Cigarette taxes are overwhelmingly paid by the poor, and impact them disproportionately. They do not have a significant impact on the smoking rates (people who would have quit due to the price already have) and there’s no data on how that tax money is spent to offset the externalities.

Some info: https://priceonomics.com/how-cigarettes-tax-the-poor/

TL;DR cigarette taxes feel fair to non smokers because it appears to discourage a habit with bad outcomes, but economically they aren’t effective.