I do like that when asked to back-up the assertion that smokers would be the last standing when air is scarce, the reply was pretty much this:
So you want people to be open-minded enough to never ever say that something is bullshit, even if it really and truly is bullshit.
You’re new here, right?
This is just thinking out loud, but I’m wondering what factors would influence how much tobacco residue remains.
Some factors I think would influence this:
- how much someone smokes. Yeah, it may seem self-evident, but it’s still a factor. I recently took some training from a guy that I could tell when he needed a smoke because he stopped smelling like a bar at 3am (back when you could smoke in bars). He’s the only person I can remember who was that bad, even the chainsmokers I know don’t have that waft from Hell’s mouth coming out of theirs. I imagine his house and those of chainsmokers would get more exposure and therefore more residue than those of someone on a two-packs-a-month habit.
- filters. In a house with HVAC that’s got filters and they never get changed/washed (as it too often happens), these elements which are supposed to improve air quality manage to worsen it instead.
- fabrics, carpets, rugs… elements which are absorbant as opposed to others which are not. As a WAG, I expect that a fabric-upholstered sofa would stink more than a leather-upholstered one and this one more than a wooden bench, the wooden bench more than a stone one. While the example is exaggerated (even in places where you can find those benches in homes, they’re normally not in the living room), I hope the idea is illustrated clearly.
Dad was a 2pack/month guy most of his life (except for two years he went up to 4.5pack/day, thanks to the kind of situation that’s now called “mobbing”); after he died, the curtains besides which he smoked ended up getting tossed but every other item which smelled stopped smelling after one or two cleanings. Most of the house never smelled that we can tell. But we also didn’t have carpeting (area rugs only, only for half of the year, and shampooed thoroughly before being put away), no A/C (“summer” was that time when you lowered the blinds as much as possible, avoided switching on lights, opened the windows and prayed for northerlies) and his smoking was restricted to one spot except for those two horrible years.
Re: gunk. My flat is in the outskirts of the mountains and has walls that can withstand direct mortar fire. If I don’t dust for months (as will happen, simply because I can go months without visiting) all that grows is some dust bunnies on the floor, mainly under the sofa (don’t ask me why the sofa is a bunnier spot than the beds, I’d love to know it myself).
The flat I rented last year was very bad construction, in an industrial area just across some low hills from the sea. Dusting wasn’t enough: I had to use a wet cloth first to remove the gunk that got on everything, then a dry one to wipe things dry, otherwise the gunk would be even worse the next time. I couldn’t believe it, I’d never had a house that would get so dirty so fast.
The one where I’m living now is halfway between those when it comes to construction quality, in the big coastal city before those same low hills. It’s in an area with traffic but not one of the worst, and doesn’t open directly to a street on any sides (the “outside” facade is a central yard). Things stored away or uncleaned for ages get gunk, but once you’ve cleaned something, dusting it once a week/two weeks is enough to keep it clean.
I smoked the same in all three places: not at all. So to those talking about gunk in houses I ask, do you know how gunky are non-smokers’ houses in the same area and built along similar lines?
Contributing to the ‘it lingers’ anecdotes: my ex monster-in-law was a good seamstress and textile handcrafter, and she would save for me many wonderful fabrics from her projects as I also quilted and sewed.
Every Christmas I would get a box of cloth from her so foul that it had to sit out on the front porch in the Virginia winter until I had a chance to wash what fabrics I could.
No matter how many times they went through as hard and as hot as wash as they could stand, even years later they would stink like the buggery the moment I touched an iron to them. I ended up throwing most of it out, which is a shame as she worked with some amazing stuff.
Come to think of it, no matter what she sent us it had to sit on the front porch until we could figure out how to dispose of it – the entrenched fag stench was bad enough, but she also had a tendency to keep Christmas-on-the-go gifts in her garage loft throughout the year as she added to them. We discovered that they acquired little stowaways over the months; nothing adds to the Yuletide festivities than opening a box in the middle of your lounge and out come scuttling oversized Mississippi-brand cockroaches (both tree and generic).
On the other hand, when I was little, we, along with many of my neighbours, had a fireplace and woodstove, and it was awesome when our big, shaggy shepherd cross came indoors, and her fur was all kippered (although admitted sometimes she was more pungent than others, depending on how cold it was outside and how long she’d been out!)
This reminds me, I was thinking that even if the persons offended by the odor of smoking could come up with a method of removing the stench, used items are always a crapshoot. I have a few used guitars and amplifiers. They’ve usually been stowed away for awhile before they are sold to me, so I clean them up some and go through them when I get them. A patina of smoke isn’t uncommon, and lots of items smell like stale beer when they warm up. However, the worst was opening the spring cover on a Strat copy, and finding about a hundred roaches that were thankfully all long dead before the guitar got to me.
