How many people do you know who are over eighty years old and smoke cigarettes?

Two. The same number of all eighty year olds I know. No idea on their genetics, but they both seem about as healthy as an average eighty year old could be.

My mother-in-law quit smoking at age 60, and started back when she was 72. She figured that once she reached life expectancy, it was all downhill from there. Her in-laws all smoked into their 80’s and died of natural causes, in their own beds.

On the other hand, my father died by his own hand after the complications of emphysemia became more than he could bear; he was 58, and had been ill for 10 years. My sister-in-law developed cancer of the mouth at age 50, ten years after she quit smoking. She had a horrible struggle with it, including the most gruesome operation imaginable; the recovery time from it was two years. She went into remission, but it came back.

BB, those are terrible stories!! I am so sorry!!

My great aunt smoked from the time she was a young teen well into her eighties. She died in her nineties.
Another great aunt smoked for over 60 years (into her early 80’s) and is still going strong at 98.
I know they’re the exception, not the rule.

My next door neighbor just died at 92 and didn’t quit smoking until she was 87 or so, though she had absolutely the most wrinkle face I have ever seen my life. You almost stopped noticing them because they were just the texture of her face. I imagine the smoking contributed to the wrinkling, some or maybe a lot. I also had a friend whose grandmother smoked until about the same age, 87, and lived to 95. I think smoking only kills around 50% of the people who smoke long term. Those are some pretty bad odds and there’s just no way to know for sure which group of 50 out of those 100 smokers you’re going to end up in.

So, two 80+ smokers but I know at least 6 people who have died prematurely from smoking. Two from esophageal cancer, three from lung cancer and one from emphysema, cancer and a bunch of other things.

My mother is 93 and smokes a pack of Winston cigarettes everyday. How do I explain this? I do not have a clue. She takes no blood pressure medicene and has had only one surgery in her lifetime. She tells me that she does not inhale, but I know better. I think her American Indian genes have something to do with it. She started when she was sixteen.

You know, smoking of the peace pipe?