Fuck cigarettes. It's good to know I won't be dying from either.
Not dying can be worse.
If it helps at all I'll let you know what it's like from the shit side of the fence. I have stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma, which is an aggressive throat cancer. My cancer came from HPV (from oral sex) but it's the exact same cancer you get from smoking. In fact you can't tell which cause is the culprit without testing the tumors directly. In my case I was pretty certain it was HPV because I've never smoked but it doesn't entirely rule it out.
Anyway to put things in perspective for you former smokers this October will make 3 years since I was diagnosed. In that time every other person that was in treatment (chemo/rads) with me that had their throat cancer caused by smoking is gone. The odds are really abysmal for them. HPV related SCC responds much better to treatments as long as they are aggressive so all but one of the HPV people is still here.
Dying from throat cancer is horrible. It's painful as fuck and you wither away to nothing. That entire time you know you are going to die, you can feel it the same way you can feel a bad cold coming.
Even if you survive it then you become like me. I'm 46 and I look 60. Treatment destroys your taste buds, takes away your salivary glads, you'll likely lose all your teeth. I had to have my throat rebuilt so I have constant sore throats and I can't swallow well. I never eat alone because I can choke easily. You get a condition called cachexia which robs your body of muscle and health. (Fun fact: it's usually cachexia that kills most cancer patients, not the disease directly). It only gets worse from there.
The TL/DR of this stupid long post is that you guys are smart. Seriously weigh the risks before you go back to lighting up. It's not at all worth it. You do NOT want to risk this, it takes your life away and you have to learn to accept your "new normal"....I hate that fucking term too. There's nothing normal about living like this.
Please, please, please stay off the smokes. I promise you it's not worth it no matter how much you enjoy them.