Objective: To investigate the effect of cigarette smoking on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal Turkish women. Study design: A total of 175 postmenopausal Turkish women admitted to Tepecik Training and Research Hospital for a routine menopausal checkup were included in this study. All participants completed a questionnaire regarding their age, educational status, parity, number of abortus, time since menopause, caffeine intake, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, history of a previous fracture related to trauma, and taking any medication for menopause and osteoporosis. Of all subjects, 23.3 % (n = 39) were smokers and 77.7 % (n = 136) were nonsmokers. T-scores and Z-scores of vertebra and femur neck were assessed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). For analyzing the results, Student t-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson correlation, and Kruskal–Wallis test were performed. Results: Femur T-scores (− 0.78 ± 1.07 vs. − 0.32 ± 1.56) and vertebra T-scores (− 2.26 ± 1.23 vs. − 1.82 ± 1.04) were significantly lower in smoking women than nonsmoking women (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant difference between duration of smoking, number of cigarettes consumed per day, and BMD (p > 0.05) Conclusion: Cigarette smoking is one of the modifiable risk factors influencing bone density in postmenopausal Turkish women. “Cessation of cigarette” should be recommended for lifestyle modifications to prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis.