Smoking

Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly the substance is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant which have been rolled into a small square of rice paper to create a small, round cylinder called a "cigarette". Smoking is primarily practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use because the combustion of the dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into the lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and reach bodily tissue. In the case of cigarette smoking these substances are contained in a mixture of aerosol particles and gasses and include the pharmacologically active alkaloid nicotine; the vaporization creates heated aerosol and gas into a form that allows inhalation and deep penetration into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream of the active substances occurs. In some cultures, smoking is also carried out as a part of various rituals, where participants use it to help induce trance-like states that, they believe, can lead them to spiritual enlightenment.

Links to Peel
Peel was never a smoker, and mentioned in the Daily Express, published on 9th March 1972 that he used to smoke pot when hosting shows on BBC Radio London, as well as his father dying of lung cancer due to smoking heavily:

"'My father died of lung cancer... I can never understand why people smoke. It makes them unattractive, makes them smell. There's nothing worse than kissing a girl who's been smoking. It's like licking inside of a stove. I've smoked pot but not anymore. On the radio ship I did some of my programmes, stoned. But they were exceptionally bad shows, very untidy, with lots of pauses and giggling. Still it's a lot healthier than drinking.'"