Why should poor smokers be so reluctant to quit smoking? This problem has been investigated through in-depth interviews conducted with smokers living in precarious conditions. As they were frequently marginalised, these smokers were less exposed to the process of outlawing cigarette smoking. Smoking also constituted a strong element of their family and professional socialization. For some of them, developing a critical discourse on prevention was a way to join a collective project. For these people with no leisure activities, frequently isolated with lives rooted in the present, smoking was one of their last pleasures, a means of relief from stress as well as a way to restore social ties.