Not to mention the fact that there ARE many Bond-like people in real life who smoke, even today. The U.S. military is full of smokers. It's a way to relax from a stressful job. I've heard the (I believe true) story of a Navy SEAL instructor who would motivate BUD/S trainees in Coronado by outrunning them WHILE smoking a cigar.
Are these guys going to live to be 103 in perfect health? No, but they don't care. They're planning on wearing out their bodies from the job anyway, if not dying early. This is Bond's mentality.
I really hate doing this but I can't resist. I'm in the army. Have been for 22 years. I'm 41. I smoke roughly 40 cigarettes a day. I do an army APFT (Physical fitness test) every 4 months. I can run faster than 70 percent of my Regiment's young uns with my eyes closed, so to speak. I am a fully qualified mountain climber and have trained with a number of foreign services amongst which I can safely mention the Italian ALPINI and Para Regiment. I can swim 200 meters towing another man in less than 4 minutes in full water ensemble (And that's less than some of my younger men can do). I abseil out of helicopters onto ships at sea on a number of occasions and go through to do what I have to do. I also have regular BFTs (that's Battle Fitness Test for the uninitiated) and believe me when I tell you that I always end up beasting along a couple of young lads who don't smoke along the way. As I said I smoke, heavily, I drink, heavily, I play, hard. I'm not going to say women find me irresistibly sexy even though I smoke but what I will say is that I can charm the hell out of most women I set my evil eye upon if I wanted to and the fact is that almost all the women I have charmed the hell out of and ended up in bed with were non-smokers themselves. And yeah, when I put that cigarette in the corner of my mouth and light it up with my golden lighter a la Sean Connery, I can see it in their eyes that they become intrigued, hooked even.
...and Cher fan.