In a previous post, we already discussed the effects of smoking on life insurance premiums. But in this article, we’re going to discuss the more basic question of how much smoking makes you a smoker to life insurance companies.

A $20 cigar every day may not be feasible for most, but if you’re smoking them occasionally, that amount here and there probably wouldn’t make or break most, either. And as a splurge cigar, Cohiba Connecticut brings the goods. The wrapper – smooth and silky, and it burns to a wonderfully nutty note. Sweet cream, cedar, earth, and wood are expertly refined. It is true that an occasional cigar smoker can be nicotine free in about 48 hours. However, cotine stays in the blood for up to 14 days. Therefore, to write an n occasional cigar smoker and secure a non tobacco rate, he or she must not use any tobacco 14 days prior to the paramedical exam and not smoking more than one cigar per month. Smoking also causes abdominal aortic aneurysm. Smoking can increase the risk of stillbirth, low birth weight, infertility, premature birth and sudden infant death syndrome. Women who smoke have a lower bone density than non-smoking women. Kicking the smoking habit requires a commitment to a lifestyle change.

Define Occasional Smoker

This isn’t a small issue either. When people apply for life insurance, they typically minimize how much they smoke, often to the point of classifying themselves as non-smokers. For example, a person may consider himself to be a non-smoker, because he only smokes on weekends. In his own mind, the fact that he doesn’t smoke Monday through Friday means that he isn’t a smoker.

Rest assured that a life insurance company will take a very different view of even minimal use of tobacco.

A Life Insurance Company’s View of a “Smoker”

Occasional Smoker Detection Time

A standard question on every life insurance application is “have you used tobacco or nicotine in the last 12 (or 24, 36, 48, or 60) months?” Now notice the way that question is worded – it’s an unqualified question that forces you to say yes for even the most minimal use of tobacco, or to lie and hope they never find out.

A “yes” answer from you will automatically classify you as a smoker for life insurance purposes.

As far as the insurance company is concerned, if you’ve only smoked a few cigarettes in the time period covered, you’ll be considered a smoker. The frequency with which you smoke will only matter as far as which smoker rates you are assigned. But a “yes” answer for any degree of tobacco usage will classify you as a smoker.

This is where the life insurance industry and the typical person on the street don’t see eye-to-eye. While the average person recognizes a difference between an occasional smoker, and a full-blown smoker, the life insurance industry does not make the same distinction. If you smoked just a few cigarettes in the past year, a life insurance company will consider you to be a smoker.

Can You Pull-Off the Big Lie?

Anything is possible of course, including attempting to deceive an insurance company in regard to your use of tobacco. But there will be consequences if the habit is discovered at a later date.

Occasional Smoker Reddit

Failure to disclose a significant health condition is considered to be insurance fraud, and there a few possible outcomes should that be the case. At the extreme, you could face criminal prosecution. More commonly, the life insurance company can void the policy upon discovery of your undisclosed habit.

It is even possible – and completely legal – for an insurance company to deny paying your insurance to your beneficiaries upon your death, if it can be determined that your death was in any way caused by tobacco usage that you failed to disclose. The insurance company could simply refund the amount of your life insurance premiums to your beneficiaries, but not provide any funds as part of the face value of the policy.

They can even terminate your policy without warning if subsequent medical tests reveal that you are in fact a smoker, when you indicated that you weren’t. Tobacco usage can easily be determined from a simple urine test.

Tobacco usage is too easy to determine to even consider the possibility of failing to disclose it. It’s far better to admit to your tobacco habit, and obtain the best policy that you can get based on that reality.

What If You Quit Smoking?

Life insurance companies do actually have a favorable response to the prospect of you quitting smoking. Some companies will even rate you preferred plus if you can demonstrate that you have been tobacco free for certain for a certain period of time, which is generally at least two or three years.

Some will require that you actually participate in a smoker cessation plan, which will provide the documentation needed to establish the fact that you are now a former smoker. And this is a far better route to take than trying to cover up the fact that you’re a smoker.

Best Course of Action For the Smoker: Choose Your Life Insurance Company Carefully

Unfortunately, most people are in no position to know which companies are the most likely to approve a smoker for life insurance, and at the lowest possible premium. You have two choices in this regard:

1. Apply to a bunch of life insurance companies, so that you can find out who the best ones are for smokers, or
2. You can work with an experienced insurance broker who already has that information, and can place your application only with companies who like smokers – and they are out there!

Applying to a bunch of life insurance companies takes time and effort, and it can also tie up your money since they typically want you to provide the initial premium along with the application. So you really have only one attractive choice, and that’s to work with a good insurance broker.

We can help you with that. We work with many life insurance companies, and know who the ones who will take the most favorable view of smokers. Let us help you get your life insurance, and that will save you time, money, and the aggravation of facing declined applications. Put our knowledge to work for you!

There is no doubt that smoking can have serious consequences for a person's health, but just how much effect can it have on your life expectancy? We take a look at some stats...

Researchers at 'Action on Smoking and Health' have reported that a 30-year-old smoker can expect to live about 35 more years, whereas a 30-year-old non-smoker can expect to live 53 more years. In addition, the children of a parent or parents who smoke may be at risk from the genetic damage done to the parent before conception (because of their previous smoking), the direct effects to them in the womb, and the passive smoke they are exposed to after they are born.

Source: Smokers urged to weigh the 'facts' during the 'Great American Smoke-Out,' Vital Signs, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, Nov. 14, 1993, written by June Russell, a member of Smoke-Free Charlottesville

The amount of life expectancy lost for each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28 minutes, and the years of life expectancy a typical smoker loses is 25 years.

Source: Dying to Quit,' 1998 book by Janet Brigham

Every cigarette a man smokes reduces his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of cigarettes thus represents a day and a half of lost life. Every year a man smokes a pack a day, he shortens his life by almost 2 months.

Source: University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, April 2000

There are some 1.1 billion people who smoke on our planet earth. Just less than one-third of all adults in the world smoke regularly. Tobacco deaths will not only occur in old age but will start when smokers are about age 35. Half of those who die from smoking-related causes will die in middle age, each losing about 25 years of life expectancy. More than 95% of the tobacco consumed is in the form of cigarettes. About half of all smokers who undergo lung cancer take up smoking again.

Source: Dying to Quit,' a 1998 book by Janet Brigham

In an article published on MNT in 2013, we revealed that smokers die ten years sooner than non-smokers.

If you would like to read some tips and ideas for how to quit smoking, read our article published here.