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ONCE AMERICA was in thrall to the Marlboro Man. The hard-smoking cowboy, staring moodily from his horse at a far-off horizon, symbolised a certain kind of freedom and – not coincidentally – helped to sell millions of cigarettes.

Now America’s smokers are groaning – or maybe that should be wheezing – under a flood of new measures designed to make them give up or, at least, to drive the habit from public view.