I think it makes the conversation better. The situational smoker exists on the border between hard-core smoker and social smoker. If they are addicted, they have not yet admitted it to themselves, and if they are not addicted they refuse to believe they are at risk of becoming so. I can quit at any time, I just don't want to. The situational smoker demonstrates once again that the power of the cigarette goes beyond physical addiction.
Smoking has a way of becoming integrated into the student lifestyle.
The hard-core smoker is an admitted addict. Most hard-core smokers have been lighting up since high school and are not ready to quit any time soon. They buy their own cigarettes, and don't let a pack waste away in their desk drawer. They carry their cigarettes with them wherever they go. Katherine Spinney, a fourth-year smoker, began smoking when she was in tenth grade.