This article is about smoking of tobacco and other drugs. For the method of food preparation, see Smoking (cooking). For other uses, see Smoking (disambiguation).
Page semi-protected
Part of a series on
Smoking
Tobacco[hide]
Advertising Tobacco Health effects Industry Politics Prevalence of consumption
Cannabis[hide]
Cannabis Plant Effects Legality Medical use Religious and spiritual use
Opium[hide]
Den Opiate Opioid Papaver somniferum (opium poppy) Psychoactive drug First Opium War Second Opium War
Crack[hide]
Cocaine Crack house Epidemic
Other[hide]
DMT Heroin Meth Narcotics PCP
v t e
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted or inhaled. Most commonly the substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant which has been rolled into rice paper into a small, round cylinder called a "cigarette". This is primarily practiced as a route of administration for what has come to be termed "recreational drug use" because the combustion of the dried plant leaves releases active substances into the body. In the case of cigarette smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gasses and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas to form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to "spiritual enlightenment".
Cigarettes are primarily industrially manufactured but also can be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs. It has been suggested that smoking-related disease kills one half of all long term smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers. A...
