When I was a kid we left a plate of cookies, a glass of milk, and a pack of Kent cigarettes for Santa. In the morning the cookies were half eaten, the milk barely touched and the smokes were gone. I remember thinking that Jolly St. Nick would have been better off with cigars. Of course, there was something perverse about this. I can't recall any Saint or prophet who smoked. So to make Santa into a smoker and spokesperson for tobacco was the ultimate blasphemy.  Maybe we should forget the red suit and name him in a class action suit.