My genius boyfriend doesn't understand why he will be sick with a sore throat for weeks at a time. He loads up on all kinds of medicine but turns around and smokes. He says he still smokes because the menthol helps, it soothes your throat, it's found in cough drops. Yeah menthol masks the symptoms but it is irrelevant because the chemicals in the cigarettes make it WORSE. Apparently I fail at life because I can't get through to him, so someone else offer up some explanations please. Remember, he's not very smart so keep it simple. :)

Smoking dries out your mouth and your throat. This alone will irritate the throat a lot more.

Smoking also blows SMOKE into your throat and lungs, thus the chemical particles within that smoke will irritate your throat.

The menthol helps? It's in cough drops, he says? Why not guzzle vick's vaporub then?