Social Smokers Aren't Hooked on Nicotine, Just Smoking

There’s a species of smoker among us that is common yet poorly understood. Their habitat consists of parties, barbecues, and the sidewalks outside bars and restaurants. They prefer to scrounge for their cigarettes, and if they do buy a pack, they’re apt to nurse it for a week or more. You may hear them say, "I’m not a smoker," or "Only on weekends."

These are "social smokers"—and there are more of them than you might think.

Smoking is often characterized as an all-or-nothing activity—on doctor’s office questionnaires it’s usually a yes-or-no question, for instance—but by some estimates, anywhere from one-fifth to one-third of adults who smoke don’t light up every day. While some of these so-called nondaily smokers smoke regularly but sparingly, up to 30% likely fall into the social-smoker category.

Hard numbers are difficult to come by, in part because the definition of a social smoker is so vague. A 2007 study of social smoking among college students—one of very few that have been published on the subject—found the term was used "loosely and inconsistently," even among researchers. But most people know a social smoker when they see one. They smoke occasionally, almost always in groups, and more often than not while drinking alcohol. By definition, they do not consider themselves addicted to nicotine. Many started smoking casually in high school or college but never graduated to a daily habit.

"If I’m out drinking, or hanging out with people who are smoking, then I usually get the urge to smoke," says Vickie, 45, from New York City. "But I might smoke Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then not smoke for a week."

Vickie’s friend Katherine, 46, has smoked intermittently since her college days, but she limits it to specific times and places. "I don’t think I’ve ever had a cigarette before 7 p.m.," she says. "I have smoked alone, but very, very rarely, and I don’t think I’ve bought a pack in 20 years. I know that I could put it down at any time." Though she sometimes goes for months without smoking, she may smoke a whole pack in a weekend if some old friends are in town or if she’s on vacation. "Smoking is a small indulgence that I sometimes do," says Katherine, "sort of like eating too much ice cream."

Social smoking is often compared with social drinking—that is, the social smoker is to the "real" smoker what the casual weekend drinker is to the alcoholic. Even if social smokers (or drinkers) go a little overboard sometimes, their behavior is still fundamentally different.

Social drinking is an "important analogy," says Saul Shiffman, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in studying occasional smokers. One of the “hallmarks” of social drinkers (the vast majority of those who drink alcohol), says Shiffman, is that they drink in specific settings. "They’ll drink at dinner with friends, they’ll drink in the evenings on weekends—but they don’t drink in the car, or first thing in the morning," he explains. "It’s the confinement of use to particular situations that marks someone who uses a drug but not in an addictive way."