How Do Life Insurance Companies Test For Nicotine? 
The main way that life insurance companies test for nicotine is through the urine sample . Another way is through the blood sample . What they are checking for is actually a metabolite of nicotine called cotinine . Cotinine can be detected longer than nicotine can , and shows up in levels that are proportionate to the amount of tobacco used . That way underwriters can tell approximately how much the applicant smoked , or even if their exposure to nicotine was from secondhand smoke . 