"I quit about twenty years ago." He continues to frown, and raises a slightly gnarled hand to scrub at his temples. "When one speaks of smoking, and problems in the lungs, there tends to be a particular word that looms large in the mind. Can you blame me for not wanting to know?" The question is, by and large, rhetorical. On the one hand he cares little for the sympathy of others, but on the other hand it would be nice to know someone comprehends his perspective.