More than one in four adult smokers now use pouch tobacco and roll-up cigarettes, with a particularly sharp rise in the proportion of women users, research shows. Analysis of smoking habits in England suggests a cultural shift in the use of tobacco, with one in five white-collar professionals who smoke now using roll-ups rather than conventional cigarettes. While roll-ups may once have been the habit of the working man and the spit and sawdust pub, their use among women has risen sharply in recent years. In 1990 just one in 50 female smokers used hand-rolled tobacco, compared with one in five ... Jump to full article >>

Sarah Harding has been spotted puffing away on one and Kate Moss is said to be on the waiting list for the most unlikely must-have accessory of London Fashion Week: an electronic cigarette. Perhaps even more surprising is the woman who is touting these little white sticks around town: Lady Victoria Hervey. The 32-year-old former It girl has just returned from Los Angeles, where she had been pursuing an acting career, as the face of SmokeStik Royale, a luxury electronic cigarette, which she has helped to design. Billed as a healthy alternative to cigarettes, these battery-powered devices conta ... Jump to full article >>

To censor pictures of the famous holding cigarettes betrays a curious idea of what makes people smoke A quiz question: what is the link between ex-President Jacques Chirac, the composer Rachmaninov and interviewer Lynn Barber? If this were a picture round, you’d get it immediately, from the little angled strip of white on their hand. The answer is that attempts have been made to ban photographs of them on the grounds that they were shown smoking. The publication of Chirac’s latest volume of memoirs has mysteriously been delayed, allegedly because of concerns over a dustjacket imag ... Jump to full article >>

Internationally renowned artist David Hockney has joined East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight’s campaign for designated smoking areas in pubs and restaurants. Hockney, who is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, said he is “angry” and “fed up of being treated like a child” by the law which came into force two years ago. He also said: “I don’t believe the second hand smoke stuff for one bit.” The 73-year-old artist, who lives in Bridlington said: “I have smoked for 54 years. “The pubs should all close and be tu ... Jump to full article >>

With Patrick Swayze’s death today comes a highly public reminder that the cure rate for pancreatic cancer is abysmal. This year, an estimated 42,470 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease. And an estimated 35,240 will die. Smoking can increase risk, as can obesity, diabetes, family history and other factors. But there simply aren’t obvious signs of the disease in its early stages, and detection can often come too late. (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer earlier this year; hers was indeed caught fairly early.) The disease is bro ... Jump to full article >>

IT IS an accepted view that if one lives by the sword, so might one expect to die by it. This week this columnist tasted the tip of her own sword – as thrust by the Gladiator himself, Russell Crowe – after an item in Sydney Confidential raised the actor’s ire. The story took a shot at Crowe’s fitness after he was photographed puffing on a fag while cycling in Sydney. After the bike ride he tucked into a plate of tacos. The next day the phone rang. It was Crowe’s man in the city. Crowe was laying down a challenge. “Get on your bike. Russell wants you to go ... Jump to full article >>

Russell Crowe got his own back on an Australian newspaper columnist who gave him cheek for smoking while trying to keep fit by challenging her to a duel – on a bike. The Oscar-winning star was annoyed by an article mocking him for smoking and eating a fatty meal during a recent bike ride, so the notoriously prickly actor set out to prove he is still in gladiatorial shape. Crowe, who has been photographed looking slimmer in recent months, was apparently none too pleased by journalist Annette Sharp’s piece in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph entitled: “Smokes and fatty foods  ... Jump to full article >>

LONDON: Prince Harry, the third-in-line to the British throne, is said to have turned to a celebrity hypnotist in a desperate bid to quit smoking. The 24-year-old Prince, who was once on 20 fags a day, managed to kick the habit for a year. But he was spotted having a puff at a pal’s wedding recently. Now, he’s hoping to beat the habit by reading Paul McKenna’s ‘Quit Smoking Now’. Harry was given a copy of the bestseller book by a pal and he thinks that it would finally help him give up smoking. And, he has been following the book and CD that comes with it, the  ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Senator Edward M. Kennedy was a towering figure in the United States Senate for more than 40 years, fighting for many important issues, but top among them were public health and social justice. Senator Kennedy fully understood the public health epidemic of tobacco use and fought at every opportunity to protect Americans from this devastating epidemic, which is the nation’s number-one preventable cause of death. Despite his own health struggles this year, Senator Kennedy shepherded the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act through th ... Jump to full article >>

The images that frightened and impressed smokers in Health Canada focus groups came out of a promise Journal photographer Greg Southam made to anti-smoking crusader Barb Tarbox, a promise that wasn’t easy for Southam to keep. On Oct. 29,2002, when Tarbox first spoke to Edmonton schoolchildren about the cigarette addiction that was about to end her life, Southam was assigned to photograph the talk. After the speech, Southam suggested to Tarbox that he continue to photograph her as she gave school speeches. His plan was to document the health impact of her addiction by taking pictures of h ... Jump to full article >>

Bernie Madoff had little to lose by confessing to masterminding the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme — he’s dying of cancer, sources told The Post. Madoff, who is serving 150 years at a North Carolina federal lockup after pleading guilty to swindling more than $65 billion, has been telling fellow inmates he does not have much longer to live. “He’s been taking about 20 pills a day for his cancer,” said one inmate. “He talks about it all the time. He’s not doing very well.” There’s been much speculation as to why Madoff took the entire fall ... Jump to full article >>