Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health.

It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette.

The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse


There is no doubt about it: smoking can kill. But so do many other things! When it comes to consumption, sugar is a case in point. How many people a year does sugar kill? Precise figures are unavailable, but Google has the following to say...

"While there is no single figure for the total number of deaths from all sugar consumption, studies show that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths annually from related conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Recent research estimates that SSBs are linked to over 330,000 deaths per year globally. Sugar consumption is a significant factor in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, which are leading causes of death worldwide.

This figure is an estimate of preventable deaths, suggesting how many fewer people would die if sugary drinks were not consumed at all, and it is based on links to specific diseases:

• 133,000 deaths from diabetes
• 45,000 deaths from cardiovascular (heart) disease
• 6,450 deaths from cancers

More recent research from January 2025 has suggested even higher figures, linking sugary drinks to over 330,000 deaths a year from type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease." — [Source: Google.]

Fact is this: If we gave up everything that could and does kill us, there'd be little left to consume and enjoy! We simply cannot get out of this life alive. — © Mark Alexander

How Cigarettes Took Over the World

Cigarettes were a prop for bored, scared and hungry soldiers in World War I and World War II.

Experts Urge UK to Ban Cigarette Filters to Protect Health and Environment

THE GUARDIAN: Researchers say filters do not reduce toxicant exposure and are major contributor to plastic waste crisis

Cigarette filters do not work and are a major source of plastic pollution that should be banned by the UK government, experts have said.

In an editorial in Addiction, the journal for the Society for the Study of Addiction, researchers argue that ministers should use a forthcoming tobacco and vapes bill to “ban filters in the interests of public health and the environment”.

“Cigarette filters were designed to give the false impression of safety,” said Dr Katherine East, associate professor in public health at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who is lead author on the editorial.

“In reality, they do not reduce toxicant exposure and may even increase harm, because they lead people to inhale deeper and for longer and can embed harmful fibres and microplastics in the lungs. They are also a major contributor to the global plastic waste crisis.” » | Damien Gayle, Environment correspondent | Thursday, October 16, 2025

Why don’t these do-gooding killjoys just get bloody lost and let people get their kicks from life where they can? God only knows that these days there are all too few kicks for them to find. — © Mark Alexander

Italie : plus de 150 tonnes de cigarettes de contrebande ont été saisies dans une usine clandestine

LE FIGARO : Capable de produire environ 5000 cigarettes par minute, l’usine de 1600 m² est la plus grande jamais découverte, en Italie.

Plus de 150 tonnes de cigarettes de contrebande ont été saisies dans une usine clandestine - la plus grande jamais découverte en Italie - cachée dans un bunker souterrain près de Cassino (sud-est de Rome), a annoncé la police douanière italienne samedi. Plus de 7 millions de cigarettes par jour, soit environ 2,7 milliards par an, pouvaient être produites dans cette manufacture illégale de 1600 mètres carrés, selon les expertises techniques menées par les militaires de la Garde des finances d'Ancône. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 27 septembre 2025

Spain's New Smoking Law Plans Could Mean Big Changes for Travellers

EURO NEWS: Spain's new regulations would also cover the use of electronic cigarettes and vapes as the country moves to impose stricter controls on tobacco marketing and product distribution in a bid to boost public health.

Spain's coalition government has approved a draft bill restricting smoking in public places that could have a significant impact on travellers.

The proposed legislation will ban smoking and vaping in outdoor spaces, including sports venues, beaches, restaurant and bar terraces.

"We'll always put public health ahead of private interests," Spain’s health minister Monica Garcia told reporters. "Everyone has a right to breathe clean air and live longer and better lives."

The proposed measures have drawn opposition from restaurant and bar owners, who say Spain's year-round outdoor dining culture is boosted significantly by customers who smoke.

