You're making sense. And I think the piece isn't necessarily making fun of smokers as much as it is the arguments. The point of view of this short is of Tobacco Man and how he sees the world, mocked in a Colbert-esque way, not my personal view of who people are. He sees people in terms of "hippies" and "post-pregnancy smoke junkies." Here's my view:

People aren't bad because they smoke, but they're doing something that's not healthy. It's a choice. I personally believe that people shouldn't add onto their lives in terms of their bodies, but subtract what isn't necessary in their lives to live more freely. Smoking is one of those habits that doesn't really add anything other than an addictive manufactured high and a load of health problems. Using any substance to control the body's natural responses changes the body's ability to function as it naturally should. Humans used to get 10 hours of sleep each night before the invention of the light bulb. Now we're awake more, and there are people who believe they need coffee to wake up and a drink to go to sleep. It's just dependency upon substances to work against what your body is asking of you. Smoking doesn't make you fat lazy and ugly, and you're not the devil or a monster because you smoke, but you make a choice to function against the way that your body naturally asks of you. There's no universal right or wrong to that, but it's a choice you make. And there's more to a person than just the polarizing smoker/non smoker. We're so much more than consumers of petty products no matter what we consume.

That's more of the point of view I'd like to explore with the series. People tend to get defensive when you challenge their beliefs and support things they agree with, honor and vilify. They'll be willing to discredit your good arguments and support your bad ones based on your stance, regardless of the rational line of thinking. I once watched two girls talk about voting for George Bush because "Kerry's like, such a flip flopper." That's just supporting your own beliefs based on a half-hearted catch phrase and not the depth of the arguments. And the way people do both with a topic like smoking is not only fascinating, but humorous on both ends of the argument.

Long answer. I guess I'm in a typing mood today.

They ain't candles silly.