Is it worse for your body to chain-smoke several packs of cigarettes a day for a year, or to smoke the same amount of cigarettes over 10 or 20 years? I smoked cigarettes in my early 20s, quit for 7 years and then smoked lightly (2 packs a week, or so) into my mid 30s and have now been totally quit for 5 years or so. Is smoking still going to kill me?