I have an odd affliction I need some advice on:

More often than not, when swallowing any kind of food, it ends up the
wrong way and I'm choking, and one or more people have to get up from
the table and bail me out(slap me on the back, Heimlich, you name it!)

Was I born with some kind of defect?  I have no other throat issues
that I know of, other than I grew up around a lot of second hand
smoke.  Could that have affected the growth/formation of my basic
swallowing mechanism?

-ChrisCoaster