Social Smokers Aren't Hooked on Nicotine, Just Smoking

Addicted to smoking, not nicotine?
Social smokers may not be addicted to nicotine, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not hooked on smoking—whether it’s the ritual itself, the sensation of the smoke, or the nicotine high it provides. "These folks take nicotine for its psychoactive effects, not to stave off withdrawal," says Shiffman. "But that’s not to say that they don’t come to need it in some other way."

Lacey, 23, a recent college grad in Athens, Ga., was a "real" smoker for four years; she traded daily smoking for social smoking when she was 20. She didn’t have any trouble scaling back—she smoked more out of boredom and habit than nicotine addiction, she says—but she has found her social smoking at bars surprisingly hard to kick. "It’s been difficult," she says. "It’s a really big habit, but I do think the nicotine has something to do with it. When you’re drinking, smoking a cigarette is one of the best feelings in the world."