# How much smoking is bad for you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-smoking-is-bad-for-you/353019>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 17, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-smoking-is-bad-for-you/353019 "2006-04-17T16:34:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-smoking-is-bad-for-you/353019/1 "2006-04-17T16:34:22Z")

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Of course any amount of smoking is bad for you. However I smoke a cigeratte with my friends fairy rarely. Maybe about 2-4 cigerettes a month. How bad is this for me? Does it put me significantly at risk for any cancers?

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**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-smoking-is-bad-for-you/353019/2 "2006-04-17T16:59:43Z")

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From [Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years’ observations on male British doctors](http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=15213107):

> [@](#):
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> The mean cigarette consumption in 1951 (or when last smoked, if this was before 1951) was similar to that in continuing smokers for those who stopped at 45-64 and was only slightly lower for those who stopped at 25-34 or 35-44. Thus, the latter had, on average, had substantial exposure to cigarette smoking for about 20 years before giving up the habit, yet they still avoided most of the excess mortality that they would have suffered if they had continued to smoke.

Look up [figure 4](http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=437139&rendertype=figure&id=fig4) in the study.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-smoking-is-bad-for-you/353019/3 "2006-04-18T14:18:07Z")

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I hear that as a rule of thumb every second you spend smoking brings you 2 seconds closer to death - that is, one extra second closer.