Introduction:
Tobacco smoking is among the most serious contemporary civilization threats, and the struggle with it has become one of the priorities of the EU public health system. According to the WHO estimates, in 2030 it may be the cause of even 8 million deaths worldwide. In Poland, almost every third person (31%) aged 15 and over admits to smoking on a daily basis. The aim of this study is to present the scale of the problem of smoking among students from Rzeszów, and to characterize the selected aspects of this phenomenon.

Material and Methods:
The research instrument was a questionnaire designed by the author. The study was anonymous, involving 477 students in Rzeszów.

Results:
In the study population, 34% of students declared that they smoked cigarettes. The lowest percentage of students who declared regular cigarette smoking (27%) was found in the age group of over 25 (mainly extramural students), followed by students aged 21–25 (36.9%), and those aged under 20 (36.6%). A half of the respondents aged over 25 have smoked for longer than 5 years, while younger respondents declared that they have smoked for more than one year, but no longer than 5 years (32.3%).

Conclusions:
1. Males declared regular smoking more frequently than females. Females were never-smokers more often than males. 2. Students of Tourism and Recreation were the largest population group who declared smoking, while Public Health students more frequently than others give up smoking, or do not smoke at all. 3. Awareness of the health effects of tobacco smoking and smoking-related diseases was the greatest incentive for discontinuation of smoking for students of Public Health.