Dave , WTG on dropping cigarettes. It's one of the toughest things ever.
Many long-time cigarette smokers who've been puffing on coffin nails for -- (how time flies!) -- decades of one, two, or three packs per day have already done the damage, so COPD -- whether Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, acerbated Bronchial Asthma, or the like, while it's certainly proven good to quit smoking cigarettes, yet continuing to smoke pipes &/or cigars, certainly won't resolve the problem or return one to optimum pulmonary health.
That said, having been there and done that, dropping cigarettes, even when continuing to smoke pipes &/or cigars and not inhaling, does (at least for me) has helped things along.
But that won't make COPD go away. Me? Sure, I "fight" with my primary care physician, but of course she's right and I've cut back. A lot. Cigarettes at zero since 2006. Then a bowl or two, on average, of pipe tobacco per day; skipping a day not uncommon. Cigars? Down to one a week.
Funny how it's worked out. For me, less is more -- rather, I appreciate what I do smoke a lot more.