I disagree with your metaphor. Apple is less like a cigarette company making nicotine patches and more like a pharmacy selling cigarettes with warnings on the labels _and_ offering store-brand nicotine patches. A related note: it was only recently that CVS stopped selling cigarettes.
Does that distinction make Apple less ethically problematic? Heck yeah. And I imagine many people, myself included, are okay with where it lies on the gray line.