Smoking indoors has been prohibited since 2011. » | Rebecca Ann-Hughes | Thursday, September 11, 2025

What is there about socialist governments that they always want to curtail people’s rights and freedoms? Is there something in socialists’ DNA, or something? Each European nation seems to be losing all sense of la dolce vita ! — © Mark Alexander

Pop Culture Takes Up Smoking Again

THE NEW YORK TIMES: From movies and TV shows to music, the habit is no longer taboo. It’s even being celebrated for the way it makes characters look cool or powerful.

In the new romantic dramedy “Materialists,” about 21st-century dating, Dakota Johnson loves cigarettes.

Playing Lucy, a New York matchmaker, she’s puffing when she gossips with a pal during a work party. Later, she holds a lighted cigarette near her face while flirting with an ex. There’s no hand-wringing over her smoking. She’s just a smoker. And she’s wildly on trend. That’s because, at least in the world of entertainment, cigarettes are once again cool.

“Materialists” is just the tip of the ash. The musicians Addison Rae and Lorde both mention smoking in recent singles. The stars of “The Bear” are smokers on- and offscreen. The “Housewives” count many among their ranks, and the Bravo enterprise recently had a viral moment thanks to smoking. Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd smoke in the big-screen comedy “Friendship,” while the chic Seema (Sarita Choudhury) on the series “And Just Like That” does as well. In the kitschy video for her track “Manchild” Sabrina Carpenter uses a fork as a cigarette holder. Even Beyoncé has lit up onstage during her Cowboy Carter Tour. In one instance, she throws the cigarette on a piano, which artfully ignites as she performs “Ya Ya.” If Beyoncé is doing it, you know it’s reached the upper echelon of culture. » | Esther Zuckerman | Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The Allure of Smoking Rises Again: The cool factor of cigarettes has proved hard to shake. »

Is smoking cool again?: Attempts to stamp out cigarettes could be having unintended consequences »

More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarette

Nov 11, 2006 | 1949 TV commercial from Camel cigarettes.

The verdict is CLEAR: Camels are the cigarettes to smoke if you want to remain healthy. Doctors know best! 😂 — © Mark Alexander

The Marlboro Cigarette Man Was Shocked When This Happened In 1964

Sep 10, 2025

Just for the Sheer Hell of It! More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarette

TV commercial from Camel cigarettes. You can order a More Doctors Smoke Camels

What life was like before paranoia set in, before people expected to live as long as Methuselah. (That includes people like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.) 😂 — © Mark Alexander

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

Young Vape Users Three Times As Likely to Start Smoking, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Review warns e-cigarettes could act as gateway to smoking and are also linked to higher asthma and other health risks

Young people who vape are three times as likely to start smoking, develop asthma and have poor mental health as those who do not, according to a study that lays bare the health impacts of e-cigarettes.

Vaping among young people is consistently linked to later smoking, according to the largest umbrella review of all the evidence on youth vaping, which warns that e-cigarettes could act as a gateway.

The researchers found associations with other harmful consequences including asthma, cough, injuries and mental ill health, as well as possible risks of respiratory disease, headaches, poor oral health and substance use. » | Rachel Hall | Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Starmer’s generational smoking ban is a pipe dream. He’s got no more chance of making a success of it than he has of stopping burglaries or supermarket theft. We do not have enough police to enforce such a smoking ban.

My regular visitors will be aware of the fact that I have always stated that encouraging vaping to replace smoking regular cigarettes will only lead to more smokers of regular cigarettes down the line. Now, it seems, researchers have caught up. It really was only common sense from the very start.

From the start, it would have been better if governments had not encouraged vaping to replace smoking. Had they left things alone, the smoking rate had been coming down quite drastically anyway. That trend has been put into reverse now. Meddlesome is as meddlesome does! — © Mark Alexander

Von "The Bear" bis Charli XCX: Warum Rauchen wieder cool ist

WATSON: Während Frankreich das Rauchen im öffentlichen Raum verbietet, zünden sich anderswo wieder alle genüsslich eine an. Auf Laufstegen, in Serien und auf Instagram ist die Kippe zurück. Ein Symbol für Coolness. Und ein Spiegel unserer Zeit.

Ausgerechnet Frankreich, das Land, das uns Existenzialismus, Savoir-vivre und das Bild des rauchenden Intellektuellen im Café geschenkt hat, hat das Rauchen an öffentlichen Orten seit Kurzem verboten. Parks, Strände, öffentliche Plätze – alles rauchfrei.

Ein Land, in dem man sich jahrzehntelang fragte, ob die Zigarette nicht vielleicht doch ein Grundrecht sei, zieht plötzlich die Reißleine und steht damit so herrlich windschief im Weltgeschehen, dass man das Ganze als eine Dialektik des Schicksals begreifen muss. Und vielleicht als Teil der Erklärung.

Kate Moss, Carrie Bradshaw und die Zigarette

Denn die Zigarette ist zurück. Auf Laufstegen, in Musikvideos, auf Instagram. Sie drängelt sich dieser Tage so unverschämt selbstbewusst in den Vordergrund wie der Kassenwart des Fördervereins bei der Abiverleihung meiner Schwester. Warum nur?

Vielleicht muss man voranstellen, dass die Zigarette nie wirklich weg war. Sie hat sich nur versteckt. Sie ist leiser geworden, schüchtern. In den 90ern und frühen 2000ern war sie noch allgegenwärtig: Kate Moss mit einer Kippe im Mundwinkel, Carrie Bradshaw, die rauchend vor ihrem Laptop sitzt. Ikonen einer Zeit, in der Rauchen zum guten Ton der Popkultur gehörte. » | Sven Fröhlich | Mittwoch, 12. August 2025

THE OUTCOME: IS SMOKING COOL AGAIN? THE DATA INDICATES MAYBE. : Cigarette sales are up across the board, even among Gen Z consumers, defying efforts to curb smoking among young people. »

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Pop Culture Takes Up Smoking Again: From movies and TV shows to music, the habit is no longer taboo. It’s even being celebrated for the way it makes characters look cool or powerful. »

Obschon ich seit mehr als drei Jahren rauchfrei bin, ich habe schöne Erinnerungen von Zeiten, in denen man eine Zigarette genießen konnte in einem Café mit einer Tasse Kaffee und in einem feinen Restaurant vor der Mahlzeit mit einem Aperitif und nach der Mahlzeit mit einer Tasse Kaffee und wenn möglich mit einem Glas Cognac. Zigarren-Raucher konnten das Rauchen einer Zigarre genießen.

Dann kamen die Spielverderber, die Weltverbesserer, die Intoleranten! Plötzlich war es Schluß mit Spaß, Vergnügen und Freude.

Einmal, glaubte ich, daß die Franzosen uns retten würden. Leider habe ich mich geirrt! Die Franzosen sind gleichermaßen woke geworden. So woke, daß sie neuerdings das Rauchen auch noch sogar auf dem Strand verbieten!

Falls die Franzosen glauben, daß Franzosen gesünder werden durch diese Gesetze und Maßnahmen, dann irren sie sich wirklich, denn heutzutage bekommen Leute ihren Spaß nicht von der bescheidenen Zigarette, sondern von Drogen, welche viel ungesünder und tödlicher sind. — © Mark Alexander

Quitting Smoking

MARK ALEXANDER: I have just realised something: It’s August 10th. As I quit smoking on April 10th 2022, and as I haven’t smoked anything since, that means that three years and four months have past by since enjoying the pleasure of smoking my last cigarette. I haven’t cheated even once.

These days, I come into contact with no smokers at all. None whatsoever! I can’t remember the day when I last smelt a smoker’s burning cigarette. Why? Because I can’t think of anyone I know who smokes anymore. The people I know are either people who have never smoked or people who have given up the pleasurable habit. So it grieves me to have to report that I have almost forgotten what the smell of a burning cigarette is like.

