Glossary of Terms
General Concepts
Current
smoker: An adult who has smoked 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime
and who currently smokes cigarettes. Beginning in 1991 this group was
divided into “every day” smokers or “some days” smokers.
Never
smoker: An adult who has never smoked, or who has smoked less than 100
cigarettes in his or her lifetime.
Former
smoker: An adult who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in his or her
lifetime but who had quit smoking at the time of interview.
Some
days smoker: An adult who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in his or her
lifetime, who smokes now, but does not smoke every day. Previously called an
“occasional smoker”.
Every
day smoker: An adult who has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in his or her
lifetime, and who now smokes every day. Previously
called a “regular smoker”.
Smoking
status: A recoded variable based on several questions about
cigarette smoking. It includes the categories of current smoker,
former smoker, never smoked, and smoking status unknown.
Amount
smoked: The average number of cigarettes smoked per day, on days when
cigarettes were smoked.
Quit
attempt: Until 1990, the NHIS asked smokers about any “serious” attempts to
quit smoking. From 1991 on, a quit attempt was more quantitatively defined
as a period of one day or more when a smoker
stopped smoking with the intent to quit.
Environmental
Tobacco Smoke (ETS): Also called second-hand smoke. Inhaling ETS is called
passive smoking. Usually refers to cigarette smoke in the environment
of a nonsmoker.
Types of Cigarettes
Cigarette:
A thin cylinder of ground or shredded tobacco that is
wrapped in paper, lit and smoked.
Bidi:
Small, thin, hand-rolled cigarettes imported to the United
States primarily from India and other Southeast Asian countries. They
contain tobacco and can be flavored. When
smoked, they have higher concentrations of nicotine,
tar, and carbon monoxide
than conventional cigarettes sold in the United
States.
Other Tobacco Products that are
Smoked
Cigar: A
tube of tobacco that is thicker than a cigarette, wrapped in
tobacco leaf, lit, and smoked.
Pipe: A
tube with a small bowl at one end that is filled with
tobacco, lit, and smoked.
Smokeless Tobacco Products
Chewing
tobacco: A type of shredded or twisted smokeless tobacco that the
user keeps in his mouth, between the cheek and gum.
Snuff: A
type of finely ground smokeless tobacco contained in a
small teabag-like pouch that is kept in the mouth. Snuff can also be
sniffed.
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This page last reviewed
September 09, 2008
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