Objective To explore the correlation between different smoking status and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Methods Based on the Early Screening and Comprehensive Intervention Project for High⁃risk Population of Cardiovascular Disease conducted from 2015 to 2024, counties and districts under the jurisdiction of Nanning, Guilin, Qinzhou, Baise, Guigang, Hezhou, Fangchenggang, and Wuzhou in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were selected as the research areas. Villages or communities were taken as the basic sampling units, and a whole sampling method was adopted to investigate over 180 000 residents aged 35 to 75 years. The smoking status of different demographic characteristic groups was analyzed, and the differences in CVD risk factors between different smoking status groups were compared. The blood pressure, fasting blood glucose (FBG) level, and the rates of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia between different age groups and different smoking status groups were compared. The reasons for quitting smoking among past smokers were also analyzed. Results A total of 35 165 male residents were included in the final analysis. Among them, 47.3% (16 627/35 165) were never smokers, 44.1% (15 509/35 165) were current smokers, and 8.6% (3029/35 165) were past smokers. There were statistically significant differences in smoking status between groups with different regions of residence, ages, educational levels, ethnicity, occupations, marital status, and annual household incomes (P<0.05). The age, systolic blood pressure, FBG level, central obesity rate, hypertension rate, diabetes rate, and the proportion of high⁃risk CVD population among past smokers were higher than those among never smokers and current smokers in most of the days (P<0.05). The systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, FBG level, hypertension rate, diabetes rate, and the proportion of high⁃risk CVD population among current occasional smokers and current smokers in most of the days were lower than those among never smokers and current daily smokers (P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in systolic blood pressure, FBG level, and hypertension rate, diabetes rate, and dyslipidemia rate between groups with different ages and smoking status (P<0.05). Among the 3029 past smokers, 45.1% quit smoking due to concerns about future health, 30.2% due to existing diseases, 6.9% due to opposition from family members, 2.3% due to heavy economic burden, and the remaining 15.5% due to other reasons. Conclusion There is a close relation between smoking status and CVD risk factors. Comprehensive intervention measures should be taken for different smoking status groups to reduce the occurrence risk of CVD.