Second Hand Smoke

[Greenday]

Now they've even came up with Third Hand Smoke.....meaning the smoke that lingers in your hair, your clothes, your furniture, your car, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.

Leave us smokers alone. For Christ's Sake.....go pick on someone else for once. There's other bad habbits. Chewing your nails (did you know your liver has to process all the gunk under your nails? Even if you don't actually chew on them or eat them, the gunk gets into your mouth and goes through you), sticking your hair in your mouth, cracking your knuckles, picking your butt or your camel toe, adjusting your balls or your bra......THAT is disgusting to do in front of other people.

I swear to God, the next time a fat person comes up to me to berate me for my secondhand smoke, or someone picking their wedgie tries to lecture me.....heads will roll.

LOL @ calling it third hand smoke. Just call it what it is: smoke residue.

The reason why smokers get picked on so much more than others is that it directly affects people who don't do it. The only person I hurt by chewing my nails is me. The only person I hurt by cracking my joints is me. I'll give you picking your butt, as that spreads germs. But I won't give up on adjusting my junk. If my junk gets in an uncomfortable position, it can cause some SERIOUS pain.

[telecom_goddess]

Leave us smokers alone. For Christ's Sake.....go pick on someone else for once. There's other bad habbits. Chewing your nails (did you know your liver has to process all the gunk under your nails? Even if you don't actually chew on them or eat them, the gunk gets into your mouth and goes through you), sticking your hair in your mouth, cracking your knuckles, picking your butt or your camel toe, adjusting your balls or your bra......THAT is disgusting to do in front of other people.

I swear to God, the next time a fat person comes up to me to berate me for my secondhand smoke, or someone picking their wedgie tries to lecture me.....heads will roll.

I have to agree here.....there are many many pollutants in the air caused by
factories, cars, trucks, buses etc. I have to suck that crap up every time I go outside. Second hand smoke drifting through the air is not going to cause any more damage than the blast of black smoke coming off the back end of a bus...ever walk behind one of those things? I ride the bus every day so I know .

Now what about drinking? You can't say someone getting drunk doesn't affect anyone else...if they get behind the wheel of a car they become a danger to themselves and society. A person smoking a cigarette in a car isn't going to lose their judgement because of that.

I really miss the good old days when people just smoked and other people just dealt with it. God knows I have to deal with plenty of stuff every day that makes me feel sick.

[DesignFox]

<snip>

Leave us smokers alone. For Christ's Sake.....go pick on someone else for once. There's other bad habbits. Chewing your nails (did you know your liver has to process all the gunk under your nails? Even if you don't actually chew on them or eat them, the gunk gets into your mouth and goes through you), sticking your hair in your mouth, cracking your knuckles, picking your butt or your camel toe, adjusting your balls or your bra......THAT is disgusting to do in front of other people.
<snip>

*giggle* I love you blas.

Hey, look. I try not to pick on considerate smokers. My only beef is with people who are inconsiderate.

And I agree, people should mind their own business. I certainly don't harp on the people I know who smoke (unless we're all joking around, but that's a different story). They know it's bad for them. They don't need me to tell them that. As long as someone isn't blowing their smoke in my face, I don't care what they do.

While I agree with you that the whole "third hand smoke" thing is ridiculous, smoke residue absolutely does exist. I can usually tell who is a smoker and who isn't- especially if they have been smokers for a huge portion of their life. BUT having friends who smoke- but are like you and do it only outdoors, etc- you are right that not everyone who does it comes out smelling like an ashtray.

[Greenday]

Now what about drinking? You can't say someone getting drunk doesn't affect anyone else...if they get behind the wheel of a car they become a danger to themselves and society. A person smoking a cigarette in a car isn't going to lose their judgement because of that.

Which is why it's against the law...

[unholypet]

Now what about drinking? You can't say someone getting drunk doesn't affect anyone else...

The point made there was on drinking and driving affecting everyone else driving/riding, and it DOES affect oter people nearby the drinker.

Like a lot of people who've posted here, I have asthma and am allergic to a ridiculous variety of things. I can choose never to be around a person who has smoked or drunk recently, or has the smell on them.

However, being at work is a little different. You can't avoid co-workers who HAVE to work right beside you.

