In this commentary issues are raised relating to the role of ethnicity and "culture" as a context influencing adolescent smoking. A processual rendering of culture is encouraged, as is an appreciation of intraethnic diversity. The question posed is "what is cultural about particular patterns, transitions and trajectories of smoking?" Productive ways of investigating patterns of smoking which attend to class, ethnicity, gender norms, modernity and popular culture are focused upon as an ongoing project subject to both the identity needs of youth and the agenda of the tobacco industry. Promising areas of research are identified, as are the potential contributions of ethnographies of tobacco use.