However, smoking also soothed nerves and had a societal impact as well. There was also an economic benefit, and not just in the tobacco/cigarette value chain: clubs/bars benefitted, as did live bands and acts playing in these clubs where friends got together for a drink and a smoke.
With smoking banned in most public places and many private places such as bars, there is very little live music and not as much social gathering as well. Now, correlation doesn't imply causality - people surfing the interweb wasn't caused by the demise of smoking - but we must acknowledge that when you ban some good that has been part of culture for centuries, there will be an impact. For example, with less smoking have people turned to food for comfort - is there some cause and effect in this chart?
While I'm not arguing that smoking was harmless (far from it), there was some beneficial element to smoking. As people rush to demonize vaping, let's consider what is the impact beyond "better lungs."