All smokers I know fall into one of two categories:  I know it's gonna kill me, but I like it so much. I would stop, but ... (insert excuse here)  As you said: no denial! It's definitely a degenerate habit, but still have more respect for them than for fatties as long as they don't e.g. smoke during pregnancy, when there's non-smokers around, when there's children around, etc. I've met smokers who couldn't gather the willpower to quit, but unless they were into more serious shit (read drugs) they generally lead a normal life (at least until they get cancer). Compare that to the mess the life of a fatty becomes... uggh!