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Smoking fetishism (also known as capnolagnia) is a sexual fetish based on the pulmonary consumption (smoking) of tobacco, most often via cigarettes or cigars. As a fetish, its mechanisms regard sexual arousal from the observation or imagination of a person smoking, sometimes including oneself.

A 2003 study found that the fetish was not previously the subject of academic study but had been mentioned in "a few newspapers".

Characteristics

Causes

Like any fetish, the causes and mechanisms of a smoking fetish vary widely, with roots of sexual association in early childhood and adolescence. Typical causes and hypotheses include:

• childhood: experience or interaction with one or more attractive smoking individuals during childhood
• media: early exposure to sexualized depictions of smokers, especially from advertising media, the film noir era, and pornography
• mannerism: masculine or feminine body language of smokers
• taboo: perceived independence or rebellion regarding the act of smoking, amongst cultural adversity to smokers
• impulsivity: perceived symbolism of an audacious or impulsivity personality, insinuating promiscuity
• wealth: attraction to individuals who are wealthy enough to fund a cigarette or cigar habit
• self-confidence: perceived confidence or masculinity of the smoker, regarding taboo or wealth
• persuasion: perceived power of convincing or urging another individual to smoke
• sadomasochism: sadomasochistic pleasure from bodily harm caused by smoking, often called "lung damage"
• psychosexual development: phenomena in the oral and phallic stages of childhood development, based on Freudian theory

Diagnosis

The diagnostic criteria for fetishism are:

• Unusual sexual fantasies, drives or behavior occur over a time span of at least six months. Sometimes unusual sexual fantasies occur and vanish by themselves; in this case any medical treatment is not necessary.
• The affected person, her object or another person experience impairment or distress in multiple functional areas. Functional area refers to different aspects of life such as private social contacts, job, etc. It is sufficient for the diagnosis if one of the participants is being hurt or mistreated in any other way.

People who experience one or more of the symptoms below are considered to have a smoking fetish:

• Sexual interest in watching other people smoking.
• Recurring intense sexual fantasies involving watching other people smoking.
• Recurring intense sexual urges involving watching other people smoking.

However, capnolagnia is not considered a disease but an unusual sexual practice, and many of the fetishists do not seek medical help unless this behavior strongly interferes with their daily lives. The majority of people simply learn to accept their fetish and manage to achieve gratification in an appropriate manner.

References

1. Ribisl KM, Lee RE, Henriksen L, Haladjian HH, "A content analysis of Web sites promoting smoking culture and lifestyle", Health Educ Behav. 2003 Feb;30(1):64-78
2. "Smoking Fetish Star". Retrieved 2013-10-10.
3. Hwang, Suein (31 Jan 1996). "Drag Queens: Paula Puffs and Her Fans Watch, Enraptured". Wall Street Journal. p. A1.
4. "Symptoms of Capnolagnia". Retrieved 2010-04-22.
5. "Treatments for Capnolagnia". Retrieved 2010-04-22.

• Cigarettes
• Paraphilias
• Sexual fetishism