Students Smoke Socially at Work and School

Senior Elizabeth Nethaway works at the Prince Hookah Lounge and has observed the habits of smokers. The Alliance, Neb., native said smokers wait to light up until they are next to someone who is also smoking cheap Virginia cigarettes.

“It’s something you got in common,” Nethaway said.

“‘Hey, can I bum a lighter? Sure, let’s talk about something.’ It’s a real good way to strike up a conversation and make new friends.”

She added that she smokes the most when she is at work.

Nethaway said that her parents smoke and she always felt comfortable around smokers. She started smoking last November because the people she was around were smoking.

“I tried one and liked it,” she said.

The same social aspect of smoking can make it harder for a smoker trying to quit.

“If you are around a bunch of smokers and trying to quit, it is harder,” Nethaway said. “If one person lights up a cigarette, everyone lights up.”

Nethaway also said that she smokes more when she is around other people.

“I don’t smoke much by myself,” she said.

Nethaway, who is now trying to quit, said that she doesn’t smoke around her boyfriend at all because he isn’t a smoker.

Louisville junior Jasmine Taylor started smoking when she was a senior in high school.

“My friends smoked and that’s when we all started drinking and those go hand in hand,” Taylor said.
Taylor said that she isn’t a heavy smoker, going through a pack in two weeks.

“There is definitely a social aspect, when there is nothing to do, people are like, ‘Oh you want to smoke a cigarette?’” Taylor said.

Taylor said that she smokes more in a group and rarely by herself. Matt Whitman, a senior from Austin, Texas, said that he started smoking his freshman year of college.

“Sure, I smoke more frequently when I’m around people,” he said. “I would say that if you talk to other people, I’d be willing to place money they say that they smoke more when other people are smoking.”