[I got socked with a flu in 1972. But it had a beneficial side effect. After feeling for about 5-6 days like I just wanted to die, I realized on feeling better that I hadn’t smoked a cigarette in all that time. I’d been smoking since joining the Army in ‘67, though after that flu, I never lit up again.]
Same thing happened to my dad at about the same time. He stopped the Muriel Air-tips. He used to call it “The Grip” rather than flu.
My dad would sneak in with a shot of Whiskey after mom went to bed.