What is "smoking"

Smoking \Smok"ing\, a. & n. from Smoke.

Smoking bean (Bot.), the long pod of the catalpa, or Indian-bean tree, often smoked by boys as a substitute for cigars.

Smoking car, a railway car carriage reserved for the use of passengers who smoke tobacco.

Smoke \Smoke\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Smoked; p. pr. & vb n. Smoking.] [AS. smocian; akin to D. smoken, G. schmauchen, Dan. sm["o]ge. See Smoke, n.]

1. To emit smoke; to throw off volatile matter in the form of vapor or exhalation; to reek.

   Hard by a cottage chimney smokes.
   --Milton.

2. Hence, to burn; to be kindled; to rage.

   The anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke agains. that man.
   --Deut. xxix. 20.

3. To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.

   Proud of his steeds, he smokes along the field.
   --Dryden.

4. To draw into the mouth the smoke of tobacco burning in a pipe or in the form of a cigar, cigarette, etc.; to habitually use tobacco in this manner.

5. To suffer severely; to be punished.

   Some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
   --Shak.

1. 1 Giving off smoke. 2 (context slang English) Sexually attractive, usually referring to a woman. n. 1 The burning and inhalation of tobacco. 2 (context by extension English) The burning and inhalation of other substances, e.g. marijuana. v

2. (present participle of smoke English)

adj. emitting smoke in great volume; "a smoking fireplace"

1. n. the act of smoking tobacco or other substances; "he went outside for a smoke"; "smoking stinks" [syn: smoke]

2. a hot vapor containing fine particles of carbon being produced by combustion; "the fire produced a tower of black smoke that could be seen for miles" [syn: smoke]

[[ Salmon.jpg|thumb|right|250px|

Hot-smoked chum salmon

]]

Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as whisky, smoked beer, and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked.

In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but oak is more often used now, and beech to a lesser extent. In North America, hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, and fruit-tree woods, such as apple, cherry, and plum, are commonly used for smoking. Other fuels besides wood can also be employed, sometimes with the addition of flavoring ingredients. Chinese tea-smoking uses a mixture of uncooked rice, sugar, and tea, heated at the base of a wok. Some North American ham and bacon makers smoke their products over burning corncobs. Peat is burned to dry and smoke the barley malt used to make whisky and some beers. In New Zealand, sawdust from the native manuka (tea tree) is commonly used for hot smoking fish. In Iceland, dried sheep dung is used to cold-smoke fish, lamb, mutton, and whale.

Historically, farms in the Western world included a small building termed the smokehouse, where meats could be smoked and stored. This was generally well-separated from other buildings both because of the fire danger and because of the smoke emanations.

Smoking of food is known to contaminate the food with carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Smoking is a brand of rolling papers, manufactured by Miquel y Costas in Barcelona, Spain. According to their website, they were one of the earliest factories to produce rolling papers. Smoking offers different color packages to differentiate the weights or materials of the paper inside.

Smoking is an activity that involves the intentional burning and inhaling of a substance, most often tobacco.

It may take the form of:

• Pipe smoking, the practice of smoking a pipe

The practice of smoking specific substances include:

• Tobacco smoking
• Cannabis smoking

It may also refer to:

• Smoking (cooking), the process of flavoring, curing, or preserving food by exposing it to the smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials
• Smoking (rolling paper), a brand of rolling papers
• Smoking jacket, a waist-length men's jacket made of silk or velvet traditionally worn for smoking or leisure at home
• Smoking jacket, a synonym for a formal dinner jacket or tuxedo
• Smoking/No Smoking, a 1993 French movie, winner of the César Award for Best Film

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly the substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant which have been rolled into a small square of rice paper to create a small, round cylinder called a " cigarette". Smoking is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use because the combustion of the dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into the lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and reach bodily tissue. In the case of cigarette smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gasses and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas to form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to " spiritual enlightenment".

Smoking generally has negative health effects, because smoke inhalation inherently poses challenges to various physiologic processes such as respiration. Diseases related to tobacco smoking have been shown to kill approximately half of long term smokers when compared to average mortality rates faced by non-smokers. A 2007 report states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of smoking.

Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Tobacco smoking is the most popular form, being practiced by over one billion people globally, of whom the majority are in the developing world. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics, like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are usually not commercially available. Cigarettes are primarily industrially manufactured but also can be hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs.

Smoking can be dated to as early as 5000 BC, and has been recorded in many different cultures across the world. Early smoking evolved in association with religious ceremonies; as offerings to deities, in cleansing rituals or to allow shamans and priests to alter their minds for purposes of divination or spiritual enlightenment. After the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, the practice of smoking tobacco quickly spread to the rest of the world. In regions like India and Sub-Saharan Africa, it merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). In Europe, it introduced a new type of social activity and a form of drug intake which previously had been unknown.

Perception surrounding smoking has varied over time and from one place to another: holy and sinful, sophisticated and vulgar, a panacea and deadly health hazard. In the 20th century smoking came to be viewed in a decidedly negative light, especially in Western countries. This is due to smoking tobacco being among the leading causes of many diseases such as lung cancer, heart attacks, COPD, erectile dysfunction, and birth defects. The health hazards of smoking have caused many countries to institute high taxes on tobacco products, run ads to discourage use, limit ads that promote use, and provide help with quitting for those who do smoke.