When men were men and smoked like chimneys

When men were men and smoked like chimneys | The Japan Times Online:

In shelters from Saitama to upper Miyagi, thousands of men professed to miss their cigarettes and complained that it was hard to feel a sense of normalcy unless they had a cigarette between their lips.

Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was one of the first public figures to start a cigarette fund, and sent over nearly 1000 boxes to smokers in Tohoku. A case-hardened smoker himself, Miyazaki said in a TV interview that in times like these, nicotine is a source of nourishment, and that it was folly to apply normal health standards to those under severe strain. 

One of the best things I have read in a long time.
No rushing to admonish on the evils of the devil weed,no lectures really,just stories.
Makes me smile just reading it.