One of my colleagues is a super anti-smoker nazi. He hates dealing with them. He says the smell of smoke nauseates him. Today, we have to work with an outside legal firm and whenever we have time to ourselves he would say this person is a smoker, or that one is. Usually, I let him rant, but today we had lunch and I was like, “there is no way you can smell smoke over our lunch.” He says that there are other tell tale tells that someone is a smoker. He says that people have discoloration in their fingertips from the nicotene and that smoker’s toothpaste doesn’t work b/c it still stains the teeth at the edges. He also said to look at the corners of their mouth and, if female, at their fake fingernails. I want to say BS, that he’s just a paranoid anti-smoking nazi (I don’t smoke), but the only tell-tale sign that I know is that a smoker’s car collects ash in the back windshield, and it is quickest way to tell if a smoker has been in the car. Any other tips? Or is my friend delusional?
If you’re a non-smoker, you can usually detect the odour of smoke on their clothes or hair - to a certain extent this can be masked by washing, but not everybody washes their hair every day and some garments, like suits, coats, gloves, hats, scarves etc don’t get washed or cleaned so often (and some accessories like handbags and mobile phones don’t get washed at all).
When you don’t smoke (and particularly if you used to smoke, then stopped), your sense of smell is quite a lot more sensitive than that of a smoker.
Other signs do actually include yellowing of the fingers, the teeth (although that can be caused by other things), the moustache (if it was blonde or silver to begin with). I don’t think your friend is delusional; it’s usually quite easy to tell if a person is a smoker, particularly as most people don’t make much effort to hide the fact.
On the other hand, if I knew someone who was as obsessed as the OP’s coworker about the subject I know I’d be trying to hide it. This person sounds like the kind of people who went around “outing” women who’d had babies out of wedlock in the olden days…
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- Well, as to if a lot of what he claims is true or not–partially depends on if you are a smoker or not (or regularly around one/living with one). I don’t smoke, haven’t ever, and am not normally around anyone who is–
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- It is true their hands usually show the marks where they usually hold cigarettes,
- and their clothes do smell like smoke nearly all the time, unless they have on some strong fresh perfume.
- Their car windows do accumulate grime, as do their house walls and windows. Smnokers’ cars are “tainted”, it is not possible to reomve the cigarette smell from the interior, ever. -Without removing the interior, that is.
- the female fingernails business I never noticed, will have to watch for that one.
- and there’s others I’m sure. I don’t care that much. I’m sort of a casual smoking-Nazi, kind of like a lazy wave and “Yo, hitla!..”
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-But the main indicator is just the smell. If you’re never around cigarette smoke, you cna smell it very easily. Same as with pets–cats and dogs stink, stink up your entire house. If you live there you get used to it and don’t notice, but anyone with a good sense of smell (who doesn’t smoke that is!) can walk into your house and immediately smell that you have a pet.
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I have been an ex-smoker for more than fifteen years. I can smell cigarette smoke on a person’s hair and clothing clear across a room. I wish I couldn’t, but I can. And it makes me want a cigarette.
It’s very difficult for people to rid their breath of the smell, too. No amount of Listerine will totally obscure that telltale odor.
You may be right; the beahviour does sound a little obsessive, but we’re hearing about it second-hand from someone who admits they find it annoying, so we need to at least admit that there may be an element of bias. In reality, it may be nothing more than that mazinger_z is the Watson to his friend’s Holmes.
The fingernails yellow quite badly, particularly if they’re polished.
Also, the breath is impossible to get really clean - the smell seems to radiate up from the lungs.
I really, really hate smoking, but I don’t hate smokers - that being said, I can still spot them (smell them) pretty easily.
