90 percent of the nicotine you inhale while smoking a cigarette is immediately metabolized and out of your body within minutes of smoking. However the other 10 percents can linger for some time. The nicotine from one cigarette can last for 6-8 hours before being excreted by your kidneys. The occasional smoker who uses less than 10 cigarettes per day, clearing the body of nicotine takes a few days. The heavy smoker can still have traces of nicotine in their body 30 days after a cigarette – if they don’t smoke any additional cigarettes.