The comments were great...
While I don't fully agree with the article (it was heavily and horribly edited), it does bring about huge points on the "social aspect" of smoking.... advertising, location restrictions, making smoking no longer "cool"... Disbanding the Tobacco Institute was a fantastic thing as it stopped a lot of the mis-information pushed out onto the public by Big Tobacco... now if they can only disband the FDA, EPA, and a few dozen other "institutes" that push all the junk-science regarding the environment and energy!!
Some people will smoke even if they are $20 a pack, until their dying breath... Raising prices (taxes) only serves the government to offset the declining sales to maintain tax levels year to year... your local politician WANTS you to smoke... they want SOMEONE to smoke, so they can get the tax revenue! The poor are hardest hit with the increases, and die-hard smokers will pay for a pack regardless of the cost, even if they have to skim from their food budgets or not pay one of their bills.