# Attention smokers: everything in your house is ruined. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 19, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471 "2014-04-19T04:43:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/61 "2014-04-19T22:19:57Z")
I think we all know the reason. ---
**Author:** ![Bo\_Pai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@Bo\_Pai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bo_Pai)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/62 "2014-04-19T22:40:51Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I think we all know the reason. LOL - I can’t tell if you’re trying to third-grade me into wondering if there is one that isn’t just absurd or if you’re trying to drive home the point that I am not a member of the “we” clique. I really do suck at innuendo. I believe I’ve mentioned that. Of course, you probably assume I’m lying. ROFL - ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/63 "2014-04-19T22:45:39Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I think we all know the reason. Are you suggesting that the existential bullshit argument might be invalid? You’re taking away his only defense. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/64 "2014-04-19T22:47:03Z")
If you have cats, to me, everything in your house is ruined. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/65 "2014-04-19T22:58:47Z")
> [@Bo\_Pai](#): > > But why would I? Why would I leaf through textbooks, hunting for a reference that could be understood by someone who doesn’t even have enough interest in the topic to express an understanding of his own on the matter? Why would I do that? Do you do that? If you do, then why? I’m not being facetious. I am perfectly willing to entertain the idea that there might be a very good reason for it, but damned if I can think of what it might be. Yes, I do that when I’ve made specific claims in some sort of public context. Sometimes I find that my claim is bullshit and I have to retract it. What’s the point of claiming anything specific if you can’t even be bothered to support it? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/66 "2014-04-19T23:06:53Z")
> [@Bo\_Pai](#): > > If you need a citation, then rest assured, I’m not talking to you. We’re in the Pit, so you can spew whatever nonsense you want. No one here is going to believe a word you type because, frankly, it’s clearly bullshit. If you try this in any other forum you’ll be called out and your argument exposed for the crap that it is. But in the Pit we can just point and laugh. It’s not that we need a citation, it’s that you don’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/67 "2014-04-19T23:11:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yes, I do that when I’ve made specific claims in some sort of public context. Sometimes I find that my claim is bullshit and I have to retract it. > > What’s the point of claiming anything specific if you can’t even be bothered to support it? Bo Pai is introducing us to a novel form of communication. I just hope it doesn’t spread any further than it already has. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/68 "2014-04-19T23:17:26Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Re. smoking only on the patio - I suspect that will still make your house smell. Smokers drag that smell in with them after smoking - it doesn’t just stay outside. Wow, you actually believe this crap? Ok, so why don’t you smell like cat litter everywhere you go? ETA: I mean, a dog could probably tell you owned a cat, or that a smoker had been in the house. A human? Fucking unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/69 "2014-04-19T23:21:50Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I think we all know the reason. What’s the over/under on the “banned by” date? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/70 "2014-04-19T23:22:27Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > We’re in the Pit, so you can spew whatever nonsense you want. No one here is going to believe a word you type because, frankly, it’s clearly bullshit. If you try this in any other forum you’ll be called out and your argument exposed for the crap that it is. But in the Pit we can just point and laugh. > > It’s not that we need a citation, it’s that you don’t have any. Heck, my ears would prick up if it was just propped up with an anecdote or two, for starters - you know something like: “Anytown Fire Department introduces mandatory 40 a day smoking to fortify rescue teams” “Emphysema and cardiovascular disease helped me rescue unconscious athletes from burning gymnasium” I mean, there should be some stories like that out there, shouldn’t there? ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/71 "2014-04-19T23:26:30Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Ask me if I give a shit. Well? Do you? I had to ask just in case you really do. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/72 "2014-04-19T23:36:38Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Wow, you actually believe this crap? ISTR that it’s called “third-hand smoke”. > [@](#): > > Ok, so why don’t you smell like cat litter everywhere you go? Cat litter doesn’t float around in the same manner that cigarette smoke does. > [@](#): > > ETA: I mean, a dog could probably tell you owned a cat, or that a smoker had been in the house. A human? Fucking unlikely. Unlikely? The smoke gets into everything that’s even slightly porous, like clothing, furniture fabric, that big gaping thing called the air conditioning/heating ventilation. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/73 "2014-04-19T23:37:18Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Wow, you actually believe this crap? > > Ok, so why don’t you smell like cat litter everywhere you go? > > ETA: I mean, a dog could probably tell you owned a cat, or that a smoker had been in the house. A human? Fucking unlikely. Very heavy smokers can leave a trail of noticeable smell even when they are not smoking - I worked for a guy who more or less chain-smoked in his own office, but I could smell it (faintly) on things he had handled even when he wasn’t smoking - because his hands were infused with the stuff. I really don’t think that would seriously contaminate an object to the extent being discussed earlier in this thread. I guess if (say) he had borrowed my coat, I might have found it unpleasantly smoky afterward just through contact with his smoky clothes, chair, car, etc - even if he never actually smoked whilst wearing it. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/74 "2014-04-19T23:39:37Z")
