Here are some notable supercentenarians who smoked:-
Freddie Blom, lived to 114 years old and was a lifelong smoker. Jeanne Clement, the oldest verified person in history, smoked till the whopping age of 117, she lived till 122 years old. Irene Mergelsberg lived to 110 years and was also a smoker.
My friends, these are some of the many people that have smoked and lived long, long lives. Also, friends, these are facts that have been censored by those in power who give you a bias point of view against smoking whilst not disclosing all the information nor the whole truth when it comes to smoking.
Unfortunately, when one is to come to research these individuals stories, since they clearly disprove the claims that the government, “doctors” and health organizations make; their longevity is simply dismissed as cases of people that have “longevity genetics” and will, in no way, even consider that, perhaps, smoking was actually a precursor to these individuals ability to live to those years.
It is clear that stories of centenarians who smoked daily challenge the absolutism of anti-smoking health advise. And it is a shame that we pretty much never hear of the stories that contradict what we have been brainwashed to believe.
Humans have the innate ability to smoke, it is something that we are capable of doing; like eating and drinking. We have yet to come so far as to accept smoking as something that is completely natural for a human to do. Across history, smoking has been deeply embedded in human rituals such as in Indigenous ceremonies: Tobacco was sacred in many Native American traditions
Smoking would only be considered unnatural in a world that is unnatural yet deemed natural. A world dominated by greed, war, crime and famine. Whether in the media, movies or videogames, violence permeates and seems to be at the forefront of our lives. When we come to realise that this world we live in is the thing that is actually unnatural, and it is those same facests that need to actually be demonized and regulated, we will also come to realise that smoking is something completely natural and necessary for humans. I think that there is no way in recreating a brand new world that is full of love, joy and happiness without accepting smoking as a need of ours. It is part of the evolution of our species.
We need smoking as consumption just as we need to consume the other elements. We eat the Earth element as food (food comes from the earth). We drink the water element through liquids. We breathe the air element through oxygen. And by this same token and logic, we smoke the fire element through botanicals and tobacco. Without partaking in the consumption of the fire element, we are incomplete.
We are not currently living in the natural order of things where we are dictated by and dedicated to love, joy happiness and bliss, so when we have had examples of smoking causing some kind of damage to the lungs etc. we cannot blame tobacco (it is easy to blame though, and that’s what’s been happening) it is actually a damaged system that needs to be blamed. Their negative reaction to smoking is a negative reaction to the whole system that we are living in, a messed up system. We, indeed, do need the fire element for the survival of our species and to make the world a better place for all and to truly maximize our potential.
I’m challenging medical orthodoxy and proposing a metaphysical realignment of life with the primal forces of nature. Many traditions honour the elements: earth, water, air and fire yet few have suggested that smoking is how we embody the fire element. Embodying the fire element in such a way will bring about a revolution in the world. Especially when we take account another two elements that require our attention, which is the aether (consumed through meditating/channeling space) and electricity (consumed through vaping). In this view, smoking becomes a necessary act of elemental balance, not a habit or addiction. It’s a way to internalize fire, just as we internalize earth, water, and air.
In the world that we live in, when something is wrong with a person, it’s almost always that individual’s fault. We rarely look at the world and its dysfunction as the actual root cause of people’s ailments. Disease, dysfunction and despair stems less from individual choices and more from systematic disconnection. If the world is unnatural, built on greed, fear and fragmentation – then our biology is reacting to that distortion.
The lungs don’t fail because of smoke; they fail because the soul is suffocating. The body doesn’t rebel against tobacco, it rebels against a life devoid of joy, ritual and elemental harmony. Smoking, done in alignment with love, joy and bliss, is a path to wholeness.
Diseases that are supposedly caused in individuals that partake in smoking can thus be concluded that they are actually caused by some kind of disharmony in the smoker’s environment and life and not directly due to smoking. At the end of the day, these kinds of disharmonies are causing diseases in more people that don’t smoke than those that do (nonsmoker’s are dying everyday). Medical science still cannot pinpoint the reason why non-smokers get these deadly diseases but if that similar individual happens to be a smoker, then automatically smoking is to be blamed as the cause of that disease.
Consuming any element with disharmony causes diseases, from illnesses borne of improper food consumption to drinking contaminated water or the over-consumption of it. From the stress relief that breathwork can do to the stress-borne illnesses that could have been prevented by the proper utilization and consumption of the air element. All the elements have a degree of risk involved and carry their dangers and the fire element is no exception. Fire has burnt people to death. It has burnt homes to the ground. But that same fire keeps you warm and provides a great atmosphere (whether a firepit or a fireplace). And that same fire cooks the food that nourishes you.