Many people would probably be joyful about this. I am not. I used to love the smell of fresh cigarette and cigar smoke. To me, it was redolent of conviviality. To this day, the sight of a handsome man exhaling smoke is a joy to behold.

Joyless wonders may well be proud of their achievements in creating a joyless world. I am not. To me, the pleasures of life have been destroyed. And fact is: people are no healthier today as a result of the onslaught of killjoys. In fact, if anything, they are unhealthier. These days people get their kicks from different unhealthy habits. But healthier they are not.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Third of UK Teenagers Who Vape Will Go On to Start Smoking, Research Shows

THE GUARDIAN: Findings suggest e-cigarettes increasingly act as ‘gateway’ to nicotine for children, undermining earlier falling rates

A third of UK teenagers who vape will go on to start smoking tobacco, research shows, meaning they are as likely to smoke as their peers were in the 1970s.

A long-term intergenerational study found that the likelihood of starting to smoke among people aged 17 in 2018 was about 1.5% if they did not vape compared with 33% if they did.

The findings suggest that e-cigarettes are increasingly acting as a “gateway” to nicotine cigarettes for children, undermining falling rates of teen smoking over the past 50 years. » | Rachel Hall | Tuesday, July 29, 2025

This is what I have been saying all along. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Real cigarettes are often super unappealing to young children—when I was a child, I couldn’t bear the smell of smoke and avoided people smoking!—but those vapes are a different story altogether. They come in all manner of appealing flavours—strawberry, apricot, blackcurrant, chocolate, etc.—so how would they not be appealing to children. Once children get into the habit of enjoying puffing away on an e-cigarette, when they mature, they will naturally be tempted to graduate to the real thing: cigarettes. Smoking is here to stay! And that killjoy Starmer will never be able to enforce a generational smoking ban. For starters, who on earth is going to be able to police it? Our police forces can’t control theft from supermarkets, still less will they ever be able to enforce a smoking ban. – © Mark Alexander

Smoke Signals: From Charli XCX’s Nuptials to The Bear, Cigarettes Are Everywhere

THE GUARDIAN: Fags are back in fashion, as a ‘soft rebellion’ at weddings, on stage and on screen, despite awareness of the cancer risk

Coffee and chocolates traditionally signal the end of a meal at a wedding. But now many couples are ditching the sweet stuff and doling out cigarettes instead. Bowls and trays piled high with fags have become the new party favour.

Last weekend, guests at Charli xcx’s nuptials were served Vogue Essence Bleue slim cigarettes from silver trays, and social media is peppered with wedding receptions featuring tiered dessert stands laden with smoking paraphernalia and dedicated “smoking stations”.

It can be an expensive addition to any wedding bill, considering the average cost for a packet of 20 cigarettes is now £14.

Many modern brides take their inspiration from Mary-Kate Olsen, the child star turned fashion designer for The Row. In 2015, Olsen doled out mini bowls of cigarettes during her wedding to her now ex-husband Olivier Sarkozy. » | Chloe Mac Donnell | Friday, July 25, 2025

Sanity returns, pleasure is back! Killjoys eat you hearts out! Starmer! Time to ditch your nanny-state, anti-smoking policies and bans! People want to ditch their straightjackets and have some enjoyment again. Pleasure is in fashion again. It had to happen. It just did. – © Mark Alexander

Smokers Turn to Black Market because Quitting Products Too Expensive | The Business | ABC NEWS

Jul 21, 2025 | The consumption of illicit tobacco is growing, as more tobacconists pop up across the country, and revenue is lost from the legal excise. It's causing debate between politicians as experts warn Australia needs to crack down on the trade. In 2023, it was estimated that illegal tobacco consumption may account for close to 30 per cent of the total tobacco market in Australia, although these estimates by the legal tobacco industry are disputed. And despite sectors of government agreeing Australia has a problem with the illegal trade, there's mixed messaging about how to tackle the problem. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out lowering the tax excise on cigarettes, which will rise again in September, while NSW Premier Chris Minns has a different view and thinks the tax should be reduced. University of Sydney public health professor Becky Freeman says if the government was to lower the tobacco excise, it would send the wrong message. Instead, she thinks the number of outlets that sell tobacco products should be reduced.

