Trinidad ? The encounter this week was opportune.

The man whose warning label graces every cigarette pack in the United States paid a visit to a U.S. Navy hospital with 700 military and civilians on board, among them more than a few addicted smokers.

As Rear Adm. Kenneth Moritsugu, the acting surgeon general, toured the USNS Comfort in this southern Caribbean capitol, he found himself autographing sailors’ cigarette packs as keepsakes – with a hitch.

In exchange, the nation’s top doctor made them pledge to kick the habit.

On the spot.

By evening, Moritsugu had addressed Comfort crew members with an offer: Quit on the spot and the man who soon retires from a four-decade career in public health would seal it with an autograph and a commemorative coin from the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, a rare collectable.

Smoke again, he said, then you must find him – and return the coin.