I've always known I'm allergic to certain things, and the smoking point from me is made below, but the alcohol "residue" you'd get from drinking heavily CAN affect someone else. I'm allergic to whatever is in most beers (never tried wine or liquor for obvous fears), and upon one swallow, had a not-quite-severe allegic reaction which resulted in an E.R. visit.

Smelling it on someone (i.e. the unnamed co-worker after coming in super-hung-over with no shower) caused my eyes to burn, face to swell, and my breathing was labored.

While I agree with you that the whole "third hand smoke" thing is ridiculous, smoke residue absolutely does exist.

Its stupid to bother people about something like that, yeah, but like above, my severe allergies are bothered by a person's smoke in their hair/clothes/etc. log after they've even showered. I guess they're not thorough? Or it could just be ingrained in them but it STILL affects me.

Though, I go out of my way to avoid it.

[McDreidel09]

Second hand smoking doesn't hurt anyone? Tell that to my lungs.

My mom's second husband smoked inside all the time. He cracked a window while smoking in the car. I had healthy lungs until then.

Now, I am out of breath faster because my lungs were affected by it.

Do I believe laws should be made to ban smoking in one's car and house? Not at all. It's your property, do as you please, but if anyone is going to smoke in their car or house while I am in it, I am going to ask that they open a window.

Consideration is a great thing.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I

I really miss the good old days when people just smoked and other people just dealt with it. God knows I have to deal with plenty of stuff every day that makes me feel sick.

I'm really enjoying the good new days when people can just go around breathing and smokers just deal with it. I figure it is my turn now.

Don't like it, stay home. Damn, that felt good to say. I've been hearing it all my life, so I can say it really well. Tee hee.

For the person who asked what planet a backseat fills with smoke when the smokers in the front crack the window: I thought it was earth. I could be wrong. It was whatever planet I rode around in the back of a car on as a child. Window cracked, back seat filled with kids and smoke. Whatever planet it was, it had Alabama on it.

[AdminAssistant]

Again, the difference between overeating and smoking - when I have an extra scoop of ice cream, I'm not hurting anybody but myself. And I would say that it's harder to change eating habits, since food is kind of a requirement. It's not just something you can stop cold turkey. And, yes, there is a stigma to being overweight, especially these days. I've run into sizism on this board and CS more times than I care to remember.

If I see a smoker on the street, I'm going to leave them alone. But if they're blocking an entrance or otherwise blowing that nastiness in my face I'm going to say something.

[blas87]

While I understand that smoking is (at least for now, still) legal and drunk driving is not, how many times can I remember that I have been standing outside of a bar having a smoke (cuz I can't smoke inside, remember?) and someone (usually drunk or buzzed) feels the need to school me on how dangerous it isn, and then proceeds to hop in their car and buzz away driving drunk......oh many times since last summer...

[Cats]

I will have to say that personally, I hate smoking (and for the record, I hate drunkeness even MORE). However, smokers are people too, and since smoking in itself is not illegal, those people do still have rights. While it is bad for them and another people around them, there are worse things.

While I hate smoking itself, smokers I don't mind as much if they are considerate to non smokers about it. My best friend and I have "rules", she is allowed to smoke as often as she wants (though she may get some crap, mostly due to the fact my time with her is interrupted constantly because of the habit), but she must be outside, and if she's gonna do it in the car, her window must be all the way down. While I don't have any breathing problems, my sense of smell can be pretty strong at times, and the scent of smoke is just gag worthy to me (as is smoker's breath). I can't be within 25 feet of anyone who has smoked pot in the last hour, since it will give me the urge to vomit. People who overuse perfumes or those spray deodorants bother me too, and those linger pretty badly as well.

What I think I hate most about smokers though, is they acknowledge they know smoking is bad for them, but metnion at times how they can't breathe well, ESPECIALLY if they have some sort of cold (and still insist on smoking the same amount a day, if not more, in the interim), as if it's someone else's fault. YOU chose to smoke, YOU made your bed, now YOU lie in it. Yes, smoking is a hard habit to break, but it never ceases to annoy me.

I will respect any considerate smokers desire to keep up their habit as long as they take the non-smokers around them into consideration and respect THEIR decisions on any desire to avoid it.

As for the whole smoking in the house thing, that is your right. However, would it be so bad for some smokers I've known to, you know, spray down the furniture with febreeze once in a while?

