i wish i could give you a good answer but i don't think researchers have studied smoking at quite that micro a level. in healthcare we measure smoking by the "pack/year. " we calculate this number based on the average number of packs smoked per day times the number of years the person has smoked. for example a person who smokes one pack per day for 20 years has a "20 pack/year" history. a person like yourself who smokes on average 20 cigarettes per week (which calculates to roughly 0. 15 pack per day) for 20 years would have a roughly "3 pack/year" history -- the same as a person who smoked one pack per day for three years. regardless of the manner in which you smoke (a lot at one time or a few spread out over a longer period) you're probably doing about the same amount of damage to your lungs and other vital structures. intuitively i would think the damage would be worse from smoking many cigarettes all at once as opposed to smoking the same number spread out over a greater length of time. rapidly introducing a volume of carcinogens and toxins probably is worse than trickling them in. you sound well-informed about the risks of smoking so i'll leave you with one little tidbit. did you know one of the more-common cancers related to smoking is bladder cancer (especially in men)? so the next time you light up ask yourself if you can envision the day when you'll be emptying your urine through a pouch strapped to your thigh. if not then you might want to re-think the whole smoking thing. wishing you well! i wish i could give you a good answer but i don't think researchers have studied smoking at quite that micro a level. in healthcare we measure smoking by the "pack/year. " we calculate this number based on the average number of packs smoked per day times the number of years the person has smoked. for example a person who smokes one pack per day for 20 years has a "20 pack/year" history. a person like yourself who smokes on average 20 cigarettes per week (which calculates to roughly 0. 15 pack per day) for 20 years would have a roughly "3 pack/year" history -- the same as a person who smoked one pack per day for three years. regardless of the manner in which you smoke (a lot at one time or a few spread out over a longer period) you're probably doing about the same amount of damage to your lungs and other vital structures. intuitively i would think the damage would be worse from smoking many cigarettes all at once as opposed to smoking the same number spread out over a greater length of time. rapidly introducing a volume of carcinogens and toxins probably is worse than trickling them in. you sound well-informed about the risks of smoking so i'll leave you with one little tidbit. did you know one of the more-common cancers related to smoking is bladder cancer (especially in men)? so the next time you light up ask yourself if you can envision the day when you'll be emptying your urine through a pouch strapped to your thigh. if not then you might want to re-think the whole smoking thing. wishing you well!
what's less damaging: smoking 3 cigarettes per day or picking two days of the week and smoking 10 on each of those days? . i know that light smoking still poses significant risks; i know i can still get cancer one day from doing it. so please don't answer by telling me that. i'm looking to significantly cut down in order to lessen the damage i'm doing to myself while still indulging a little in one of my favorite activities. so here are my two options: a) smoke about 3 cigs/day (about 20/week) or b) pick 2 nights/week say two nights when i'm out socializing and smoke about 10 on each of those (about 20/week)?