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. It is a common form of addiction.^[1]

Contents 1 Causes 2 Clinical use 3 Ventilation 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Causes

The use of crack cocaine with cigarettes can result in chain smoking.^[2] Many people chain smoke when drinking alcohol because of the sensation it gives the drinker.

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.^[3]

[edit] Clinical use

Chain-smoking is given as an example of excessive addictive behaviour in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.^[4] 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.^[5]

[edit] Ventilation

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.^[6] However, research confirms that current HVAC systems, while important for general air quality, cannot control exposure to secondhand smoke: smoke levels remain high enough to cause significant harm.^[7]

[edit] See also

• Tobacco smoking

[edit] References

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