - Addiction
  - Cancer
  - Lung disease
  - Heart disease
  - Effects on pregnancy
- Smoking cessation
  - Behavioral intervention
  - Nicotine replacement therapy
    - Nicotine patch
    - Nicotine gum and lozenges
    - Nicotine nasal spray
    - Nicotine inhaler
    - Sublingual nicotine tablets
    - Bupropion
  - Other approaches to smoking cessation
Smoking and public policy
- The goals and strategies of public policy on smoking
- Regulation
- Taxation
- Litigation against the tobacco industry
A social and cultural history of smoking
- Tobacco in New World culture
- Tobacco in Old World culture
- The age of the cigarette
  - Mass production and mass appeal
  - The antismoking movement

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Close-up of numerous burnt cigarette butts and ashes piled together in an ashtray.

Working toward a vaccine to stop nicotine addiction

Observe effects of smoking on lung tissue and examine various stages of respiratory disease

At a Glance

smoking summary

Related Questions

How are chronic bronchitis and emphysema related to smoking?
How can counseling and behavioral support help people stop smoking?
How can secondhand smoke affect children’s lungs and asthma risk?
How did James Buchanan Duke and the American Tobacco Company expand cigarette sales?
How did Jean Nicot contribute to tobacco’s history and the name nicotine?
How did King James I criticize tobacco use in Counterblaste to Tobacco?
How did medical research in the 1950s and 1960s change public understanding of smoking?
How did the 1964 U.S. surgeon general’s report affect smoking awareness?
How did the Bonsack machine change cigarette production?
How did tobacco use function in Native American religious and social ceremonies?
How do nicotine replacement therapies reduce withdrawal symptoms and cigarette cravings?
How do surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy treat lung cancer?
How does addiction increase the risk of tobacco-related disease?
How does cancer risk change after a person stops smoking?
How does carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke affect the blood’s ability to carry oxygen?
How does nicotine activate the brain’s reward system?
How does nicotine affect appetite and body weight?
How does nicotine reach the brain after cigarette smoke is inhaled?
How does smokeless tobacco increase the risk of head and neck cancers?
How does smoking damage blood vessels and contribute to arteriosclerosis?
How does the speed of nicotine absorption affect the risk of addiction?
How is smoking in a household linked to sudden infant death syndrome?
How long do nicotine withdrawal symptoms usually last after quitting smoking?
How quickly can cardiovascular risk decrease after a smoker quits?
How was tobacco used in the calumet, or sacred-pipe, ritual?
How were the first paper-wrapped cigarettes made in Seville?
What are the main types of lung cancer?
Which cancer-causing chemicals are found in cigarette smoke?
Which neurotransmitters are released when nicotine binds to receptors in the nervous system?
Which nicotine withdrawal symptoms are common after stopping smoking?
Which symptoms can be early signs of lung cancer?
Which types of cancer are linked to tobacco smoking?
Why are cigarettes generally more addictive than nicotine patches or gum?
Why can cravings for cigarettes continue long after withdrawal symptoms have faded?
Why can nicotine withdrawal cause irritability and difficulty concentrating?
Why did clean-air laws shift from separate nonsmoking areas to complete indoor smoking bans?
Why did many Europeans once believe tobacco had medicinal uses?
Why do smokers take longer to recover from respiratory infections?
Why do some smokers feel calmer after smoking a cigarette?
Why does nicotine raise heart rate and blood pressure?
Why does smoking increase the risk of heart attack and stroke?
Why does smoking increase the risk of lung cancer?
Why does smoking make the heart work harder?
Why does the risk of tobacco-related cancer rise with the amount and duration of smoking?
Why is lung cancer often diagnosed after it has spread?
Why is small-cell lung cancer especially dangerous?
Why were restrictions placed on tobacco advertising on U.S. television and radio?
What is the difference between a nation and a state?
What is a nationalist movement?
When did nationalist movements first arise?
What are the four main elements of hip-hop?
How did hip-hop get its name?
Who are the founders of hip-hop?
What was the first major hip-hop song?
What do Rastafarians believe?
What is Wicca?
What is the origin of Wicca?

Health & Medicine Conditions & Diseases

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External Websites

MedlinePlus - Risks of Tobacco
Biology LibreTexts - Smoking and Health
Psychology Today - Smoking
National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - A Comprehensive Review on the Impacts of Smoking on the Health of an Individual
Cleveland Clinic - Smoking
Australian Government - Department of Health, Disability and Ageing - Effects of smoking and tobacco
Patient - Smoking

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

smoking - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

smoking

tobacco

Written by

Matthew J. Hilton

Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of Birmingham, England. Author of Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800-2000.

Matthew J. HiltonAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 11, 2026 •History

smoking, the act of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning Nicotiana plant material. A variety of plant materials are smoked, including marijuana and hashish, but the act is most commonly associated with tobacco (Nicotiana) as smoked in a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. Tobacco contains nicotine, an alkaloid that is addictive and can have both stimulating and tranquilizing psychoactive effects. The smoking of tobacco, long practiced by American Indians, was introduced to Europe by Christopher Columbus...

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