I’ve mentioned this here before, but there’s a pretty wide spectrum there for casual use. I have a colleague in Public Health who studied casual heroin users. They held regular jobs, paid bills and were otherwise successful. On weekend evenings they might relax with a bit of heroin the way others might have a drink or a smoke. They had no signs of addiction and they had no trouble with the drug. He had a hard time getting funded for his research, but it was (he said) a useful way to understand actual addicts.
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I worked with a casual heroin user back in the day. No problems until he was supplied with an unusually strong batch and his girlfriend woke up next to him to find him turning blue.
Fortunately for him she was a nurse, so he survived that round, but…
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I’ve definitely met a person who smokes that many cigars.
But the heavy regular cigar smokers I know smoke 1 or 2 a day, and frequently don’t smoke at all for days at a time.
I tend to think in terms of undiagnosed/untreated psychological disorder instead of “addictive personality”. Most of the people I’ve known who had problem relationships with pot were dealing with some significant anxiety and depression. Sometimes things like bipolar or even untreated ADHD.
And then somewhere I caught some stats pointing out that the vast majority of “hard” drug addicts have an undiagnosed mental illness, and a casual chat with a rehab doctor who worked with my mom. He pointed out the particular way that long term opiate addiction alters the way the brain functions, neurotransmitter wise, closely resembles Bipolar. The rehab in the hospital my mom worked at was in the habit of getting patients on anti-depressants or anti-psychotics immediately after detox.
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When my father picked me up to drive me home for vacation during my freshman year at college, I was so unused to the smell of smoke by then it so hard to breathe. At one point, I almost stuck my head out of the window like a dog! I took the train home for holidays after that.
During one of my early jobs in IT, my buddy was a smoker. I’d grab a cup of coffee and hang out upwind from the group while she smoked. Not only did it keep me informed, but I took more breaks than I would have done otherwise which kept me from sitting and staring at the screen for too long. What really bugged me was they had no objections to breaks for smoking, but programmers would get side eye for taking longer than 30 minutes for lunch or going to the bathroom too often. 
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Yup. You’re still deeply inhaling smoke and the harmful chemicals associated with it, and when you’re smoking marijuana you’re holding it in your lungs for longer. Lack of filtering means way more tar versus cigarettes.
While it may not have the same kind of physically addictive properties tobacco cigarettes has, it’s hard to make a case for it being “harmless”. The long term use can certainly lead to things like emphysema, lung and throat cancer, COPD, and other breathing ailments but the studies around if it’s any riskier/worse than cigarette use is inconclusive.
On the other hand, even with heavy marijuana smokers they will consume much less product over time when compared to a cigarette smoker so there’s that.
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True, but quality and consistency of supply is a prohibition issue
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Knew a guy like that, father of a friend. Very successful businessman with a weekend life that was pure hedonism. Seemed untroubled by it.
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My Mom smoked Kools . There was an impression at the time (mid 20th century) that they were safer choice. Prior to that she smoked “Sweet Caporal” which I believe were marketed as good for you. As in better than not smoking . They were flavoured but not menthol.
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Chance in advertising. Some time ago I watched a documentary about Marlborough. I recall the brand was initially marketed to women and tried quite a few directions until the iconic Marlborough Man image was stumbled upon and thus cemented a particular demographic. What ever sells for amoral death merchants.
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I think the billboard campaign in black communities was more effective than the ads. And don’t forget they used to use attractive women to give out free samples in the streets. At least in Downtown Boston MA anyway. Im pretty sure it was a nationwide campaign. Vibe magazine wasn’t even a thing back then. Ebony was the magazine to go along with Jet in my youthful barbershops. Caccius Clay walk into my barbershop on Blue Hill Avenue just before or right after his visit to the Nation of Islam Mosque #11 on Intervale Street. He converted shortly thereafter.
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