.
Just like my eldest cousin - who passed at 63.
The last time I saw him was at a family Thanksgiving dinner.
He sounded awful - coughing, gravelly voice.
I took him aside a little later and told him -
"You sound terrible! If you don't quit the cigarettes, they are
going to KILL you!"
He kept smoking, he never quit.
And three years later, they did. (Kill him, that is.)
I myself smoked for 21 years (age 21 to 42).
I quit 16 years ago. I will NEVER touch tobacco again.
One round of horrible nicotine withdrawal was WAY more than enough for me.
The smokeless can kill too. A couple of my ‘dipping’ classmates died from colon cancer relatively young. One 48, the other 56. A truck driver I knew had his cancerous tongue removed, but the disease came back and got him.
(As to the article, I guess I sometimes have to look at comments by people that helped create ‘rock gods’. I used to listen to a lot of popular music, but just never was much interested in admiring the musicians. They’re just flawed people like me.)