Scaly, let me get this straight. I read and enjoy your posts, you sound intelligent, you do research, and yet you say you would have quit smoking long ago if you thought it would effect the steelhead bite?!?!? But not if it reduced your lifespan significantly and reduced the quality of life for you and those around you?? We'd like to have ya around a little longer and smellin' a bit better! ..sftick BTW, a friend of a friend hasn't hooked a steelie for the last few years, since he started pinching Coppenhagen to put in his cheek, and he keeps on fishing for them. A stronger smell on the fingers than cigs but an indication that fish probably would at least prefer a bait a little more w/o the tabbaco scent. True story. Unfortunately, those of us that are addicted to a substance (my addiction is not smoking, but just as hard to kick) will tend to believe anything other people tell us, or the lies we tell ourselves, in order to rationalize our addiction. So you are going to choose to believe the ones that say tabbaco doesn't affect the bite over ones who say it does- like the pro guide and the friend). Face it and kick it! I'm going to give mine another kick in the ass right now.