As of July 1, NSW and Victoria introduced tobacco licensing laws, giving businesses until October and February respectively to apply for a licence to sell cigarettes. Experts say more needs to done to tackle the growing trade.


Australian politicians are as short-sighted and clueless as European politicians! Can’t they see the damage they are doing to people’s health by encouraging them to smoke black market cigarettes and tobacco because of cost? The quality of the tobacco on the black market is unregulated and the long-term health consequences of smoking it is likely to be be far worse than if they were able to afford to smoke government-regulated, quality-controlled tobacco and cigarettes manufactured at home. Moreover, the more expensive governments make tobacco products, the more likely people are to find alternative sources of enjoyment and pleasure. And that is precisely what is happening nowadays here in the West.

The best way to bring down smoking rates without causing resentment and distortions in the market is through information of the health dangers associated with smoking tobacco, not through extortionate taxation and government coercion. In any case, people do far worse things than enjoy the smoking of a cigarette.

We don’t live in utopia; rather, we live in the real world. And in the real world, people do all sorts of things, and consume all sorts of products, which are not conducive to perfect health. As Margaret Thatcher said: “The desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom.” – © Mark Alexander

Michael Lambert: Why Do People Risk Everything to Cross the Channel?

July 5, 2025

Of course the UK is flooded with illicit, cheap cigarettes from abroad. Successive governments on the right and the left have increased the tax on cigarettes so much and have made them so expensive that many people cannot afford to pay the ludicrous prices charged in regular shops for government-approved cigarettes. The taxation on cigarettes is out of all proportion to the value of the packet of cigarettes sold, out of all proportion to the pleasure derived therefrom, and out of all proportion to the wages and salaries earned by normal working people.

The government is never going to get to grips with this problem whilst they insist on taxing smokers to the hilt. Smokers WILL get their smokes one way or the other. No do-gooding government is going to stop them. And if they don’t get their pleasure from smoking, they will get their pleasure some other source, from some other substance.

This is precisely what has happened in Australia. Successive Australian governments have raised the prices of cigarettes so much that some sources say that 25% of all cigarettes sold in the country are illicit. In Melbourne, there is even gang warfare over illicit cigarettes! This is what happens when politicians are bereft of common sense! Politics is the art of the possible. Politicians should never forget that! This is Politics 101.

When I quit smoking back in April 2022, the price of a packet of Marlboro Reds in the UK was precisely £12.50. As I write this today, the same shop is selling them for £16.75! On top of that, the quality of cigarettes—all cigarettes sold in the UK—is poor indeed. Nothing like the quality of cigarettes sold in the country when I started smoking all those years ago.

This country will never get a handle on the influx of illicit cigarettes whilst they try and deprive hard-working people of all pleasures. And all in the name of improved health. Yes, of course smoking is not particularly healthy. But so are many other things consumed and enjoyed; moreover, the fact is, people’s health has not improved anyway. Arguably, it is far, far worse. Cardiovascular disease today, type 2 diabetes today, and obesity today are all much worse than they ever were when people enjoyed a cigarette. So, politicians, put that in your pipes and smoke it! Mull that over well!

Puritanism never did anyone any good! Read about the fiasco in the States during the Prohibition, when they tried to ban the drinking of alcohol there. And, according to some sources, the consumption of spirits and wine during the Prohibition years exceeded pre-Prohibition levels. That didn't bring Americans much virtue, did it? – © Mark Alexander

Smoking

MARK ALEXANDER: The war on smoking and smokers is being waged continuously. One would be forgiven for concluding that our useless politicians have nothing better or more important to think about or concern themselves with. Would that we had politicians like Helmut Schmidt or Winston Churchill today!

