I guess I'm too old. I can't fathom paying five bucks a pack. They were about 60 cents a pack when I quit and I thought that was outrageous. I remember buying cigarettes for two bucks a carton in North Carolina when I used to drive through there in the mid-sixties.
About heath and cigarettes: this may or may not be true, but I once read that the social security system would have been bankrupt years ago if no one smoked. All those people living longer and collecting Soc Sec checks. The article was a rebuttal to another article complaining that ciragette smokers were dragging down the health system. They made a good point.