I always thought the vocal change was from hearing loss and years and years of broadcasting. Never connected it to smoking. Now I’m nagging my husband about HIS cigars.
That's part of it, but his voice has gotten so *gravelly* over the past 10 or so years. I have family members who smoke / or used to smoke who got that same gravelly voice after years of smoking.
Keep nagging him! Glad Hubby and I never smoked. I used to have bronchitis, etc. a lot when I was a kid. I never liked smoke in my lungs, period. I used to nag my (late) father about his cigarette smoking.
Of course -- to be fair -- there are some people who have never smoked, and they still get lung cancer. I think the culprit is mainly radon (?) or other 'environmental' causes.