[ The rant is rewarded with a raised eyebrow, and for a moment Reid really considers just dropping the whole thing. It's pretty obvious what Helix is trying to do here, and it's not entirely welcome — but fair enough. If you want to make this a thing about statistics and facts? He's more than happy to oblige. ]
Actually, cigarettes are by far more harmful. Although it's true that stress is a common cause for many health problems that can potentially be fatal, it's a simple matter of changing your behavioral patterns to turn your habits from high-stress to low-stress. Contrary to popular belief, stress isn't inevitable and although some environments invite it more easily it's a myth that we can't prevent it.
Smoking, physical exercise and methods such as meditation are typically viewed by stress management experts as good ways to manage stress, but they usually fail to mention the side-effects. These methods are usually ineffective or even harmful, since they tend to manage the symptoms rather than the root to the problem.
So, even if you feel that smoking a cigarette relieves stress? It really doesn't, and it definitely doesn't change the fact that 6 million deaths every year are caused by smoking or that 33-50% of all smokers meet their death through that habit.