I have a lump on the right side of my neck, anyone know what it is?

Hi, since ive been small ive had a small lump on the rightside of my neck, my mum brought me to the doctor and was told its nothing, recently its becoming more noticable and i suffer from bad a throat and had my tonsils removed 2 years ago, ive been getting sore troats again with the lump growing bigger, I also smoke, can anyone tell me if they have experienced the same thing, or what this is?