He was a nonsmoker until he became a POW in 1944. He started smoking those cigarettes in the Red Cross packages because he said they reduced his hunger pains. He said a lot of the men he knew smoked for the same reason, plus the fact that many of them really enjoyed smoking.

He smoked for over 40 years, then suddenly quit cold turkey. That suggests to me that he was never chemically addicted to nicotine. I also know two other men who smoked for decades (40 years and 20 years, respectively) and then quit cold turkey. Perhaps they were never addicted, either. This isn't to suggest that cigarettes aren't addictive to many, perhaps most, people. It does suggest that some people can smoke without being addicted for some reason.

I'm certainly no fan of cigarettes. My father was a heavy smoker. I'm pretty sure that the habit contributed to him having a heart attack while still in his 30s and dying just after his 46th birthday. He tried to quit after his first heart attack but resumed smoking soon afterwards. I don't blame the cigarette companies for that - he freely choose to smoke long after the 1963 Surgeon General's warning of the dangers. He knew what he was doing.