What's with everyone smoking?

Today I made the long trek to work, but instead of having my head down with my iPod firmly attached, I decided (mainly because my iPod was dead) to keep my head up and look around. Being a single guy, my gaze routinely fell on cute girls and, to my complete disappointment, nearly all of them had a cigarette firmly attached between their fingers.

Photo by Liz Kasameyer on Flickr

Now for some reason, I always thought Vancouver was a fairly healthy city. When I moved away in 2000, I don't think a single person I knew smoked. And now, coming back, everywhere I look there are people who are puffing away on cancer sticks. When I go to pubs with work people, there is always a group of people that gets up from the table every 20 minutes or so to go have a smoke outside.

When did it happen, or was it always that way? There's nothing more unattractive in my mind than a cute girl that smokes. I remember one time, after a few beers, when my ex-girlfriend started smoking. I was like "what are you doing?" It was a habit that she slowly restarted, and while she never made it a primary habit again, I had to put up with it whenever we were having a few drinks. And like to old saying goes, it was like kissing an ash tray.

Granted, I probably have a few stupid habits that some girls wouldn't find entirely attractive either, and that's fine. But I just don't understand why girls need to smoke. It's unhealthy, it stinks, and it makes everything around it smell.