# Are there tests to detect if someone had been smoking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235 "2006-09-26T17:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/1 "2006-09-26T17:48:35Z")
How would you detect if someone had been smoking? Other than smell say someone was scheduled for an operation on the condition they stop smoking entirely. How could the doctor test to verify the patient was following instructions? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/2 "2006-09-26T17:53:14Z")
[QUOTE=astro] How would you detect if someone had been smoking? Other than smell say someone was scheduled for an operation on the condition they stop smoking entirely. How could the doctor test to verify the patient was following instructions? [/QUOTE] Um…are **you** scheduled for such an op? Because it would be _seriously_ unethical for _anybody_ on the SDMB to provide this potentially life-endangering info if you _are_. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/3 "2006-09-26T17:54:35Z")
[Here’s one way.](http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/research/Cope.html) “He has taken a simple laboratory assay for nicotine and its breakdown products, adapted it, and placed it in a specially designed tube. The test, is easy-to-use, inexpensive, and sensitive enough to measure to passive smoking. A urine sample from a smoker, added to the tube turns pink, the heavier the smoker the deeper the colour. The time taken for nicotine breakdown products to leave the circulation depends upon the level of nicotine intake and the rate of breakdown - but a good guide is the test will remain positive 2 or 3 days after abstinence from tobacco.” ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/4 "2006-09-26T17:56:06Z")
Can’t urine and blood tests detect cigarette smoke? I know for life insurance purposes, they can/do test you. However, it seems that it is pretty easy to hide if you are not a constant smoker, as it might actually leave your system within 72 hours. From [Insurance.com](http://www.insurance.com/Article.aspx/Can_You_Hide_Smoking_From_Life_Insurance_Companies/artid/245) > [@](#): > > However, it is possible for the nicotine level in a smoker’s urine to be low enough to escape detection. In fact, the American Lung Association says that nicotine disappears from your blood stream and your urine within 72 hours after smoking your last cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/5 "2006-09-26T18:04:40Z")
What potentially life-endangering info? He’s not asking how to beat the test, he just wants to know if such a test exists. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/6 "2006-09-26T18:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] What potentially life-endangering info? He’s not asking how to beat the test, he just wants to know if such a test exists. [/QUOTE] Smoking reducesbloodflow, which can cause serious implications for surgery. [Here is an article](http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002485.html) that outlines some of the risks. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/7 "2006-09-26T18:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=XJETGIRLX] Smoking reducesbloodflow, which can cause serious implications for surgery. [Here is an article](http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002485.html) that outlines some of the risks. [/QUOTE] I don’t think this is what the OP is asking at all. As **aldiboronti** already stated, the OP is not asking for information on how to beat a test or the dangers of smoking prior to surgery. The OP specifically asked if it can be detected and how it would be verified. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/8 "2006-09-26T18:54:39Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] Can’t urine and blood tests detect cigarette smoke? I know for life insurance purposes, they can/do test you. However, it seems that it is pretty easy to hide if you are not a constant smoker, as it might actually leave your system within 72 hours. From [Insurance.com](http://www.insurance.com/Article.aspx/Can_You_Hide_Smoking_From_Life_Insurance_Companies/artid/245) [/QUOTE] My husband and I were tested for life insurance almost 2 months after quitting cold turkey and we both tested positive from a blood test. We had to buy insurance at the higher smoker’s rate until we could be re-tested after 6 months. We were not using any nicotine replacement therapies like the patch or gum. I don’t know if they test for nicotine or other chemicals and I don’t know if a Dr. would do this test before performing a surgery. But they can test for it and for longer than a few days. We were both about a pack a day smokers before we quit. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/9 "2006-09-26T19:00:46Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Um…are **you** scheduled for such an op? Because it would be _seriously_ unethical for _anybody_ on the SDMB to provide this potentially life-endangering info if you _are_. [/QUOTE] I’m not a smoker. I wondered [because of this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389804&highlight=gastric) where they insist on being smoke free in order to proceed with the gastric bypass (or a variant thereof) operation. ---
**Author:** ![rocksolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@rocksolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocksolid)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-tests-to-detect-if-someone-had-been-smoking/374235/10 "2006-09-26T22:39:30Z")
When i used to work in the insurance industry we asked for a cotinine test as standard above certain levels of sum assured. The one we used to do was a saliva test. During the medical exam the subject just chewed a bit of cotton wool which was then sealed and sent to the lab. I can’t be sure but IIRC it would detect smoking within the last three days or so. Quick google on ‘continine test’ throws up quite a bit on the subject if you are interested. Seems there are home kits for urine testing, pretty similar to pregnancy testing kits, looks like there is a market for suspicious parents and the like.