Alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking affect plasma lipid levels and are both independent risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. Alcohol and nicotine addictions are more common among man than women in Poland. The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in plasma lipid levels after cessation of heavy drinking in smoking and nonsmoking Polish male adults. Subjects were recruited from individuals who participated in an inpatient addiction program following alcohol detoxification. We recruited 119 male adults: 48 non-smokers in age between 31 and 60 years (mean 48.7 +/- 8.8) and 71 smokers in age between 30 and 60 years (mean 46.1 +/- 7.8). Each subjects provided three blood samples: at baseline, after 3 weeks, and after 6 weeks of treatment. Plasma samples were analyzed for lipids by manual precipitation and automatic enzymatic methods. Changes in plasma lipid concentrations were analyzed using two-way analysis of variances with repeated measures with smoking status as between subjects factor and time post alcohol cessation as within-subject factors. All analyses were adjusted for age, and BMI. We found that plasma levels of HDL decreased in smoking and nonsmoking subjects by 30% and 24%, respectively (p < 0.001). In smoking subjects, plasma levels of triglycerides and LDL increased significantly after 6 weeks post cessation of heavy drinking cessation by 17% and 16%, respectively (p = 0.001). We also found that total cholesterol levels remained high in smoking subjects, but decreased significantly by 7% (p = 0.022) in nonsmoking subjects after 6 weeks post cessation of heavy drinking. We concluded that cigarette smoking increased LDL and inhibited the decline in plasma cholesterol among subjects addicted to alcohol following cessation of heavy drinking. Alcohol addiction therapy should be complemented with smoking cessation to prevent increase in cardiovascular risk.