Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6 3.3. Smoking Motives amongst the Poor: a Qualitative Exploration 615 During in-depth interviews, several participants stated that tobacco was a “hard drug”, some labelled themselves “addicts”, and most of them acknowledged being tobacco-dependent. Their perception of their own dependence was based on what they could do for continuing smoking despite the cigarette price increase: to deprive themselves of other goods, to beg for cigarettes, or even to pick up butts: I need a cigarette every five minutes or I lose my temper. (…) I would rather give up coffee, drinking and so on, but no, not smoking. It’s my drug. That’s all. (…) I feel it’s the only thing that keeps me going, the only thing. It’s the only company I have. (...) Even if the pack costs 50 €, I will buy it. But I don’t have so much money. I will never, never quit. (Philippe, man aged 50, homeless and unemployed) I am unbearable when I feel the urge for a cigarette. (…) I feel as if I’m going round in circles. I yell at everyone, my daughter doesn’t even talk to me because she knows I will send her packing. I’m just insufferable. Then I go downstairs in the street to find a cigarette. I ask people. (…) That’s the only thing I can beg for. It would never occur to me to beg for money. But a cigarette, sure, no problem. (Melina, woman aged 54, unemployed) When I feel the urge for a cigarette I could smoke butts picked up in the street. I could live without everything but the cigarettes. (…) I have been smoking for a long, long time. I’m so hooked to cigarettes. But I would like to quit right now. If only I could quit I would shout it out loud, yeah I would sing it “I quitted! I quitted” (…) When I need a fag I get extremely nervous, I search everywhere because sometimes I stash some cigarettes in the kitchen or in the living room, just in case. (…) When I inhale smoke it’s a little moment of happiness, something I steal just for me. (Manon, woman aged 56, clerk) In the last quotation supra, Manon said she is hooked on smoking, she would like to quit, but nevertheless she claimed that every cigarette provided her with “a little moment of happiness”. Several other participants talked about the pleasure and happiness they get from smoking. More generally, these smokers stressed the essential needs satisfied by smoking. First, all participants claimed that smoking relieves their stress. For example, Didier considered that his wife and daughter smoke because of their stressful life, and he felt guilty for not being able to earn enough money to offer them a better life: What worries me too is not being able to afford to give my wife and daughter a better life, a different life where they wouldn’t need to smoke like I do. I feel guilty about that. I would like to give them a life with less stress and worry, because – well, I get the minimum wage and we can’t make ends meet. I don’t earn much and we have to struggle. (…) My wife can’t give up smoking because of the stress. Poverty and living from day to day gives you nervous tension all the time, which creates a need. Cigarettes meet that need, although they are rather a poor substitute. They give one a little enjoyment. Since people can’t afford anything else, they rely on things like smoking. (Didier, man aged 53, manual worker) But a majority of participants (of both genders, and especially the older ones, the unemployed and those living alone) also claimed that cigarette smoking fills a void in their everyday life: they smoke because they have nothing else to do, because it is the only leisure activity they can afford