Packs of American Marlboro cigarettes that can all be consumed in a single day by a single chain smoker.

Chain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one. The term is most often used more loosely to describe people who smoke relatively constantly, though not actually "chaining." Chain smoking is a term primarily applied to cigarette smoking, although it can be extended to cover cigar and pipe smoking as well. It is a common form of addiction.^[1]

Causes[link]

The use of cocaine with cigarettes can result in chain smoking.^[2] Many people chain smoke when drinking alcohol because alcohol potentiates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, leading to re-sensitization and hence inducing a craving.^[3]

The extent to which chain smoking is driven by nicotine dependence has been studied. It does not seem that the amount of nicotine delivered is a significant factor as the puff volume correlates poorly with the frequency of cigarette consumption.^[4]

Clinical use[link]

Chain-smoking is given as an example of excessive addictive behaviour in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.^[5] It may be used as a form of aversion therapy for smokers who are unused to such heavy smoking, inducing them to give up altogether.^[6]

Ventilation[link]

Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) professionals claim that an airflow of about 1000 cubic feet per minute per smoker is required to maintain satisfactory air quality when the smokers are chain smoking.^[7] However, research confirms that current HVAC systems, while important for general air quality, cannot control exposure to secondhand smoke well enough to prevent significant harm.^[8]

In culture[link]

Famous chain smokers include Alison Mosshart ("VV"), Amy Winehouse, Shahrukh Khan, Rajat Tokas, Mao Zedong, Walt Disney, Jim Varney, Christopher Hitchens, Paul Newman, Martin Amis, Will Self, Kurt Vonnegut, Benicio Del Toro, Jason Segel, Ian Fleming, Doug Stanhope, Ayn Rand, Jon Stewart (who has quit as of 2000), Irvine Welsh, Johnny Carson, Helmut Schmidt, John Wayne, Richard Burton, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante (who has since stopped smoking altogether), Kate Moss, Jack Nicholson, Keanu Reeves, Slash (musician), Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp, Winston Churchill, Colin Farrell, Lucille Ball, James Dean, Nat King Cole, Bill Hicks, Jim Leyland, Denis Leary, Humphrey Bogart, George Formby (who smoked 40 Woodbines a day), Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Al Pacino, Louis Armstrong, Edward R. Murrow, and Herb Kelleher, John Mellencamp, Joseph Goebbels (who all smoked five packs of cigarettes a day.)

Yul Brynner was another chain smoker who famously figured in a posthumous anti-smoking campaign by the American Cancer Society ("Just don't smoke"),

Ashton Kutcher chain smoked since the age of 16, until he quit in 2005 to prepare for his role in the 2006 film, The Guardian. Another notable chain smoker was the eminent paleontologist R. H. Flower, who was known for smoking in the shower. HM the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, is also a notable chain smoker.

The British soap opera EastEnders character Dot Cotton is a fictional chain smoker. The prevalence of never being seen without a cigarette in hand, i.e. habitual or constant smoking, is highlighted in the TV series Mad Men depicts social mores of 1960s America.

See also[link]

• Tobacco smoking

References[link]

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