I know a good many people personally who have died directly due to them being smokers or former smoker. Most smoked 20 years or more. Some had quit for many years but their fate was already set for it to do them much good. Men who could have lived on into their 80s and 90s+ but died in their early 70s. Women with lung Cancer die in their early 70s too. The agony they went though before they died was terrible too. One woman I knew had been a long time smoker. She got lung cancer and was dead within a year(early 70s). Not all smokers die early but if you have the right genes then smoking makes it much more likely you will face a early death. None of these people I knew were ready to go. They loved life. Doctors have added years of life to many smokers. A good many of them would have died in their 30s to 50s if it weren't for pills and surgery
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546554/Ex-Marlboro-Man-dies-smoking-related-respiratory-failure.html
"An actor who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette adverts during the late 1970s has died from smoking-related respiratory failure.
Eric Lawson passed away aged 72 at his home in San Luis Obispo, California, on January 10, according to his wife, Susan Lawson.
He is believed to have suffered respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ......"
Lawson, who had smoked since the age of 14, played the smoking cowboy in the Marlboro adverts from 1978 to 1981.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546554/Ex-Marlboro-Man-dies-smoking-related-respiratory-failure.html
"An actor who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette adverts during the late 1970s has died from smoking-related respiratory failure.
Eric Lawson passed away aged 72 at his home in San Luis Obispo, California, on January 10, according to his wife, Susan Lawson.
He is believed to have suffered respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ......"
Lawson, who had smoked since the age of 14, played the smoking cowboy in the Marlboro adverts from 1978 to 1981.