Eric-40-3

Name: Eric
Average number of cigarettes smoked in a day: 40
Started smoking when he was: 3 (or 4)

Today I feel that I have to give a bit more background information about the person portrayed here. Eric is not exactly your average smoker and the stats above need some explaining. He was very forthcoming with the information and has no objection to my posting it here.
Eric was born in 1936 and his first cigarette memories are associated with the beginning of the war. He remembered the house being full of adults around Christmas time, there were opened bottles of porter everywhere and the ladies were having drinks too. He was a small child and would finish his uncles' cigarettes, for the amusement of everyone in attendance. Smoking was his party piece.
I asked him when he graduated to smoking his "own" cigarettes and he told me around the age of 6 or 7. Smoking kids of that age were not all that uncommon at the time.
Eric is now 73. He smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day and is now down to between 30 and 40 (he needs to use a respirator at times during the day).
He does not see any point of giving them up at this stage in his life.

If smokers were a race, Eric would be their Alpha Male.