Madathil S, Rousseau MC, Joseph L, et al. - Data from 631 ever-smoker individuals of a hospital-based case-control study done in four major hospitals in Montréal, Canada, of cases (n = 320), incident, histologically validated, primary squamous cell carcinomas and to controls (n = 311) were analyzed in order to examine the latency and life course impacts of tobacco smoking on risk of head and neck cancers (HNC) among HPV-positive (HPV^+ve) and negative (HPV^-ve) people. For HPV^+ve cases and controls, retrospective smoking trajectories had comparable shapes. Among both HPV^+ve and HPV^-ve individuals, exposure to tobacco smoking even 40 years prior to the diagnosis was related to an elevated HNC risk. Among HPV^+ve people, in comparison with afterward, the impact of smoking prior to the start of sexual activity was greater. Among HPV^-ve individuals, this pattern of relationship was less profound. Therefore, relative to HNC risk, temporal interactions may endure between oral HPV infection and life course smoking trajectories.