There are many other factors in play in the development of cancer, of course. While we do not understand all of them, we do know that women are more susceptible to the effects of cigarette smoke, and therefore a female smoker is more likely to develop cancer than a male who smokes the same amount for the same number of years. For women, this number is reduced. Also, not all smokers develop lung cancer, and some nonsmokers do. In fact, only 18 to 25 percent of long-time smokers ever develop cancer of the lung.
Cigarettes can do much more harm than just lung cancer.
A severe stroke can leave one unable to talk, walk, or use an arm. Cancer of the mouth, tongue, and voicebox are common, and the treatment is not only incredibly disfiguring, but many patients lose the ability to speak. There are worse things than dying, I believe. Cigarette smoke greatly accelerates aging. Smokers have more wrinkles, and develop heart disease and hardening of the arteries much earlier than nonsmokers.