[justshutupandtakeit]

They were not aware of all the health risks involved. Once my granddad passed my father tried to cut back and switched from Lucky Strikes to Pall Mall filtered. My father-in-law just eventually suffocated.

Dad and the F-i-L had habits developed in WWII when the military distributed cigarettes for free. After twenty years it was very difficult to quit.

They would not have cared about laws against smoking in public since they did not go out to bars or restaurants and were careful to ask if anyone objected to their smoking (the old southern gentleman thing).

[Madame Dufarge]

They were not aware of all the health risks involved

Did they live in a cave?

I'm 60 years old, and my grandfather (who smoked) called cigarettes "coffin nails."