For me, smoking started as an occasional guilty pleasure. Many of the friends I hung out with lit up after a few drinks and in a moment of weakness, I decided to give it a try. I was surprised by how well the smoky flavor of tobacco complemented the sweet, bitter taste of alcohol. I felt so soothed. Soon, I craved a smoke with my first drink of the night as much as I craved pizza after last call.

I marvel at how many people my age I still see downtown hovering around patio heaters and shivering outside bar doors obscured in clouds of smoke. Although the number of heavy smokers has decreaased over the past 30 years, according to the American Lung Association’s Trend in Tobacco Use 2008 report, smoking prevalence is the highest among young adults aged 18 to 24, and 23.7 percent of young adults still smoke. Like drinking cheap liquor and eating fatty foods, it seems social smoking has become an integral part of the college experience. But I’m left wondering how this “casual” habit affects our health and if we can really just give it up when we graduate.

Nice to meet you. Got a light?

Ginger, Robin and Annika, who asked their last names not be used, huddle together on the stairs at the back of the Eighth Street Tap Room. They say that they’re social smokers, but in truth their smoking habits vary. Annika, a former KU student from Lawrence, says she considers herself a social smoker because she only smokes about one cigarette per month. She says that she doesn’t buy her own cigarettes but bums them from friends when she goes out. Her friend Ginger, Lawrence senior, says that she smokes about half a pack per week. She says usually she and her friend Robin, another former KU student from Lawrence, buy a pack and split it. All of them say that they don’t really smoke any other time than when they’re drinking with friends.

I’ve heard people innocently label themselves social smokers, but is social smoking really less harmful than regular smoking? At some point my smoking evolved into a daily habit, but I’m not sure how or when I made that transition. The idea that you can smoke socially without getting addicted is purely a myth, says Joseph DiFranza, professor of family medicine at the University of Massachusetts. DiFranza says social smoking is a misleading and unscientific term because in reality, you form an addictive relationship with your nicotine buddy at first puff.

In order to analyze how quickly nicotine dependency occurs, DiFranza and his colleagues developed a 10-question survey called the “Hooked on Nicotine Checklist” and in Spring 2004 administered it to college students in Mississippi. The survey determined tobacco dependence based on a person’s loss of autonomy, or when that person was unable to stop smoking without difficulty. The more questions they answered yes to, the more difficult quitting would be for them. The results of the survey showed that students didn’t need to smoke daily for an addiction to develop. The study also suggested that women answered yes to more questions than men and developed symptoms of dependence much faster.

I’m not sick. I’m a smoker.

No matter how little you smoke, it’s got to hurt your body. When I’m pushing myself at the gym, I can feel the tightness in my chest worsen after a night of heavier smoking. You don’t have to be a more regular smoker, like me, to feel the negative effects of smoking. Even one puff can cause you to get sick more often, says Patricia Denning, physician and chief of medical staff at the Watkins Memorial Health Center. Upper respiratory infections are more common among smokers because the chemicals in cigarettes disable your cilia cells, or the hair-like projections that act as your body’s garbage collectors. Cilia cells collect debris, such as bacteria and allergens, pass it up to your mucus membranes, and then move it toward the trachea where it’s all coughed up.

Denning says even one cigarette can inhibit the process because when the cilia cells are out of commission, all the debris you inhale are instead transmitted to your lungs. The warm, moist environment of your lungs causes the bacteria to multiply, creating respiratory infections and increasing your sick time. Denning also says that light smoking can cause heart attacks and strokes later in life because nicotine narrows your arteries.

The popular misconception that light or casual smoking poses less health risks was discredited in a study published in the September 2005 issue of Tobacco Control, by Norwegian researchers Kjell Bjartveit and Aaje Tverdal. In their study, Bjartveit and Tverdal found that light smokers—those who smoked only one to four cigarettes per day—had a more than 50 percent increase of early death from any cause. The researchers followed the light smoking habits and the health of more than 43,000 adults in Norway for more than 30 years. More specifically, they discovered that light smoking nearly triples the risk of death from heart disease or lung cancer. And what shocked me the most was that the risk of lung cancer was significantly greater for women who were light smokers, with a five times increased risk of getting the disease compared to a three times increase for men.

Over at the Replay Lounge, Jayme Walden says that she tries to stay healthy and considers smoking her one vice. Walden, Shawnee senior, says she plans to quit when she graduates. She’s been smoking for the past three years and says that she’s always considered it a “college thing.” Next year will be different because she won’t be around roommates who smoke and she won’t be in Lawrence, which she says caters to smoking and drinking. On average, Walden says that she smokes about 10 cigarettes per week, and although she says she likes to think that she enjoys it, she really does want to quit.

I got my diploma—I quit!

I’d like to be a non-smoker after I graduate, but I don’t think I can quit as easily as passing through the Campanile and walking down the hill. You need to start trying to quit at least a couple months in advance if you want to be a non-smoking graduate, says Ken Sarber, an administrative professional in the Wellness Resource at Watkins Memorial Health Center. Sarber says that once smoking becomes a habitual routine in college, it’s hard to break. He advises that students who want to quit post-graduation should start in a program about two months ahead of time. The habits you create when you first start smoking carry throughout the rest of your addiction, says Sarber, and ultimately prevent you from quitting the first time.

For most smokers, including myself, smoking and drinking go hand in hand. Sarber says that this habit can be the most difficult one to break because the complementary taste of alcohol and tobacco are naturally habit forming. People who try to quit often feel a void because they’ve become so used to that hand to mouth relationship. In order to quit successfully, Sarber advises joining a cessation program, like the one offered at Watkins, and create a strong support system from your family and friends. Otherwise, it can take a few attempts.

“The average person tries six times to quit smoking on their own before they’re either successful, or before they give up and just continue to smoke for life,” Sarber says.

The first step to quit is to recognize why you started smoking and what triggers your urge to light up. For instance, do you crave a cigarette when you’re at the bar, like me, or is it when you’re stuck in the car driving long distances? After recognizing what sets you off, Sarber says you need to start a delaying process. During the first week, wait half an hour to smoke every time you physically reach for a cigarette. Sarber says that people don’t realize it usually only takes 10 to 15 minutes for cravings to pass, so by the time you allow yourself to light up, you might not really want to anymore. If the first week was no problem for you, during the second week you can extend the delay to an hour.

You can also stop from smoking anywhere that’s part of your old routine. For instance, you could ask your friends to support you by not smoking with you or giving you any cigarettes, and hang out with the non-smokers instead when others head outside. If you’ve made it to the third week without any serious problems, your cravings aren’t as severe, and you’re prepared to throw all your smoking-related paraphernalia away—then you’re ready to call it quits.

As a light smoker, it’s not a physical addiction that will make it hard to quit, but letting go of the relaxing relationship I’ve developed with cigarettes. Sarber advises that light smokers replace the urge to smoke with a healthier, positive reinforcement. So when I’m jonesing for a cigarette during the relaxing hiatus in the morning before the day’s chaos begins, I just need to take a breath and find something else to distract me. I’m not sure what that will be yet, but now that I’ve addressed my addiction, I’m hopeful that I can break up with my faithful but fatal confidante.