@lauren Do you remember how they got people to start wearing seatbelts in North America? They said “We don’t care if you wear your seatbelt, but your kids have to be strapped in.” It became normalized in less than 20 years.
If they increased the smoking age by 1 year every 2 years, in 20 years, there won’t be any new smokers anymore, because essentially nobody starts smoking in their late 20’s.