[Wherein our hero lights up, and discusses why smoking is good. Do you smell the controversy?]

Smoking is bad. Right?

Yes!

It's a filthy habit, it smells, it's addictive.

It kills.

Smoking's bad, right?

Yes... but...

I like smoking. It feels good. It makes my ideas flow quicker and it takes the edge off when I'm overloaded. It goes great with a few beers, and is a way to bond with others. Having said that I smoke less than 2 cigarettes a month, at a stab. I'm not addicted, but I'd sure as hell smoke more if I it wasn't going to kill me in an horrific manner. I'd smoke more if it didn't cripple my cardio ability. I'd smoke more if it wasn't so damn anti-social and my girlfriend didn't object. But the kicker, above all else, is that smoking kills.

Let me say that once more, before you read the body of my post.

SMOKING KILLS.  

And yet we continue to smoke. I contine to smoke. For all I know, You continue to smoke. It's easy to say 'Oh, it's addictive', but those who start smoking aren't already addicted; and those who aren't addicted sometime indulge. The truth is smoking makes us feel good. It gives us a kick, it does something to us we like, something we find value in.

A meta-review by Heishman, Kleykamp, & Singleton (2010) has revealed some findings that I find fascinating. Nicotine in Non-smokers increases reaction time to a significant degree, but only has only marginal significance in smokers. Addtionally, Nicotine increases orienting reaction time among smokers and non-smokers alike. Nicotine produces a significant improvement in accuracy of short-term recall tasks for smokers, but not non-smokers. Nicotine produces a significant effect on reaction time in working memory - it seems, in a sense, we think faster; and Nicotine produces a small, but significant effect, on fine motor abilities.

According to Perkins and colleagues, Nicotine might reduce (thermal) pain senstivity.  Results were modest, but appear significant, but more research is required to understand how and why such an effect might exist.

Finally, in a population of smokers, smoking increases generalized Alpha waves, according to Domina et al. (2009). Alpha waves are the wave associated with wakeful relaxation with closed eyes. It seems that, neurologically, smoking is relaxing.

It's a tricky subject. I'm not here to make an argument for, or against smoking, I merely wanted to understand why I, and others, continued to taunt death and indulge in something so clearly unhealthy. Like I said earlier, I enjoy smoking - but I abstain for many reasons. I couldn't find anything on emotions, or affect, regarding nicotine which was a bit disappointing. If you do have a paper to that effect, I'd greatly appreciate it.

In the mean time know that smokers smoke for reasons other than addictions. I smoke on occasion to clear the mind and facilitate thinking. Some evidence alluded to such support, but I would not go so far to say that smoking quantifiably improves such cognitions, but it hints at it. Nor would I go so far as to suggest one ought to smoke to have such thoughts, to relax, or to improve reaction time in working memory - that's a bit crazy - but know that nicotine is a drug chosen by humanity for particular reasons, and such reasons may be outlined above.  

For interest's sake I've looked at the cognitive benefits of drinking, too

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Perkins, K., Grobe, J., Stiller, R., Scierka, A., Goettler, J., Reynolds, W., & Jennings, J. (1994). Effects of nicotine on thermal pain detection in humans. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2 (1), 95-106 DOI: 10.1037//1064-1297.2.1.95

Domino EF, Ni L, Thompson M, Zhang H, Shikata H, Fukai H, Sakaki T, & Ohya I (2009). Tobacco smoking produces widespread dominant brain wave alpha frequency increases. International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 74 (3), 192-8 PMID: 19765621

Heishman SJ, Kleykamp BA, & Singleton EG (2010). Meta-analysis of the acute effects of nicotine and smoking on human performance. Psychopharmacology, 210 (4), 453-69 PMID: 20414766