[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey (OP)]

It seems to be the one thing people are 100% consistent on. Always has been this way. My grandmother was Camel, both my grandfathers were Lucky Strikes, getting hooked on them during the war.

[alancalverd]

A habit is a habit, and becomes part of a personality and identity. Ask any addict or churchgoer.

[paul cotter]

It's many decades since I had the misfortune to smoke(currently a hopeless Nicorette addict). Different brands have their unique flavours and just like food preferences smokers will go for whatever brand they like and continual use reinforces that choice.

[alancalverd]

All smokers have a common death wish, but express their personalities differently.

I see that menthol cigs, the outward sign of a bizarre sexual preference,  are now banned in the UK.
Practically all the other brands taste pretty much the same and label the user as an antisocial moron, but

In July 2016, the French government considered a ban on both the Gitanes and Gauloises cigarette brands because they were deemed "too stylish and cool".

which is why I smoked them in my cool, stylish youth. But since the UK  government has banned smoking in indoor public spaces, I have to rely on aviator shades and a 32-bar bass solo to pull the chicks. 

[paul cotter]

I am the ultimate in "cool". I am even cooler than the cosmic background radiation(2.7k I think?) !!

[Bored chemist]

I am the ultimate in "cool".

Given the date...
"Look I’m up to here with cool, OK? I’m so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I’m so hip I have trouble seeing over my pelvis.