A Smoking Rant

[Crescent Cat]

You will not get cancer from second hand smoke. It's impossible.

[Lace Neil Singer]

You might from car exhaust, tho; not to mention the exhaust from lorries, trucks, buses, trains etc.

What I find is that the inconsiderate people are the nonsmokers. The people who stand there doing that really irritating pretend cough whenever someone lights up next to them. Either put up with the smoke, or move away cuz guess what, no-one owns the outside. I know what an asthma attack sounds like cuz my cousin has asthma; it does not sound like a pussy "ahem ahem". If you really did have asthma, you'd sound as tho you were dying on the spot.

Of course, I never smoke indoors. It stinks out the flat and I have a porch so I can stand outside and not get wet. I ask people if they mind me smoking inside; if not, I go outside. If I am smoking, I am nearly always outside; yet I still get self righteous nonsmokers having a go. Those people need to shake loose the stick from their arses, get a life and fucking well GROW UP.

[HYHYBT]

I seem to remember that the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants was for the employees' safety. There's a big difference between secondhand smoke for a few minutes and breathing it all day, every day.

[blas87]

I don't even smoke in the car anymore, save for long car rides or if the weather is extremely awful and I'm nervous.......when I tried quitting this summer, I cleaned out the car top to bottom and got rid of all that crap from smoking, and it just smells so much better NOT to smoke in there.

[AdminAssistant]

Completely unrelated to rants about smoking but, I was talking to a friend who commented on how long my hair has gotten. I haven't had it cut since April, it grows like crazy, and I take quite a bit of Vitamin E* daily. Friend said, "Yeah, I should take vitamins, there really aren't any in coffee and cigarettes" And I thought..."Y'know...someone should make vitamin-infused cigarettes" "OMG, that would be AMAZING!!!"

Just a silly bit of fun, and no, I don't think that would actually be a good idea. It's a bit like spraying vitamins on sugary kids cereal and calling it healthy.

*For a seperate and doctor-approved reason, but better skin and hair is nice.

To the topic at hand, as long as you don't blow the smoke in my face, whatevs. A colleague smokes, so I generally don't sit next to him in class. I dated a smoker...never again! But he smoked in his house, car, etc. Wouldn't even come over to my apartment because he didn't want to do without his cigarettes for a few hours.

[XiaoTortuga]

What I love is going outside to stand or sit next to an ashtray to have my cigarette and have some cell phone user there or come by to jabber away get all disgusted with me for smoking. Ashtray = smoking area NOT cellphone area. You can wander away, find another spot, but I stay by the ashtray so I don't litter and people who don't want to be around cigarette smoke can go elsewhere, like not the smoking area, to talk on the phone and not be bothered by my smoke.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Mobile phone users are definitely more annoying. Unhealthy? Well, maybe after someone smacks their head after they annoy the wrong person.

[telecom_goddess]

You might from car exhaust, tho; not to mention the exhaust from lorries, trucks, buses, trains etc.

What I find is that the inconsiderate people are the nonsmokers. The people who stand there doing that really irritating pretend cough whenever someone lights up next to them. Either put up with the smoke, or move away cuz guess what, no-one owns the outside. I know what an asthma attack sounds like cuz my cousin has asthma; it does not sound like a pussy "ahem ahem". If you really did have asthma, you'd sound as tho you were dying on the spot.

Heh.....Yup I'm with you on that one. Another annoying thing is when someone covers up their face with a scarf or something....only when they are walking by YOU and your EVIL SMOKE. I once had a guy bitch at me for smoking outside my OWN FRONT DOOR...saying how rude it was to smoke outside someone's door like that. Um....it's MINE and I can do it if I want to.

I miss smoking indoors....sigh. But yeah it does make the place a lot dirtier and stinkier so I don't do it anymore.

[Skunkle]

Heroin users WILL freeze their asses off to get their hit. They'll do just about anything. Meth users will go without food for days because money spent on food is money not spent on meth.

Me, I smoke a pipe and the occasional cigar. And I live in a state where smoking laws are quite restricted. I'm really okay with that, though I would like bars and clubs to be allowed to have a room, indoors, set aside or those who choose to partake. I also like California's regulations on smoking in a store: if a store makes over a certain margin of profit (something like 70%) from tobacco - generally a tobacconist, a pipe or cigar store or cigar bar - patrons may smoke inside.

I do like Las Vegas. I can walk anywhere with my cocktail in hand and my pipe lit. But if I'm asked by someone not to smoke near them, I put it out or move away. If I'm about to light up, I often ask people near me if they mind; if they do, I move or don't do it at all. Now, if I'm in a designated smoking area and people complain, I won't hesitate to tell them to please move away from the DESIGNATED SMOKING AREA. Some of them won't, I know; it's seen as a crime against humanity by a few, but many are also the types we read about on Customers Suck, who simply aren't happy unless they're complaining.

Should also note here: One close friend of mine is extremely sensitive to smoke residue. If she walks past someone who wore the same jacket yesterday and had a cigarette yesterday, she'll start coughing. She won't bitch at them, she just moves away. I have another friend who's a chain cig smoker, and has been smoking since his teens; he has allergies and, for some freason I can't explain or understand, whenever he quits for a few days, his allergies hit him like a tidal wave and he's stuck in bed until he starts smoking again.

[Greenday]

You will not get cancer from second hand smoke. It's impossible.

So carcinogens DON'T give you cancer? This is news to me.

[linguist]

You will not get cancer from second hand smoke. It's impossible.

care to cite some sources on this? because the world health organization, the national cancer institute, and the epa all seem to disagree with you.

[Nyoibo]

Heroin users WILL freeze their asses off to get their hit. They'll do just about anything. Meth users will go without food for days because money spent on food is money not spent on meth.

I've known people to complain they can't afford food and to go without for a while, but they always seem to have enough money for cigarettes.

I also like California's regulations on smoking in a store: if a store makes over a certain margin of profit (something like 70%) from tobacco - generally a tobacconist, a pipe or cigar store or cigar bar - patrons may smoke inside.

I have no problem with that.

[Crescent Cat]

So carcinogens DON'T give you cancer? This is news to me.

Smoking can give you cancer. Second hand smoke cannot.

If you disagree, I would very much like to see a real case in which a nonsmoker was diagnosed with cancer and it is confirmed - beyond all reasonable doubt - that second hand smoke was the cause.

And no, a nonsmoker living with a smoker does not count. Nonsmokers can develop lung cancer too. I want conclusive evidence.

Keep in mind that I never said second hand smoke wasn't bad or not a potential health hazard - just that it won't cause cancer.

I'm not going to read those reports - they're too long and I don't feel like wasting my time. Just point out the parts that say "Second hand smoke causes cancer" and I'll look at those.

[the_std]

And no, a nonsmoker living with a smoker does not count. Nonsmokers can develop lung cancer too. I want conclusive evidence.

How would that not count? Wouldn't a nonsmoker living with a smoker, developing cancer from second-hand smoke be the case you say cannot possibly exist?

[Crescent Cat]

It doesn't count because the conclusion between second hand smoke = cancer is simply because a nonsmoker had lived with a smoker.

That's it. It's coincidental. There's no medical evidence that I've seen which links the carcinogens from cigarettes to a nonsmoker's ailment.

They just say "Oh, nonsmoker has lung cancer! He lived with a smoker! That's why!"

Bullshit. I want proof.