As I noted previously I'm not supportive of closing the smoking forum, as I believe it is a forum where (for reasons Dovster & others have explained upthread) discussions are less apt to happen vs. threads w/ information are available & get a lot of views.
FWIW - I've not seen a groundswell by TB members to close the forum. To me it serves a niche, just as some of our niche forums do.
It also provides a safe forum so if someone does post on a smoking topic they don't get attacked by the non-smokers, as we've seen happen in many forums (probably next to tipping, smoking gets the most vehement & mudslinging posts in forums/takes them sideways).
Cheers.