The objective of this article is to study the place of tobacco addiction in a rural area in Senegal. We have performed a transversal and domicillary study on a sample of adults and adolescents of the district of Thiadiaye (Senegal). The mean age of the studied population is 39 +/- 8.5 years (extremes: 12 and 100 years). The sex ratio is 0.85%. The prevalence of tobacco addict was 24.07%, 9% of the teenagers and 32% of the adults were smokers. Tobacco use was more frequent among men (89% 5%) than women (10.5%) (p < 10(-7)). The most common form was traditional tobacco: 62.1%. Cigarette was smoked in 14.4% of cases. The mean duration of tobacco use was 13 +/- -12.2 years. The mean consumption per day of traditional tobacco was 5.1 +/- 4, whereas the mean number of cigarettes per day is 12.3 +/- -7. Our study shows that tobacco occupies an important place in rural area in Senegal where coexist with traditional habits, a modern tobacco use represented by cigarette smoking.