My grandfather had a couple heart attacks and strokes related to his smoking (pipes and cigarettes). He spent the last decade of his life paralyzed on one side, and completely incapable of communicating due to being unable to speak, and unable to write since one of the strokes hit that part of the brain.

Witnessing his life in that state made me swear I'd never take up smoking, and I never have. I've never even tried a puff of a regular cigarette. That's why I'm a bit focused on the ingesting route.

I'm with you on the smell though. While I've never tried it, I have smelled other people using it and didn't like that smell at all. Too skunky