Favorite cigarette of the day in a random sample of women smokers

From a random digit dialing survey of American women, we assessed current smokers (n = 371). Respondents were 33.6 ± 7.6 years old, 49.6% married, and 87.6% White, with an FTND score of 3.9 ± 2.6. When asked “which cigarette of the day would be the most difficult for you to give up?” 30 women gave uncodable responses and 341 women provided answers subsequently coded into 5 categories: FIRST; 43.7%, MEAL; 29.3%, LAST; 13.8%, ROUTINE; 7.3%, and ENHANCE; 5.9%. Response groups differed significantly on age (p < .01), smoking rate (p < .001), time to first cigarette (p < .001), and self-rated health (p < .05). In post hoc analyses, FIRST were older, smoked more cigarettes/day, and smoked sooner after waking than at least one other group. LAST smoked the fewest cigarettes/day, and ENHANCE rated their health significantly better than did all other groups. The FTND is coded as 1 for “first” and 0 for any other response. Examining more closely the richness contained in that “other” category is a novel approach that may prove useful as a phenotyping tool.