"I came here and it became regular," she says. "Much of it is because I find myself walking around a lot here, and it gives me something to do. I like having something in my hand."

Samuel A. Sheridan '98 started smoking after high school when he worked on a merchant marine ship.

"I was on a ship and there was no way to get alcohol or drugs, and it was the only way to get a buzz," he says.

The conditions on the ship were also conducive to smoking, according to Sheridan.

"Everybody smoked. I was stressed," he says. "I was bored."

Sheridan says he continues to smoke because of the constant reminder of mortality that smoking brings him.

"I think it's important for young people to carry around a reminder of death," he says.

Sheridan also feels that cigarettes enhance his work as a painter.

"While cigarettes are bad for your health, nicotine is very good for the brain," he says. "It is a relaxant as well as a depressant and it stimulates thinking."

Sheridan says cigarettes are also helpful in social situations.

"It's very good for gestures, it's a good thing to do with conversation pauses," he says. "With a cigarette, you're never alone."

A God-given Habit

Gavin Moses, a third-year Divinity School student, even says his smoking serves a higher, providential purpose.

Moses, who is in his 30s, began smoking regularly last summer after going on a romantic camping trip with a woman who chain-smoked.

He says he has continued to smoke as a way of remembering the woman, who now studies in London.