I’m a smoker who’s spent enough time in the “smoking ghetto” at work to notice a few trends. I’m of the opinion that it’s extremely hard to spot younger smokers (under 40) who haven’t smoked recently (i.e. if you can’t smell it you can’t spot them). Mostly they won’t have noticably yellow anything. Because these days people don’t smoke as much as they used to probably and probably also because of filters. That’s a guess. You’re more likely to spot them by social or cultural correlates. If they look working class, overweight, older, counter-cultural in some way, and maybe depressed they’re more likely to smoke. But that doesn’t mean squat really. Most people who are those things don’t smoke and I’ve seen classic yuppie-types who do (I’m usually a bit surprised to see them there though).
Long-time smokers (decades) may have the yellowing and often have a certain look and sound to them. They look older and IMHO the skin seems to be wrinkled in a certain way but I couldn’t tell you exactly what I’m spotting. And women especially - you can tell by their voices. They can be much harsher than normal. Men’s get rough and sometimes gravelly too but it may not be as obvious. I’m pretty sure it’s true because I get verification of my guesses. I see somebody like that and I think “there’s a smoker” and what do you know I’ll find them in the smoking ghetto later. None of these things is terribly specific and I’m sure there are lots of people who I’d guess are smokers and who aren’t.
Oh and by the way why do we want to get tips for the Nazi anyway?
Well, we have to meet with them again this week. I’m already dreading it, not just my friend who is as about as obsessive/compulsive as you can get, but also because that work is really boring. I’ll look for the breath. I thought that smoker’s breath would be the easiest thing to clear up.
My friend also said that smoker’s have “more watery-looking” eyes. And, when they’re not smoking, they’re fidgeting for something (I might agree to that last one, but I would think that’s more of an extreme case).
The guy sounds like a Witchsmeller Pursuvient wannabee…
My parents both smoke and always have. Growing up, I didn’t even know cigarettes HAD a smell. Boy, now I do. After moving out (I don’t smoke and never have) I eventually got my sense of smell back.
Smokers smell horrible; it’s a mean thing to say, I guess, but it’s true. If you smoke regularly, you stink. I’m not sure how to describe it; it’s a stale, dirty smell, but not a wet or sweet kinda dirty. Sort of like 75% campfire, 20% gym socks, and 5% pee. Throw in a little menthol there for folks who smoke menthols. I can smell a smoker ten feet away and if they walk by they leave their smell behind like a fart. A smoker’s house is worse - it’s vile. Gets into your clothes and your hair.
Having said that, if someone wants to smoke, have at it. I’m sure I’ve had some bad perspiration days where I smelled like a hockey bag. I’m sure there are lots of people who are put off my my astounding ugliness and lack of fashion sense. Life’s too short to go all Nazi on people because they have a habit that’s incredibly hard to kick.
Since the smoker/non-smoker divide is so deep to these people, they are probably hypersensitive to the signs of smoking, and may very well perceive these signs when they are not present. They may smell cigarette smoke merely because a smoker is present, and accuse them of smoking in a forbidden area. Or they may accuse a smoker’s friend, or someone who went to a smoky bar, of being a smoker. They may also perceive differences between smokers and non-smokers that others do not. For example, few people have perfectly white teeth; if an anti-smoking crusader knows from other evidence that a person is a smoker, their teeth may appear yellow even if they are not significantly more yellow than average. Or they may notice certain facial characteristics that are present in some smokers but ignore them when they are present in non-smokers.
The behavior described in the OP is incredibly annoying, and it shouldn’t be tolerated by non-smokers or by smokers. The analogy with someone in the past pointing out people who had had out-of-wedlock children is a good one – these people feel that they must undertake a moral crusade against something that they feel is wrong. (While smoking carries very significant health risks, those risks aren’t enough for the crusaders, and they like to exaggerate existing risks or negative effects and invent new ones.) These people have no concept of the emotional harm that their actions might cause. The targets of their comments may be made to feel like outcasts, and others may turn against them. It is altogether inappropriate to make these sorts of comments about an activity that is legally permitted for adults, regardless of the health risks (real or perceived) that may be associated with it.