So, they could be mailing you bugs instead of smoky items. Look on the bright side.
Bed bugs.
Luckily, none of the few items we’ve bought from eBay or Amazon Marketplace contained smoke damage or bugs of any sort.
My mom, who smoked for over 50 years, firmly believed that smoking kept her healthy. During one of her infrequent attempts to quit, she came down with a bad case of bronchitis, and concluded that this was because she didn’t have cigarette smoke killing off whatever virii and bacteria that had invaded her lungs.
I should add that she was an educated, literate person who had attended a prestigious university. That was her last attempt to quit; from then on, she steadfastly believed that smoking was the key to health and brusquely dismissed her family’s pleas that she stop. She believed this right up to the day that she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Oh, and just to get back on topic, she also believed that smoking was odorless, innocuous, and completely inoffensive. She’d say, “I don’t know you’re talking about; I don’t smell anything,” in a tone of utter certainty. That’s a refrain I’ve heard countless times from unrepentant smokers. It’s absolutely mind-boggling to me that someone who reeks of tobacco, to the point that you can smell them twenty feet away, will say things like “My friends don’t even know I smoke!”
I rarely buy stuff on eBay anymore, but I always looked for ads that clearly said “from a non-smoking home.” Of course, if the ad doesn’t mention that, you can contact the seller and ask them; unfortunately, since smokers think their homes don’t stink, they have no problem lying about that.
I buy jigsaw puzzles at thrift shops. Once in a while the stink of tobacco just wafts out when I open the box. It takes days for the smell to go away.
While I’m here, about cologne. People who wear too much scent are idiots also. I’m allergic to perfume so I’m sensitive to this, and in my place at least very few people do. We have a few smokers, who smoke outside obeying all the rules. They still stink when they come in, far more than any perfume wearer.
Here’s my contribution. It’s not grand, not well thought out and nothing about it should be confused with anything scientific.
Fuck you OP. Fuck you right in your ass. Did you buy something that smelled off of eBay?
Well fuck you again, buyer be buying shit that stinks I guess.
I smoke. Yeah, I know it’s killing me, daily I know this.
I don’t smoke in the house but even if I did I’d take issue with your bullshit statement that everything is ruined.
Fuck you. You self-righteous fuck hole, I’d bet solid money that every item in the smokers house works just fine for them.
Ruined my ass, I give zero fucks.
Further I’ve never bought, nor sold anything off fucking eBay. I was tricked into exactly 2 fucking yard sales in my life. They were miserable experiences, both. I’ll just buy my shit new thanks so fuck your pawn store problems.
I drive a BMW and my wife a mini. I give exactly no fucks how much smoking in either hurts resale value. Really I give not a shit. I’ll just fucking but new in five years and not give two shits about your bitch. Buying my used car? Oh, fuck you it’s as is,
I can afford to say fuck your concerns, that feels good.
I’ll say it again, fuck your used property concerns.
That said, son of a bitch I hate reading this.
I know I’m a failure and can’t put the cancer sticks/coffin nails down.
I know I stink. I know my car stinks, I know I stink in meetings.
I know the reason coworkers don’t want rides from me to the airport is that my car stinks.
I know I’m hitting 45 soon and the doc says statistically I may never quit.
I know my mom died from smoking,
I know I cough way too much, I know I won’t see my nephew grow up.
Everything about this op pissed me off, for all the wrong reasons … Can’t say I’m quitting tonight, tomorrow or when but I can’t recall reading anything on the internet that made me this pissed off AND self reflective …
I guess this was a pretty selfish post. Apologies
Needs more paragraphs.
Nice pit post. I commend your self-awareness.
Back in college I worked one summer for a construction company that mostly did renovations on office suites. One time we were tearing out a big open area that had drop ceilings built across the whole area, and then they’d put some offices in one corner where the walls went right to the drop ceiling. A couple of the offices must have been smokers’ because when we pulled the walls down, the ceiling panels in those offices were solid yellow, and then the areas where the walls had covered the ceiling the panels were pristine white.
'Nuff said. 
I think maybe someone needs to calm down. Perhaps a nice cigarette will help you relax?
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read online.
You don’t read the internet much, do you?
Though it is up there in the standings.
I don’t read the internet much, but really, that doesn’t even make the top 100 dumbest things I’ve read on the internet. Maybe if I limit it to top 100 in 2014, but it’s down far enough where it probably won’t make it through the end of the year.
It’s just like fucking Craigslist, but merchandise is generally shipped instead of picked up.