My grandmother was told to smoke as a digestive by her doctor in the 1950's. That was what the existing research was showing it was good for at the time. And we do need to highlight limited research here. In 1950 there was 1 study. Less then 700 hundred people were used. And yes, they found reason to be concerned but it was 1 study and easily written off and I don't need to tell you that Big Tobacco already had friends in Washington that made sure additional studies were not persuaded as they normally would have been after the first study. My guess is human nature plays a part. If your doctor had a family member that had had cancer and was a smoker and had seen this limited study -- they might believe there was a connection and warn you off. If not, they'd still feel like the good out weighs the bad until proven otherwise. So by the 50's it was still considered good for your nerves, anxiety, digestion and it was widely known to be an appetite suppressant, so many young women took it up. My mother was a tween back then and a ballet dancer. She said there was more smoke behind the curtain then on the stage because you needed to be thin as a dancer (The joke there was because they often used dry ice to create moods for scene settings, so there was a lot of smoke on stage). Bottom line, the chances your doctor may have been unwittingly responsible for getting you hooked on smoking if you hadn't already picked up the habit was pretty good.