Dear Sir, You are having tonsillitis, meaning your tonsils are infected. They are swollen too which is making swallowing painful. When you smoke, the tonsils get heat, the blood supply in the area increases, and tonsils get even more swollen. In severe case, it might cause difficulty in breathing. So you should not smoke while having tonsillitis. Furthermore, there have been cases where a patient has tonsillits and stops smoking and after the tonsils recover, they start smoking again and have got another episode of tonsillitis. You might also be facing such situation. Cigarette smoke contains large amount of harmful chemicals. Your body or in this case, your tonsils may not be capable of dealing with irritation from these chemicals. It can also slow down the recovery from the infection in your tonsils. In any case, it is very clear that smoking is not going to do any good to your physical, mental or financial health. This may be a chance to quit smoking altogether. You can use nicotine patch, gums, see a counselor and get rid of this awful habit. Strong will and positive attitude can make it possible for sure. I hope this information helps. Thank you for choosing HealthCareMagic to help you. I wish you good luck to stay away from cigarettes. Take care. Best, Dr. Viraj Shah