moish, as I said earlier, you are making good points. You are indeed echoing some of the the points made by others earlier in the thread. AFAIK, heavy smoking is very strongly correlated with disease and early death (hence higher life insurance premiums for smokers), but that does not prove the effect of an occasional cigarette. There’s also no proof that the body doesn’t start to recover after a person quits. Finally, there is the well known argument that if you smoke for 80 years you will live a long life.
You’ve touched on a true gray area. I don’t think anyone on this board is going to prove you wrong. Maybe they will say that smoking (in general) is bad for you, and I don’t think you would disagree (I wouldn’t). But what does that mean for the “social smoker”? Stick to your guns and say what you think (or vice versa). Even if everyone is on the other side of the argument, all that means is that you’ve managed to engage numerous people in an intelligent discussion.
(score +1 for my vendetta)