I urge you to challenge the reductionist view that isolated smoking as a singular cause and instead, I am proposing a holistic framework where disharmony – environmental, emotional, spiritual – is the deeper truth.
- Traditional Chinese Medicine sees illness as an imbalance of qi (life force), yin and yang, or the five elements.
- Ayurveda views disease as a disruption in bodily energies linked to nature.
- Psychosomatic medicine explores how emotional trauma and chronic stress manifest physically.
Smoking, in a harmonious life, is helpful. Diseases arise when the whole system is broken.
The vast majority of people live a life full of conflict. I hypothesize that individuals that supposedly die because of smoking related illnesses have developed theses diseases due to the exasperated conflict that the force and power of the fire element played in their lives. The fire element, let’s not forget, is a dangerous force to be reckoned with.
Fire is destructive: it burns, consumes, razes. It’s the force behind wildfires, war and even emotional volatility. Yet, it’s nourishing: it warms, cooks, illuminates. It’s the hearth, the candle, the sunrise.
Smoking now becomes a way to ingest and consume fire, to internalize its power. But if the person is already living in conflict, trauma, or imbalance, that fire doesn’t harmonize, it amplifies the chaos. A peaceful soul might absorb fire and be energized; a conflicted soul might absorb fire and be scorched… So, if someone develops an illness and so happens to be a smoker, it could be due to the disharmony between the fire element and their inner world.
I point out that most people live in conflict; with themselves, with society, with nature, And in such a world, even elemental forces like fire become dangerous if that individual isn’t willing to transform and become one that lives in harmony within themselves, the world around them and the elements.
Also, there is, in all cases, evidently, censorship bias. We don’t hear about the survivors, the long-lived smokers, the healthy elders who smoked daily; we only hear about the casualties, the diseases, the deaths, the warnings. I had to dig deep to find Jeanne Clement, Freddie Blom or the indigenous reverence for tobacco. This is systematic omission of facts by those in power. Tobacco’s medicinal and spiritual uses have been erased from mainstream discourse.
The trajectory of tobacco alcohol and cannabis in public discourse has followed a pattern: demonization, suppression, rediscovery and cautious reintegration. I aim for tobacco, and smoking in general to be in the cusp of it’s renaissance.
The dominant institutions (medical, governmental, corporate) have shaped public perception to align with their interests, at the expense of truth, context and personal agency. Why is tobacco denied the same arc of redemption as with marijuana and alcohol (think prohibition).
I’m advocating not for reckless indulgence, but for conscientious engagement, a way of smoking that honours the fire element, respects the body, and aligns with joy, ritual, and balance. That’s not addiction, that’s integration.
Smoking as nervous system regulation: Smoking forces deep, rhythmic breathing which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, calming stress. The ritual of smoking, that of stepping “outside”, lighting up, pausing may offer micro-meditations that modern life lacks. Smoking helps regulate mood, focus and emotional states. If fire is mishandled, it burns, but if respected, it warms, illuminates and purifies. Smoking is supressed, not because it lacks value, but because it threatens dominant narratives. “They hate what they don’t understand”.
In this article, I have provided you with an alternative viewpoint. One that deserves your attention. I’m not just defending smoking, I’m defending truth, freedom, and the right to live in alignment with nature – even when that defied modern norms. Smoking is a human right, just like eating, drinking and breathing.
Note: Not that tobacco was meant to be chain-smoked, but please understand the reason why someone like me chain-smokes. Perhaps while living in the hustle and bustle of a city and living in an unnatural form of isolation perhaps begs one the necessity of consuming loads and loads of cigarettes. I, myself, had asthma growing up. A I quit smoking a couple of times for a couple of years each due to severe asthma attacks including one that lead me to the emergency room. But, later, I used smoking in my meditation and was able to cure my asthma with the very avenue that we are told causes it. And this very act that caused my asthma in the past, given another chance, cured it completely.
A completely healthy cigarette is one that has a smaller percentage of tobacco and a mixture of numerous other herbs. Smoking herbs like lobelia, lungwort and mullein provide benefit to the respiratory system as well as the fact that the benefits of the herbs (whether the medical model admits to them or not) are made available through smoking. So, a cigarette that includes little tobacco and an herbal mixture is embodying the full spectrum of variety. Just as we eat a variety of things and drink a variety of things and breathe and smell a variety of things (not just oxygen) so, we too, are to smoke a variety of things. And this is the true way of ultimate wellness and wellbeing.