I’m reminded of a former co-worker who would constantly make comments on the evil of caffeine or alcohol (in any amount), which were forbidden by his religion. Besides being merely wrong, there were health risks associated with these behaviors, and I (along with more than 90% of North American adults) was referred to as being ‘addicted to caffeine’. ‘Caffeine addicts’ were compared with alcoholics and cocaine addicts. I was thus forced to feel guilty, to some small extent, for drinking coffee every morning, or for occasionally drinking alcohol.
The real Nazis, as some may know, were viciously anti-smoking, and had anti-smoking laws much similar to those being introduced now. (They knew about the risks of Passivrauchen, or second-hand smoke, which is often invoked today to demonize smokers and make them feel as if they are giving everyone around them cancer, in spite of weak medical evidence to this end.) There are some interesting Nazi propaganda posters about smoking, though I won’t provide links because the sites I found are politically charged in some way (usually ‘smoker’s rights’ sites).
Chiming in to say that the smell of cigarette smoke is extremely obvious to someone who doesn’t smoke. A few of my co-workers in the next cubicle aisle over smoke, and I can always tell when they return to their cubes after smoke break…not by the noise, but by the wave of stench. Even after smoking outside, not even in an enclosed area, the smell of smoke rolls off of them as they walk by.
Also, my brother smokes, and every time I spend time at his house, I come home reeking. I usually change clothes after I get home, it’s that bad. And, when I go to do laundry, as soon as I pick up the items of clothing I’d worn at his house, the smoke smell wafts out, even a week or more later.
IME, you don’t even have to get close enough for breath tests or look for yellowing fingertips. If you smoke, your clothes and hair will reek enough for anyone to know.
Here’s a tell-tale sign you may never encounter. Back in the day when you could still smoke in bars around these parts, I’d do so. You know the type- “social” (read: drunk) smoker. One weekend I was taking a first aid course on Saturday morning and we had to don latex gloves. My gloves showed nicotine stains on my right hand between index and f*ck you finger. This is after having a shower and washing my hands about three times. I was quite self conscious about this, so when I got the chance I went and scrubbed the hell out of my hands and got a new pair of gloves. Same result, just slightly less. My fingers weren’t noticeably stained, but my gloves gave me away. Pretty revolting, really.
Hell, two weeks after I quite smoking, I was walking my dog around the neighborhood. In the middle of a Minnesota winter. And I could tell which houses had smokers in them. Thankfully, that super-sensativity faded along with the addiction. But I still can detect minute amounts of nicotine goodness (sigh) in the atmosphere.
And it’s been over 2 years.
Do y’all mean “stink of smoke” as in it’s strong, or that it stinks? Cigarette smoke is rather pleasant smelling if you’re neutral about it, and I wonder if some of the “reeks” remarks are by people that just don’t tolerate smoking, and therefore need to put it down moreso?
Granted, I don’t think thing mussels taste good, so there’re bound to be some people that really do think it’s bad…
I mean, by “stink of smoke”, that standing five feet away from someone in still air I can smell tobacco smoke on them. If you smoke, you’re going to smell like burning tobacco to a non-smoker. It’s that simple.
You can **always ** smell the smoke - in their hair, their clothes.
There is nothing nice about the smell of cigarette smoke. Fresh tobacco, I’ll grant you, but once you burn it, it stinks.
An anecdote- My ex-mother in law is a closet smoker, meaning she pretended that she didn’t and only smoked away from the house or if she knew she’d be alone for a while. As such, her house didn’t reek. Coming back after a week there, upon opening my suitcase in my never smoked in house, I was almost bowled over by the smell coming from my clothes.
While not truly foul (raw sewage, borscht), I find cigarette smoke unpleasant. A friend who is a heavy smoker gave me a book he’d had for a few years. It stank of cigarettes for months.
I do find the smell of pipe smoke quite pleasant.
Re Smelling Cigarettes Over Lunch
I don’t think I could do it. But, I’m sure some people can. I can’t taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi. But there are plenty of people who can.