[Seshat]

If I'm upstairs and someone downstairs lights a cigarette, I can smell it. I don't have to know, I can just call down and ask the smoker to go outside - and I'm right that there's someone in the house smoking. Unless it's the neighbour who's just lit up.
Yes, in 'medium density' or higher housing, I can smell the neighbour's cigarette.

If I'm in a car, in any seat, and the driver is smoking, it hurts my eyes and makes my nose water. Even with the window down. Sometimes it's worse with the window down.

I can't kiss my husband without feeling physically ill. Because he smokes.

I can't hug him if he's smoked within the last hour without feeling physically ill.


Sorry smokers, but your smoke does affect non-smokers. And because you bring it right next to us, it affects us more noticeably and more acutely than things like industrial smoke or even (normal) car exhaust.

I don't believe in the 'smoking is okay because hey, look at all these other pollutants' argument.

A badly tuned car will also make my eyes water, and if it's bad enough, can make me have to sit down on the pavement and get my breath back. I don't like that, either! And yes, I do complain about that, too. You don't get to play 'but Billy's mum lets him'.

Billy's mum doesn't. Industrial polluters are under ever increasing scrutiny. Cars have unleaded petrol, and a wide variety of alternative fuel sources are being researched and made feasible.

We as a society are working on all the other pollutants. Think about your one.

[Peppergirl]

How about this? What if you were a small-bar owner, whose smoking clientele made up for 95 percent of your business, literally?

What if, because of new state laws, you had to cater to the FIVE percent that don't smoke, and force all your bread-and-butter customers outside, WITHOUT their drinks (cuz there's a law against THAT too)?

For added bonus, what if said state was a border city, and the two neighboring states that are 5-10 minute drive (in some cases, even a WALK) have LESS restrictive smoking rules? What do you do when a good 70 percent of your customers who smoke have decided to walk or drive their asses across the state line where they can enjoy a cigarette with their drinks? How do you make ends meet?

That's EXACTLY what's happening to several small bar/pub owners in my fair city.

For my part, I was a smoker for 20 years, and the only time I light up is when I have a drink in my hand. I never smoked around people who wished me not to, and was always super-considerate of non smokers, particularly ones who were allergic.

Hell, even when I had a pack-a-day habit, I could understand and support the legislation that banned smoking sections in RESTAURANTS. But damnit, if you own a small bar, and the SUPER vast majority (90-95 percent) are smokers, why the FUCK should you have to cater to the 5-10 percent of people who DON'T smoke? I can understand not wanting to be around it, but there have always been (in recent years) a TON of non-smoking establishments to chose from. Let the 5 to 10 percent minority go THERE, damnit!

Even some very anti-smoker friends of mine think this law (about small bars where most people smoked) was bullshit, yet there was no distinction between small, privately owned bars and restaurants when the law was passed. It was an all-or-nothing legislation, and many small business owners have paid the price.

Kentucky and Indiana bars on the border are THRIVING by comparison.

[the_std]

I think that there should be specialty bars and restaurants that cater to smokers, but you'd have to apply to have a special license for it, just like a liquor license. That way, you can cater to smokers if you want to, but not all restaurants and bars open up a special smoking section. Best of both worlds.

[Peppergirl]

I think that there should be specialty bars and restaurants that cater to smokers, but you'd have to apply to have a special license for it, just like a liquor license. That way, you can cater to smokers if you want to, but not all restaurants and bars open up a special smoking section. Best of both worlds.

I think that's a FABULOUS idea/solution!

[Greenday]

I don't because than all bars will get the license to allow people to smoke, then I'm screwed. I'm sorry, but smokers can suck it when it comes to bars. I shouldn't have to suffocate while in a bar and I shouldn't have to reek when I leave. I personally LOVE these anti-smoking laws. You SHOULDN'T be allowed to smoke inside a public building. You SHOULDN'T be allowed to smoke in front of entrances to buildings. When your actions make other people suffer, it really shouldn't be allowed. Where I am, the bars haven't lost any money. Because just answer me this: where all are the smokers going to go if EVERY bar doesn't allow smoking? They will go to the bars and put up with it. And since the laws a few years ago came into play, that's exactly what happened. So any other state that bitches about it is just full of it.