One of the world's leading cigarette manufacturers is phasing out traditional cigarettes in favour of smoke-free products, it was announced on Wednesday.

Philip Morris International, the makers of Malboro, said it has a "dramatic" vision for its cigarettes to one day be replaced by smoke-free products.

"We understand the millions of men and women who smoke cigarettes. They are looking for less harmful, yet satisfying, alternatives to smoking" the company said in a statement.

"We will give them that choice."

"Society expects us to act responsibly. And we are doing just that by designing a smoke-free future."

A "smoke-free" future is something that the Scottish Government has tried hard to pioneer.

In 2006, a UK-first saw Scotland place a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces and in 2013 the government pledged to eradicate smoking by 2034, by investing £10m a year in stop-smoking facilities and legislation.

In the 1960s over half of us were smoking regularly.

But in 2019, only one in five Scots - the equivalent to 850,000 adults - are still lighting up.

So how did it fall out of favour?

At the end of the Second World War, Britain had the highest incidence of lung cancer in the world - and no-one knew why.

War-time occupations and road tarring were widely blamed, until a study published by the Royal College of Physicians, Smoking and Health in 1962 linked smoking and poor health.

Although there had been previous warnings linking smoking and lung cancer, the study marks the beginning of our changing relationship with smoking.

In 1962 more than 70% of men and 40% of women in Scotland smoked.

And they smoked everywhere - on trains and buses, at work, even in schools and hospitals.

But soon after the study was released, the British government banned cigarette advertising on television and government health warnings were introduced on all cigarette packets sold in the UK.

A series of public health campaigns and legislation encouraging people to cut back followed.

In 1985, for instance, smoking was banned in railway stations that were partly or wholly underground.

In 1992, the first nicotine patch became available on prescription and in 2003, the branding of cigarettes as "light" was banned in the UK.

That same year, EU legislation brought in health warnings on products, and in March 2006 Scotland became the first country in the UK to ban smoking in pubs.

All the incremental changes - the health warnings, legislation, the images of diseased lungs on packets, the association with impotence - led to a genuine cultural shift.

By 2018, just 28% of men and 25% of women in Scotland were smoking regularly.

But despite over half of Scotland's smokers stubbing out their cigarettes for good, the country still has more people smoking regularly than the rest of the UK.

Around 42% of adults in the country's most deprived communities smoke. The NHS believe people in these areas are less likely to know where to seek help, more likely to experience stress and mental health issues and will have less encouragement and social support to quit.

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of anti-smoking charity ASH Scotland, said that there are still "real obstacles" in the way of people wanting to quit.

"In some communities in Scotland the high smoking rates make it more likely that people will start smoking and smoke more heavily" she said.

"Progressively putting cigarette branding out of sight and out of mind and having smoke-free public places are part of changing the impression that smoking is a normal thing to start when you grow up.

"People decide to stop smoking for different reasons. Concerns about their own health, care for those they love, and the cost of smoking are some of the common reasons why people make a quit attempt. Some people find it easier than they thought to quit and wonder why they didn't do it sooner.

"We are learning from the experiences of smokers in communities where smoking rates are high and where people are facing money worries and social and personal challenges. We've heard important and encouraging stories from people who have quit smoking and as a result been able to afford their electric bill, or reduce their dose of medication by half.

"Scotland's vision is for smoking to fall completely out of fashion and we are working with communities to understand how best to make progress towards achieving this."