Smoking

Being a non-smoker I don't really see the appeal in smoking, unless it's one of those huge Cuban cigars so you can pretend to be in the Soprano's or a Jazz Club. However, it's not hard to see that it does have certain social benefits.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Smoking_effects_on_your_body ...This is a fact sheet on the effects of smoking.

I know that a few of my friends have taken up smoking just to fit into new social groups when they have moved to a new college or university. Totally disregarding their own health in the hope of increased popularity. Which I recon is pretty damn stupid, but it seems to have worked for them.

Infact that one of these said friends decided that his plan had been so successful that he started recommending this new image to other people, in the hope that they too would succeed and think of him as some sort of popularity icon.
This social advantage of smoking has found its way into the BBC, in their 2004 series 'The Smoking Room', and into Hollywood, with 'Thank You For Smoking', released in 2005.
None of these examples are aimed at glamourising smoking or try to suggest any other benefits it could offer, they only use it to offer a satirical look at how it effects people.
So. It can be said that smoking does have many short term benefits, especially for a student. But none of these could counter balance the long term drawback which are caused by this addiction.