She Only Smokes When She Drinks

{{Infobox song

| name = She Only Smokes When She Drinks

| cover = Joe Nichols - She Only Smokes When She Drinks.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Joe Nichols

| album = Man with a Memory

| B-side = "Joe's Place"

| released = April 28, 2003

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Country

| length = 3:24

| label = Universal South

| writer = Connie Harrington
Tim Nichols
Tony Martin

| producer = Brent Rowan

| prev_title = Brokenheartsville

| prev_year = 2002

| next_title = Cool to Be a Fool

| next_year = 2003

}}

"She Only Smokes When She Drinks" is a song written by Connie Harrington, Tim Nichols, and Tony Martin and recorded by American country music singer Joe Nichols. It was released in April 2003 as the third single from his 2002 album Man with a Memory. The song peaked at number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart and also reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008|publisher=Record Research, Inc|date=2008|page=299|isbn=0-89820-177-2}}

Content

The protagonist is a bartender. A young man asks him for advice, having been asked to light a cigarette by a woman he wishes to approach. The protagonist replies that the gesture means little because knowing the woman as a regular patron, she only comes to the bar to take her mind off men who have done her wrong.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying Rowan's production is "simple and understated, letting Nichols' smokey baritone paint the portrait of a 'complicated girl...who ain't that hard to figure out."Billboard, May 3, 2003