I am surprised to read that W2R was an ex-smoker, albeit she quit a long time ago. I guess because she does not drink. Though drinkers do not necessarily smoke, most smokers drink, I believe.
Anyway, I am an ex-smoker myself. Not a heavy smoker, but about 1/2 pack a day from when I was 17 to 46 year of age. I quit cold turkey. It happened on a European trip in 2003, when I ran out of the pack I brought, and took the occasion to quit. Just now, looking at the pictures that we took on that trip, I found some of me still with a cigarette in hand.
It was tough in the beginning, as it was not the first time that I tried. After about 6 months to a year, the craving stopped and cigarette smoke started to bother me.
About the healthcare cost, I have seen reports like the one Alan mentioned. And about lung cancer, I have read that 9 out of 10 lung cancer patients smoked. However, only 1 out of 10 smokers get lung cancer.
Think about that for a moment. The above two facts are not contradictory. Not every smoker will die of lung cancer. We all know of some heavy smokers who lived till old age.
Another statistics to ponder is that US citizens as a whole smoke less than Europeans. Yet, the latter have longer life span, and their medical costs are lower. So, what is doing us in? Not smoke, but obesity. It's the bacon, my friends, that is killing us. So, why not ban bacon and ostracize obesity?
About death from cigarette, I don't know why it would be worse than any other cause of death. My father, after 6-7 years of dialysis due to total kidney failure topped off with a stroke, eventually died of liver failure and such weak immunity that a month-long injection of Vancomycin could not stem his systemic infection.
Other than a fatal heart attack or stroke that hits you like a bolt of lightning from the blue, any lingering ailment before death is terrible. There is no point in saying that death from cigarette is worse than any other cause of death. My friend's mother had a heart attack that did not kill her immediately, but destroyed her heart. Short of a heart transplant, nothing could save her. She lingered for a month, and my friend told me it wasn't pretty.
We are all going to die of something, yes?
I am not going back to smoke, but going to pour me some Cognac now. Have not had my eau de vie in a while.
Then, I am going to cook some steak for dinner.
Cheers.