Smoking is in the news these days for a variety of reasons, be it Obama’s declaration that he’s quitting smoking or the recently published hazards of third hand smoke. The subject of smoking showed a contrary picture with a recent research indicating that a large number of smokers in the U.S. don’t smoke on a regular basis with many of them trying to quit.  While another study on smoking came up with contrary results which showed that more than half the smokers despite being diagnosed with cancer continue to keep the habit. 

Saul Shiffman, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Psychology defined people who are light or intermittent smokers, also called chippers as people who don’t smoke more than a couple of cigarettes a day and don’t want to quit smoking.

Most of the research conducted till now focused on heavy smokers who smoked between 10-20 cigarettes a day.  Describing them Shiffman said they smoke anywhere, anytime, "when they are stressed, when they are happy, when they're eating, when they're not eating, when they're working, when they are relaxing."

Chippers on the other hand are different and have specific places where and when they smoke and only a few chippers are social smokers. "For some people, it may be that social setting of drinking at a bar with friends who are also smoking. For someone else, it may be with coffee by themselves in the morning," Shiffman said. That may be what keeps smoking from pervading their whole lives, and limits how much they smoke.

As the restrictions on smoking tightens with regulations coming into place about smoking in public and work places, bans on smoking in vehicles with children in them etc Shiffman believes a majority of the smokers will have to become chippers. States with the highest tobacco control have the maximum number of light smokers.

There are many countries where light smoking is the norm due to financial reasons. A World Health Organization study of Central American countries found that two-thirds of smokers there are nondaily smokers. Chippers don’t have the stereotypical addiction to cigarettes and can for without a smoke for long periods of time without experiencing any withdrawal symptoms. . "If you ask the stereotypical regular smoker not to smoke for two hours or 12 days," Shiffman said, "they get anxious, have trouble concentrating, and will — if you will — be dying for a cigarette."

Dr. Joseph Difranza, a professor of family health at the University of Massachusetts' Medical School in Worcester, Mass. said, "If people have no craving for cigarettes outside that special situation where they're drinking in a bar, and they can go weeks without a cigarette and it doesn't interrupt their thoughts that they need a cigarette," he says, "then they probably have no addiction."

In another survey on smoking by researchers at a West Virginia University found that only 44 % of smokers quit smoking after they were diagnosed with cancer, while only 62 % said they had been advised by the doctors to quit smoking.

Dr. Jame Abraham, the study's lead author said this showed there was a need for proper programs to educate such people about the urgency to quit smoking. Smoking apart from increasing cancer risk, can complicate cancer treatments such as radiation therapy and surgery. (Additional reporting by Harkiran)