This is probably true in the US, but in Europe I bet you would find that smokers drink espresso (which is usually made with dark roast coffee). Even for "regular strength" black coffee, people tend to drink "americano", which is espresso diluted with water. In the UK, in particular, I'm astounded at the volume of dark roast coffee people drink in the morning.

Any statement like "in Europe" is a fundamental disservice to how diverse Europe is in terms of taste. For example, I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life that likes to drink americano. I know a lot of people that smoke and drink coffee though.

Lighter roasts have more caffeine, because the roasting process damages the caffeine molecule.

I used to think the same, that roasting burns off the caffeine so lighter roast = more caffeine.

But when I looked for a source on that one day it seems like that's a myth. There can be differences based on whether you measure by weight vs volume but that's about it. https://www.kickinghorsecoffee.com/en/blog/caffeine-myths-da...

So now I just say I like light roasts because I like to taste the coffee and not the roast.

This tends to be offset due to the density changes in the bean during roasting.

In short, a cup of light roast and a cup of dark roast have negligible differences in caffeine content.

Medium roasts have the most. With roast, both water evaporation and caffeine pyrolysis increase. Medium hits the maximum. I prefer very light roasts for the flavor.

Dark roasts are easier on the stomach than light roasts as the roasting process reduces the acidity of the resultant brew.

This is clearly the real reason smokers get cancer. They aren't drinking their dark roast.

The real variable isn’t roast its the brew concentration and to a lesser degree acidity, and most coffee I see served “American” style is pretty diluted so that you can see the cup through it.

Is Folger and Maxwell really a light roast? Dark roasts cover up flaws in cheap beans, which I would expect in a cheap brand.

Anecdotally, I knew a smoker once who liked tea.