There is evidence that smokers gravitate towards each other when forming friendships.

According to the poll people who smoke have a significantly higher percentage of friends who smoke than those who do not.

"It really depends on who you hang out with. I know certain crowds where everybody smokes and other crowds where nobody smokes," says Olivia B. Ha '98.

Smokers at Harvard also tend to gravitate towards certain concentrations, with humanities concentrations having the highest percentage of smoking students (42 percent), social sciences having 41 percent, and natural and applied sciences having 28 percent. A smoker was defined here as one who had used a tobacco product at least once in the past year.

While many students do feel peer pressure to smoke, a countervailing trend of health consciousness also makes smoking difficult. Wendy A. Mackey-Kydd, a health educator at University Health Services, says, "It's almost like a social pariah to be a smoker, at least for an adult, and it may be for a college student."

Blankenship admits others have reacted negatively to his smoking. He and several other students requested and got a non-smoking hall in Currier House so that he could freely enjoy his cigarettes in his area of the House.

"People were having problems with people smoking last year and as opposed to moving out, we just wanted some sort of compromise worked out. So we have a smoking hall now and a non-smoking hall," Blankenship says.

Thus, while smoking at Harvard can give one a sense of community with other smokers, it can also isolate one from students who dislike exposure to tobacco smoke.