My anecdotal experience is they were all over 70 but not over 80 -- chain smokers who started when they were children. I'm curious if anyone here knows any in their 80s or 90s.
My grandfather from the south of italy. He died at 85, used to smoke two packs a day until about three days before dying (he wasn't allowed to smoke in the hospital). He did not die from any form of cancer, he died for an intestinal blockage. I don't remember the details, it's been many years ago. From what he told me he started around age 8, stealing his father's tobacco.
The thing is, these stories rarely show the full picture (and they hardly can).
For example: my grandfather was very active for an old person, he kept working in his coutryside until the age of 78-79. That meant a lot of moving around, lifting large buckets of fruit in spring and summer or huge sacks of olives in autumn and winter. At age 75 he was probably way more active than the average user of this forum. He wasn't "fit" by modern beauty standards, but nonetheless he was "functionally" fit.
As far as I know, he started working in the countryside when he lost his father around age 13 (society was different back then) to support his family (his mother and his younger sister).
Btw he still developed senile dementia roughly around the time he stopped working in the countryside.
Smoking alone is a risk factor (and a huge one) but that factor usually has to be put into context.
EDIT Just to disambiguate: I'm not defending smoking, in any way. My main point is that "full picture" is often missing from the "they smoked and lived" stories.
