James 4:14 states, "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Some English translations use fog, or mist, or puff of smoke. The Vulgate uses "vapor." The Afrikaans versions use "miswolkie" or "damp," which are "mist-cloud" or "vapor." In any case, apt terminology to describe a life whether it last for, what is to us, a short or long time, albeit even 100 years is almost nothing in the scheme of the eternal.
The older I get, the more I wonder about all these things. We appear and then disappear--"verskyn en daarna verdwyn." "No one is promised tomorrow" as my grandma liked to say. Very true words, and I try not to worry about it either way as there is nothing one might do to stop time or roll it back or delay that final hour whenever it may come. If it is the case that Alexander Pope's "Whatever is, is right" holds within it the irrefutable truth, then our seemingly free choices become some part of a greater script being played out, and whatever we are doing, wherever we are, whomever we interact with, this is something grander and more incomprehensible than we can possibly understand.
That said, I thoroughly enjoy my pipes, cigars, and cigarettes. Would my life be different if I had never started smoking? It is impossible to say since there is no control-group me to compare with, one who made all the same choices except for smoking. Alternate non-smoking timeline me would probably still be bald, a little chunky around the middle, and have ridiculously bad eyesight. I still would have probably made similar career choices. I still would probably be about where I am now. Maybe I'm actually here now because I was at home enjoying a cigar whereas non-smoking me could have been going somewhere and got killed in a fiery car wreck.
So whether or not free will is a fated or predestined illusion, I try to make good choices in my mind to counteract some of what I believe to be the deleterious effects of smoking. I am really and truly trying to lead a good life although temptations always abound. I avoid alcohol, seed oils, processed foods, sugar, wild women, shady parts of town, fast cars, and drugs. I say yes to healthy foods like beef, chicken, fish, pork, fruit, milk, cheese, etc. I say yes to weightlifting, walking, daily Bible reading, and keeping my sights on whatever is good and true and thinking on these things. But I am a nicotine and caffeine addict to tell the truth. I admit it. I like smoking, and I don't actually want to quit even if I think I do sometimes. I may regret it one day, but all the regret won't make any difference at that point. I have often wondered if any of our vices can be construed as sins, for we have read that for he who knows what is right and does not do it, for him it is sin. Logic fails me in this respect since to dispute it, I need precepts, and if I am uncertain about the precepts, then I am uncertain about the logical outcome of my thought process. The bottom line is, I don't know if smoking is a sin. For if it is, and I say I like it, I say I like sin and wish to continue it, and I am in league with the father of lies. If it is a sin, an earthly pleasure which I enjoy rather than thinking on those things above, then I should quit it. I may say I am not harming others. I may say I am not harming myself. If argue smoking moderately is merely a pleasure to be had much like enjoying one's food or drink or engaging in any other pleasure-bringing activity, then it is not a sin. If I argue that it is an overarching specter of addiction which steers me down into vales of darkness, then maybe it is. If I argue that I am addicted but it is not ruling my life, maybe it is not. But if I look at the truth, that I have probably not gone more that one or two days in the past thirty something years without smoking some sort of tobacco, then it has to be an addiction and therefore probably a sin.
Your embrace of our flag harkens our hearts. Now, on to Barcelona so that we can set them free and independent as well. 
