I find it odd that in a political landscape where we are moving towards legalisation of cannabis, we are at the same time moving towards a ban on tobacco. It's absurd. But smokers have always been a docile bunch. Oh, they might talk big when there's talk of a new restrictive law on the horizon, but when it is finally implemented they've always complied without protest.
Tobacco is the poison that governments actually can legislate against without much backlash. Alcohol is the real menace, but no one wants a repeat of the Prohibition era. Moreover, the number of non-drinkers are considerably fewer than the number of non-smokers - meaning legislators see the value of alcohol as social lubricant, as well as for relaxation. The few teetotallers out there can be safely ignored.
Tobacco, on the other hand, is different. There is a significant amount of non-smokers in society, and many who do smoke are trying to quit. And to a non-smoker, the same arguments of relaxation and social lubrication simply won't stick. "I don't need it - why should you?" I know that mindset very well, because I was a teetotaller until my late 20s, abstaining from tobacco and alcohol. Only once I opened up to the pleasures of alcohol did I really see how it could have value. I still drink with moderation, have never been drunk, and I treat it like most pipe smokers treat their pipe smoking - a relaxing hobby. But non-smokers tend to see all smokers as addicts. Of course, non-drinkers, including myself when I was one, tend to see all drinkers as addicts in the same measure - but that is a minority opinion that is summarily dismissed by most people for how preposterous it is.
If the government was serious about its efforts to "healthify" society, the main thing they should be concerned with ought to be alcohol. Alcohol kills, both directly and indirectly - so many deaths and crippling injuries, in both traffic and social situations, could have been avoided if alcohol was not part of the equation. But that is hardly addressed by legislation. There are no images of cirrhosis or horrible car crashes on bottles of beer, wine or whiskey. There is no neutral packaging, no talk of banning flavours, etc. But smokers can be targeted, because they are all addicts and should be grateful for being helped to kick the habit.
I am conflicted as to the possible ways of saving the tobacco industry - and when you read that sentence, you can see where part of the problem lies. "Saving the tobacco industry? They are evil!" There's no similar association to "the alcohol industry", because that's not considered a monolith. Be that as it may, pipe smoking has been granted a pass so far because that's only a minority of smokers, and typically do not appeal to young smokers. So on the one hand, I would like for pipe smoking to remain relatively obscure, and maybe they won't notice us. On the other hand, silent minorities are the easiest to oppress, and the writing is on the wall, even for us. So perhaps promotion is the only thing that can save us.