We went over to Jim’s aunt’s house again this Christmas Eve, and once again I marvelled at them smoking in the house. I see people smoking outside of their houses all the time, but since I’m not a smoker, I don’t know how common it is to smoke inside your house as a regular habit. That’s where you all come in - I’m curious how common this is.
Do you smoke in your house? Do you know a lot of people who smoke in their house? Do you know a lot of people who only smoke outside of their house? Would you smoke outside of your house for a couple of hours if you were having a bunch of non-smoking guests over?
Everyone I have ever known who smokes does so inside their homes. Some of them go outside when there is non-smoking company, but they all smoke inside the rest of the time. As a non-smoker, I hate to go in a smoker’s house. The smell is awful.
Yeuch. I know a lot of smokers and none of them smoke in their own houses anymore - even my grandad stopped after he nearly burned down his bungalow.
Growing up, though, there’d usually be at least three adults all chain-smoking in the living room at any one time, regardless of how many kids were around at the time. It’s hard to imagine such a thing now.
My favorite smoking-in-house story is about the time we were searching for a house to buy - we came across many, many duds before we finally bought, and each dud we gave a nickname. This one we dubbed “Cigarette House”.
The place was in a good location and looked good from the outside - but was inhabited by a woman who positively thrived on chain-smoking inside her house (she was one of those rare people on whom smoking apparently acted as a sort of preservative, like the tar added to Egyptian mummies - she was there, chain-smoking away, while we looked the place over).
This woman was about 90 years old (or at least looked 90) and had lived, and smoked, in this house most of her life. Place was neat as a pin - but totally permiated by the most nausious stale ashtray stench I’d ever encountered. The walls were slightly brown and sticky with residue. I was at the time a smoker myself, and I could not endure the atmosphere in there for more than a few minutes.
The question came up between us: is this a cosmetic problem solved by removal of broadloom and repainting … or worse? Had the smell worked its way into the very fabric of the house, such that it could not easily be removed?
We decided we did not wish to find out the hard way.
I’m having a climate-controlled “smoking porch” built onto the back of my house (it should be finished the week after New Years). But until it is completed, yes I do smoke in my own home unless an aunt who is allergic to tobacco smoke visits.
And, you made the right decision. My sister-in-law once rented an apartment that had been occupied by smokers and in the four years she was there they never got the smell out despite replacing the carpeting, repainting, cleaning the air ducts, etc.
A friend of mine is currently redoing a fixer-upper that used to belong to a smoker. Paint and new carpet did not entirely get rid of the smell, but when they took out and replaced all the insulation in the walls and attic, the smell did go away. So, yes, it works its way into the walls.
Hardly anyone I know anymore smokes inside the house. It probably helps that I live in temperate California, but nearly all the smokers I know smoke outside, probably because they have children or spouses or something who don’t smoke. In-house smoking has really become much less common over the past 20 years as far as I can tell.
Thanks for the confirmation! I thought that might be the case.
Given the intensity of the smell, and the fact we could not live with it at all, I’m happy we decided as we did - a total reno, on top of the price of the house itself, was beyond our means at the time.
All the smokers I’ve known smoked indoors. Up until recently (the last few years, with the bans on smoking in places like restaurants) I don’t think anyone thought it was odd to smoke indoors. My SO’s father smokes in his house. It’s the one thing I dislike about visiting their home. Thankfully he was accepting of my wish to keep my own house smoke-free and smoked outside without complaint when he was staying in my home for a visit.
While house-hunting, I had a similar experience as Malthus did. One house was an estate sale that looked pretty nice except for the HORRIBLE STAINS ON THE WALL from many years of tobacco smoke. The area where an appliance had been covering the wall was nice and clean, but then it was ringed by thick coats of tar (or whatever). The family was putting a lot of work into trying to clean it up, but we ended up deciding it wasn’t for us.
Many of my husband’s relatives smoke, and they all smoke inside their homes. They’ll usually smoke inside other people’s homes, too, unless those other people make it clear that smoking is Not Allowed. This is one of the reasons why I don’t socialize with my inlaws very much. Another reason is because I’m scared that The Stupid is contagious.
And in answer to the house question…the tar and nicotine and other nasties seep right into the materials of the house. We lived in my grandparents’ old house, which we bought, for over 20 years. Grandpa had smoked in that house for about 40 years. In fact, he’d frequently have two or three cigarettes lit and burning in separate rooms. He’d light one, set it down, wander into another room, forget that he already had a lit cig in the first room, and light up another one. So even though he was just one smoker, that house had the equivalent of two or three housebound chain smokers in it. The walls and ceilings were more than just lightly brown. We had to replace the sheetrock in some of the rooms.
I know smokers, but I don’t have any regular friends who smoke. Smoking is a deal breaker for friendship. I know one smoker who smokes inside because I repaired his computer inside.
My mom smokes inside the house. I had to beg her to cut back a little last Christmas when I visited, the place was nearly blue with smoke and I felt I couldn’t get a breath of air.
None of the smokers I’ve ever known have smoked outside their own homes. I’m down to knowing only one, and he smokes inside his home but outside anywhere else. I guess it wouldn’t occur to me that they wouldn’t. I’ve never smoked, but my parents were chain smokers, and had the deaths to prove it.