The smoothness of a cigarette comes from the exact variety of tobacco used. Some types of tobacco are more bitter than others. That is one reason why they use additives, since bitter tobacco is often less expensive to grow, and it is cheaper to use a high-yield but bitter variety and then treat it with additives or blend it with milder tobacco.
Additives such as menthol may give the perception of a cigarette being easier to smoke. Filters also help take away the bitterness. Plus after smoking becomes habitual, you might learn to ignore some of the bitterness.
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Smoking has destroyed your taste buds.
Edit: This is ridiculous and answered by somebody who doesn't know much about cigarettes or the rest of the world. A cigarette can taste sweet when it has had clove oil added to it. This is very common in South East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. In Indonesia, a clove cigarette - a mix of tobacco and cloves, as well as clove oil on the filter - is called a kretek. I believe it has the same or a similar name in Malaysia as their languages are very similar. Many different tobacco companies produce these kretek, which have a very pleasant taste. A very popular brand in Indonesia is Gudang Garam, as well as Dje Samsoe (unfiltered). As good as they taste, their tar content is also much higher than a regular cigarette due to the natural resin that cloves contain. It is best not to smoke them habitually as this type of cigarette *can* and *does* - unlike regular cigarettes as claimed above - alter how your food tastes. Clove oil is numbing, after all. They can also lead to a heavy smokers cough, for the same reason. The resin quickly builds up in your lungs, throat and mouth. Kretek also have a very distinct smell to them. Sweet, woody, very aromatic. Almost like a spicy incense. They can be smelled from quite a ways away.
I have personally known adults to start smoking very late in life after tasting kretek for themselves for the first time.