Can Life Insurance Companies Tell If You Smoke? 
If you 're applying for life insurance with a medical exam , one of the items they test for in the urine test is nicotine . If the presence of nicotine is there , whatever risk class they approve you at will also be based on tobacco user rates . However , there are a couple of carriers that will consider a non-smoker risk class for individuals who only use cigars and/or chewing tobacco . Please note , even if you buy a non-medical policy and lie on the application about your tobacco usage , if you die in the first 2 years of the policy -LRB- the contestability period -RRB- , and the insurance company discovers that you intentionally misrepresented the information cited on the application , they can refuse to pay out the death benefit to the policy 's beneficiary and only give them the premiums that were paid into the policy . I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for assistance with your coverage and if you have any further questions . Thanks very much . 