This war on smoking is regrettable, and one day these stupid politicians will come to see the folly of their ways. Making cigarettes so expensive and making it impossible to smoke everywhere is the most ridiculous of things. Even the French have succumbed to this stupidity! And the heavy-smoking Germans, too!

Why do I say these things? It is simple. Anyone who has ever worked with young people will know that young people will always seek out their pleasures and kicks. If they cannot get their kicks one way, they will seek them out some other way. This is one of the hallmarks of youth. Is there any wonder that we now have so many young people hooked on e-cigarettes? Is there any wonder that we now have so many people hooked on ketamine? Is there any wonder why we now have so many young people hooked on cocaine, or on marijuana? Banning cigarettes, Sir Keir, is not going to make young people hale and healthy and/or virtuous. What it will do is drive cigarette smoking underground and it will push young people into the arms of drug dealers. How stupid politicians these days are! How naïve!

On a positive note, I quit smoking more than three years ago. In fact, the last cigarette I smoked was the day after my birthday, on April 10th 2022. My quitting has been extremely successful, but my waistline has expanded accordingly.

My advice is this: Giving up smoking is easier than you think. If I can do it, you can too. I had been a pack-a-day smoker. (And I loved every one of the cigarettes I smoked throughout my life.) Smoking fine cigarettes is one of life’s great pleasures. The people who complain about smoking and smokers are a PITA! When it comes to being cool and sexy, nothing compares to a cigarette.

If you want to give up smoking, fear not, it will be easier than you think. Though you do need determination. But expect to put on weight.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Smoking - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry | DW Documentary | Reupload

Dec 13, 2024 | Smoking has an image problem, because everyone knows: it can kill you. That’s why tobacco multinationals are increasingly focused on e-cigarettes, enticing consumers with bright colors and fruity flavors. The target group: young people.

The World Health Organization says smoking results in the death of eight million people every year. That’s one reason why you’ll now often hear tobacco companies promoting the switch to e-cigarettes, with claims that these are less harmful to our health. It’s first and foremost young people who believe the industry’s promises, thereby taking the first step on the road to addiction. After all, nicotine is an addictive substance. And although it may taste better than tobacco, puffing on a vape is still going to get you hooked in precisely the same way as smoking a regular cigarette. The film investigates the cynicism of an industry that not only accepts this, but also deliberately aims for it.

Big Nicotine - Anatomy of an Addiction Industry /TEMPS PRESENT / Laurent Burkhalter & Philippe Mach / 2024 / RTS Radio television Suisse

The Allure of Smoking Rises Again

THE ATLANTIC: The cool factor of cigarettes has proved hard to shake.

The allure of smoking has proved hard to stamp out. Despite the fact that cigarette use is at an 80-year-low in America, smoking has, unfortunately, become cool again. At the New York Fashion Week show in February, some models accessorized their runway outfits with a cigarette. A clip of the TikTok influencer Addison Rae smoking two cigarettes is cut into her latest music video, which has more than 4 million views. The pop star Charli XCX, who was recently gifted a bouquet of cigarettes for her birthday, sparked one during her performance in Manchester last month, and has said that her brat starter pack would include “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”

All of this is despite the fact that anyone born after 1964, when the surgeon general pronounced that smoking causes cancer, should know the habit is just about the worst thing you can do if you want to live a long, healthy life. And many people grasped that much earlier: The Atlantic contributor James Parton wrote back in 1868 that “it does not pay to smoke.” When he quit tobacco, he had fewer headaches, enjoyed exercise more, and held a “better opinion of myself” (though I admit that his prescribed method for kicking the habit—drinking a “good stiff glass of whiskey and water” instead of reaching for a pipe—hasn’t held up very well). » | Nicholas Florko | Thursday, December 5, 2024

Related video – Tucker's take (and mine) here.