You know, before it was scientifically proven that smoking, asbestos, leaded gasoline, heroine, thalidomide/contergan, etc etc were health hazards, people had no reason to believe that those things were unhealthy.

I totally agree that it’s bullshit someone can’t legally sell cigarettes or alcohol while being underage when the recipient is old enough, but believing those things are healthy in a time where it was sold as state of the art or even miracle cures doesn’t really mean boomers are dumb.

What flesh?

I expect that they’re referencing this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_smoking_for_weight_loss

Cigarette smoking for weight loss is a weight control method whereby one consumes tobacco, often in the form of cigarettes, to decrease one’s appetite. The practice dates to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant.

Tobacco smoking was associated with appetite suppression among Pre-Columbian indigenous Americans and Old World Europeans.[1] For decades, tobacco companies have employed these connections between slimness and smoking in their advertisements, mainly in brands and advertisements targeting women.

They seem to imply that if instead of eating a snack you have a cigarette, then you’ll lose weight

They mean the nicrotic flesh rotting off later in life, getting a foot or a leg amputated is the fastest way to loose weight after all. Worked a year in a ward for smoking patients, the smell is so haunting…