the whole tobacco death thing is puffed up for dramatic effect

if a 600 pound man who smokes has a heart attack, they chalk up another smoking related death because clearly, if he had not smoked, those 12 big macs worth of grease in his arteries wouldn't have never caused a heart attack on their own

obviously it is bad for you, but it's more of a contributing factor than a primary cause the way they make it appear with their startling numbers