Smoking and the Smoker trait in Project Zomboid

Smoker is a negative trait on the traits screen. In Build 42 it gives back 3 points to spend elsewhere, and it cannot be taken together with Athletic. It grants no skill XP and no recipes.

The in-game text sums it up: unhappiness climbs when your character goes without tobacco, and smoking lowers both stress and unhappiness. So the trait is a supply problem more than a combat one. As long as you carry cigarettes and a way to light them, the cost is small. Run out during a long trip and your mood slowly gets worse.

Opinion: Smoker is one of the cheaper negative traits for most builds, because cigarettes are common in towns and a single carton covers months of play. It is a worse pick for a rural or wilderness start far from shops. See character builds for how it fits common setups.

Withdrawal does not start the moment you finish a cigarette. The game keeps a timer of how long you have gone without smoking, and after a short smoke-free delay the craving begins to raise unhappiness. Smoking clears the craving and resets that timer. The amount of reset depends on how much withdrawal had built up.

The exact number of hours before withdrawal starts, and the rate at which unhappiness rises, are not documented for Build 42 in the sources we checked. Treat any precise interval you see quoted online as unconfirmed. In practice, watch the Unhappy and Stressed moodles: when they start to creep up with no other cause, it is time to smoke.

Opinion: A smoker who lights up a few times per in-game day rarely notices the trait. Keep a pack in your main bag rather than in base storage, so a long looting run does not leave you craving.

Build 42 has several ways to take nicotine. Each one lowers stress for a Smoker by a set amount. The figures below come from pzfans.com's Build 42 guides.

A single cigarette weighs 0.01 and a pack 0.2, so carrying a full pack costs almost nothing in carry weight. The pipe figure appears on only one page. The Pouch of Tobacco use count is worked out from its item data rather than stated outright. For loot spots, bars, gas stations, offices and prison cells are reliable; see loot locations and looting.

Every smokable except chewing tobacco needs a flame. You can light up from a carried tool or from fire in the world.

The use counts above come from a single guide (one source) and may vary. Since the same lighters also start fires, a smoker tends to have fire-starting covered anyway.

Yes, you can grow your own tobacco in Build 42. It is one of the crops added to the new farming system. Tobacco seeds turn up in tool stores and tool storage, and you can also find them by foraging. Sow from March to July. March is the best month and autumn and winter months are bad ones. The plant wants a steady water level around 70 percent.

Tobacco is a slow crop. One guide puts the first harvest at roughly 180 days (one source), and the game data lists a long growing time without a clear unit, so check it on your own save before you rely on it. The plant does not regrow after harvest, and a healthy plant gives more leaves than a sickly one.

Turning leaves into something smokable takes three steps:

1. Harvest fresh Tobacco leaves. They spoil, staying fresh for about 7 days and going fully rotten at about 14.
2. Use the Dry Tobacco recipe (Farming category, linked to a drying rack) to turn up to 20 leaves into Tobacco (Dried). Drying takes a long time.
3. Use Shred Tobacco with scissors or a sharp knife to turn dried tobacco into a Pouch of Tobacco, which you can roll, put in a pipe, or use in other recipes.

Crop timing and yields are on crop data and crops. Plan around seasons, because a late sowing will not mature before the cold.

Quitting: Build 42 has no vanilla way to lose the Smoker trait. Going without tobacco only keeps your character unhappy. It does not wean them off. Removing the trait takes debug mode or a mod.

Non-smokers: A character without the trait can smoke, but nicotine gives them no stress or unhappiness relief and adds food sickness instead (+14 for a cigarette, +28 for a cigar). They also cough. Sources disagree on how often: one pzfans page says Smokers cough less than non-smokers, while another gives the reverse odds. Coughing makes noise, so do not smoke near zombies either way.

Tobacco is still worth picking up as a non-smoker. The Make Flies Cure recipes, learned from the Kentucky Farmer - May 1993 magazine, mix 8 tobacco items with water in an empty gardening spray can to make Pest Flies Spray for your crops. Lighters and matches matter to everyone too.

Opinion: If you play a non-smoker, leave cigars and packs where they lie unless you farm. Then save loose tobacco or cigarettes for pest spray.