There is a chain on this forum about someone who uses nicotine patches to help treat pouchitis, I think, meaning nicotine can be beneficial, especially if the origin of the trouble that caused you to need a pouch was ulcerative colitis. I used to be a regular smoker and now I'm just an occasional social smoker. I have found alcohol to be irritating to the pouch and that usually accompanies the social smoking, so I'm unsure about the effects of smoking without drinking.