What is another best way of knowing the difficulty of fighting smoking addiction besides trying it? ?

There is this elder of mine who claimed he will never manage to quit smoking for his entire life. He said if it was any easier he would have quitted long time ago. I could not argue with him as I was not a smoker and he said I wouldn't be able to understand how difficult it is. Now thinking of taking up smoking in order to demolish his excuse because I really don't think quitting is impossible if you strongly intend to. Thousands of them already gave up successfully, why not him? You smokers out there, what do you think? Any other better way to understand a smoker's addiction to tobacco?