well, I'm a heavy smoker; I'm not troubled by other people's smoke, and I usually don't wear a mask while smoking :-)

The last time I "gave up" smoking, I said to the doctor that I was expecting to get less winter colds. She said I was completely wrong, and that I should expect to get everything that was going around; that tobacco smokers maintain a lung environment that is hostile to anything living, including microbes, and that quitters can expect to catch everything that's going.

I have no idea whether that was true. But I'm still standing - yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wow...I'd never heard such before.

I saw a few studies that seemed to point to evidence that smoking reduces the risk of contracting COVID. It was too late as I already quit smoking thinking that the opposite would be true.

I haven't started smoking again, despite the potential health benefits associated with smoking.

No, no, no. I'm not saying that there are health benefits from smoking!

I have known asthmatics that told me that smoking tobacco relieved their symptoms. But please don't take these remarks as advice to take up (or maintain) smoking! My comments were supposed to be taken as ironic.

I was totally being sarcastic about the health benefits of smoking. There rightfully might be some health benefits but they almost certainly are outweighed by the heart disease and cancer risks.