Boi Pa/Rofl, whatever your name is, you don’t have to try so hard to feel like an outsider. Let it come naturally. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/75 "2014-04-19T23:52:55Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Cat litter doesn’t float around in the same manner that cigarette smoke does. To be honest, it still stinks, and I’ve had co-workers that own a lot of cats who possess a distinct smell. > [@](#): > > Unlikely? The smoke gets into everything that’s even slightly porous, like clothing, furniture fabric, that big gaping thing called the air conditioning/heating ventilation. It contaminates your HVAC system from outside to the point its noticeable over the diesel smoke, tree pollen, squirrel dander and bird shit everywhere? I doubt it would be detectable by the average human unless the smokers were exhaling into the fresh air intake. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Very heavy smokers can leave a trail of noticeable smell even when they are not smoking - I worked for a guy who more or less chain-smoked in his own office, but I could smell it (faintly) on things he had handled even when he wasn’t smoking - because his hands were infused with the stuff. > > I really don’t think that would seriously contaminate an object to the extent being discussed earlier in this thread. I guess if (say) he had borrowed my coat, I might have found it unpleasantly smoky afterward just through contact with his smoky clothes, chair, car, etc - even if he never actually smoked whilst wearing it. Yes, I don’t deny that objects (hands, etc.) that have been exposed to smoke have a smoky smell to them, that can be transferred to other objects. If you never cleaned your house it might become an actual problem. Most people wipe things down once in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/76 "2014-04-20T00:26:32Z")
Back when I was a smoker, I knew that I reeked. I didn’t smoke inside because it was bad for kitty lungs. I always smoked in the shade because I was afraid of skin cancer. Smokers are idiots. I can safely say this because I was an idiot and everyone I know who smokes agrees that they are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/77 "2014-04-20T00:31:20Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > To tack on to the rant, if you smoke in the house constantly, please don’t borrow library books. > > We have a few patrons who return books after as little as a week, and the covers have tarry ash grit on them, there are ashes on the pages, and the whole book reeks. We had to ask them to not use the bookdrops, because the smell was transferring to the other books in there. We have to scrub the covers with rubbing alcohol, then fan them out and set them outside to air out before we can reshelve them. One was returned after it had been ‘lost’ for a few months, and it had been a brand new book - it was yellowed and so sticky that we couldn’t save it. > > Ew. I was going to post this too. I’ve gotten many library books that were previously in the home of a smoker. The smell never really goes away. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/78 "2014-04-20T00:49:21Z")
> [@Bo\_Pai](#): > > It’s the very basis of immunology and the obvious, less than instant rate of transformation between organic system states. No it’s fucking not the basis of immunology. You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t understand immunology, human biology, or a goddamned thing about how biology on a general basis works. You’re babbling a meaningless word salad of pseudoscientific buzzwords like some schizophrenic who thinks he’s discovered the connection between the US currency’s “secret” markings and the people he thinks are watching him from rooftops. Pony up some citations, you nonsense-spewing twat. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/79 "2014-04-20T00:49:54Z")
I can smell smokers across the internet. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471/80 "2014-04-20T01:03:03Z")
> [@randompattern](#): > > If you have cats, to me, everything in your house is ruined. True. > [@scabpicker](#): > > Ok, so why don’t you smell like cat litter everywhere you go? > ETA: I mean, a dog could probably tell you owned a cat, or that a smoker had been in the house. A human? Fucking unlikely. S/he very well may, and many of us can tell. > [@Monty](#): > > Cat litter doesn’t float around in the same manner that cigarette smoke does. No, but the piquant aroma of cat urine and feces does, as do the odorless but still unpleasant molecules of cat hair, dander, and dried saliva, not to mention the dust from the litter. Trust me; we know you have a cat. > [@flatlined](#): > > I always smoked in the shade because I was afraid of skin cancer. Smokers are idiots. Don’t be too hard; ignoring one risk doesn’t mean you can’t minimize another. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-smokers-everything-in-your-house-is-ruined/686471.md?page=5)