# Do you let people smoke in your home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535 "2014-04-20T09:50:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/41 "2014-04-20T15:55:13Z")
sure. any people i know that still smoke might have three in a day, so it’s never more than one. not too much stink. ---
**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 20, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/42 "2014-04-20T16:01:25Z")
Nope. I don’t have any friends who are smokers, but if a smoker FOAF were over, I can’t imagine he’d even ask. Disclaimer: I live the CA, in the Bay Area, and this is something that simply isn’t done. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/43 "2014-04-20T16:05:57Z")
I smoke in my house, and visitors are free to do so too. I prefer visitors to take their shoes off, but not to the extent of making it a rule or anything. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/44 "2014-04-20T16:21:06Z")
I used to smoke, so once I quit I made everyone move their smoking outside. My dad - a militant smoker - could not wrap his head around it. I worked so hard to quit and then worked hard to rid my house of the smell and he thought nothing of lighting up. I chewed him out and he moved it outside. I guess maybe it’s nicer now that I have a deck. I’ve also got an attached garage if he needs it. Oh, he doesn’t smoke in his house anymore now either. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/45 "2014-04-20T16:42:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You two wouldn’t let someone smoke outdoors? You’ll have to explain that to me. I feel like I’m missing something. Is it just that you don’t want someone coming into your house that has the smell of smoke on their breath and clothes? Do you just not like the smell in the air? Are you just that offended that someone would do something you don’t like? I’m not sure how I’d feel if I got up to go outside for a cigarette and the homeowner said “I’m sorry, I don’t allow smoking outside”. I wouldn’t allow smoking in my house or my car, but if a smoking person came over and smoked outside, I think I’d encourage them to stay out there for a while until the breeze shook the lingering smoke off of them - smokers have a smoke and come right back in, and don’t seem to realize how much they’re off-gassing when they come in. It’s enough to stink up a whole room. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/46 "2014-04-20T16:55:37Z")
We didn’t even let US smoke inside the house (when we were smoking). Outside always. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/47 "2014-04-20T17:00:52Z")
Inside? Nope. Outside on the deck? Sure. But they have to clean up after themselves. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/48 "2014-04-20T17:04:07Z")
No. Although once I had a party and people smoked in the lawn. I provided ash buckets but still I spent the next morning having to pick up the butts in the grass. I hate careless smokers. ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/49 "2014-04-20T17:12:35Z")
No. I get physically ill when I’m around cigarette smoke for very long. (Secondhand smoker for years until I married & got out. Thanks mom…) If I know some are coming over, I put out the deck chairs & a jar with some water in the bottom. My mom drove down & stayed in our house a few years back & her dirty clothes that she laid over a chair stank up that bedroom for a year. It was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/50 "2014-04-20T17:15:37Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > That must have varied by location. I’m old enough to remember when smoking was allowed in all sorts of places in no longer is- including schools. But the teachers smoked in the lounge, not while they were actually teaching. The same for me. I went to a Catholic grammar school, so obviously the nuns didn’t light up in class, but the teachers didn’t smoke in my public high school classrooms, either. My parents both smoked while they were in the hospital. It was no big deal. It seemed like everybody smoked, everywhere. And when they had non-smoking sections on the airplanes, good luck not smelling it. The smell was everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/51 "2014-04-20T17:21:53Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I smoke in my home; my friends can smoke in my home: I smoke in my friends’ home: otherwise they wouldn’t be my friends. > > Then again I’m British and we still have some social freedom. I’m British too – but there’s plenty of verging-on-hysterical hatred of smoking and smokers (which I do not share – albeit I don’t smoke, and never have) in Britain. > [@brainstall](#): > > Non-smoker, never been a smoker. I don’t have guests often, but if they are smokers, I get them an ashtray. > > Friend was over helping me do something with my computer, when suddenly he gets up and puts on his coat. I thought he was leaving. No just going out for a