This article examines the effects of tobacco abstinence on recognition memory, digit span recall, and visual attentional vigilance. The results demonstrated that abstinence impaired recognition memory discrimination (ad libitum d' =.85, abstinent d' =.64), recognition memory hit rates (ad libitum =.60, abstinent =.54), accuracy of target detection in attentional vigilance (ad libitum =.99, abstinent =.97), and speed of target detection in attentional vigilance (ad libitum = 662 ms, abstinent = 687 ms). Abstinence did not impair digit span recall (ad libitum =.55, abstinent =.56). These results are consistent with the hypotheses that tobacco abstinence impairs episodic memory and sustained attention. They also suggest that some, but not necessarily all, short-term memory processes may not be influenced by tobacco abstinence.