I agree that social pressure is the way to reduce this particular problem. However, the article is about government trying to address the issue by using the tools of government, and my comment was aimed at the stupidity of that governmental approach when they have other approaches they could take that would be more effective, and how because they weren't taking the more effective governmental approach over the less effective governmental approach, they were obviously pandering and playing to the monied interests.
As to a tax on the poor - I don't see a pack of cigarettes costing $10 or $15 or $20 due to taxes as all that much more of a burden on the poor than if cigarettes cost $5 a pack. If one is in such dire straits that a $5 or $10 increase on a non-essential item is going to break them, then maybe they should stop purchasing said non-essential item.
I get that it's an addiction - it's one that I had, as I said. It's also one that was DAMN hard for me to break, and took a dozen tries over the course of my addiction. However, what it didn't do was cause me to go homeless, cause me to commit crimes in order to get a fix (even when I was flat broke), cause me to make stupid choices like "cigarettes vs. food" or "cigarettes vs. paying a utility bill", and frankly, given that we don't see a massive increase in crimes related to people stealing, turning tricks, or whatever else in order to get their nicotine fix in areas where smokes cost $15 a pack or more, I don't think most other people do any of those things, too.
To wring your hands over it being a "tax on the poor" is absurd. It's not heroin, it's not crack, it's not even alcohol - it isn't mind altering in the same way those drugs are and it doesn't cause the same insane lapses in judgement that those drugs do. It also doesn't run the risk of killing you during detox the way other drugs do. Worst case scenario is you turn into a raging asshole with a short temper while having a nicotine fit, which goes away in a matter of minutes (although the desire to smoke can last longer).