smoke. It’s become accepted that no one smokes inside anymore, but it feels rude to me to drive my guests outdoors. > > I don’t ever want to live with a smoker again, but someone lighting up in my house is no big deal. The smell goes away. I’m likely, cowardly and “Mr. Facing-Both-Ways”: I don’t smoke and never have (though grew up with heavily-smoking parents) – just never fancied it for myself. It doesn’t bother me (partly, likely, because I have a weak sense of smell) – gut-wise, nowadays I find myself in sympathy with smokers, whom I consider widely hated and demonised, way out of proportion to what they do (Mr. Godwin could, if not cautiously watched, come into play here). I’m not personally acquainted at present, with anyone who smokes – and am acquainted with a number of people whose feelings about smokers and smoking, verges on the jihadist. That being so – if I had associates who smoked and visited me in my home; I’d probably ask them to go into the garden to smoke (though it wouldn’t trouble me myself if they smoked inside) – to avoid the shit that I’d get from anti-smoking associates, visiting at other times, who would detect that people had been smoking inside the house, and would freak out accordingly. I’m a coward, valuing hopefully lack of conflict, over standing up for my principles. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/52 "2014-04-20T17:59:15Z")
I’ve never even had anyone ask. Usually it’s “where should I go for a smoke? Out back or in the driveway?” I only know a handful of smokers, so it’s not really a big deal. Besides, most of them don’t smoke in their _own_ homes, so they wouldn’t dream of smoking in mine. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/53 "2014-04-20T18:01:56Z")
The answer is no, but I agree with Antigen and John Mace; nobody has ever asked. I cannot think of anyone who \*\*would \*\*even ask. The assumption these days is that you can’t smoke in someone else’s home. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/54 "2014-04-20T18:14:30Z")
When I got my first teaching job, my morning duty was the smoking area. I had to hang out with the smoking kids in the smoking area. I smoked with them. Teachers never really smoked in class, but we had a storage area between our rooms where the kids weren’t allowed. Sometimes we were like “Don’t make me put this out and come back in there!” 😛 However, when the three o’ clock bell rang, the kids left and all the teachers on the hall came out of their rooms and lit up in the hall. I always smoked at home, so others were free to, also. I have quit smoking for quite a while now. No smoking allowed in my house now. Outside, fine. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/55 "2014-04-20T18:14:59Z")
No one I know would expect to smoke in a house. Those that visit, slip out to the patio or front stoop, before I even notice. However I recently provided after care for a friend who’s an artist, a bit reclusive, and an odd duck, after some minor surgery. They wouldn’t release him unless he had someone to stay with him. And he smokes a lot! At first I set up the enclosed porch with ashtray, seating, blankets, and the windows opened to blow air through. Thought that would work out. But not so much. I really felt he should stay put, not keep getting up and shuffling off to the porch every few minutes. So I broke down and brought his smokes and ashtray in to beside the recliner he sat in. He was only here for two days, thank goodness, so it was easy to air the house out afterward. So surely no, but apparently I cave under pressure! ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/56 "2014-04-20T19:10:18Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I’m British too – but there’s plenty of verging-on-hysterical hatred of smoking and smokers (which I do not share – albeit I don’t smoke, and never have) in Britain. True ( although there’s no need to let _them_ know that ). Still, in the end anti-smoking like most other puritanisms are localized cabbage-patch-doll issues: nature reasserts itself, and in a 100 years people will just consider it one of those quaint obsessions that agitated the ancients, as we do with plenty of Victorian obsessions. One of the most amusing aspects of life is that enthusiasts truly believe they have settled something forever. As with communists 50 years ago and anti-communists now. However to develop the idea, I do have a near pathological hatred of the smell of beer — and loathe the taste — but if people want to drink beer that’s fine, and if they drink it next to me, or if they bring it to my house that’s fine also. My preferences are subordinate to politeness. And I’m sure more people have been harmed by the use of beer than the use of tobacco over the last 300 years. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/57 "2014-04-20T21:06:34Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > And I’m sure more people have been harmed by the use of beer than the use of tobacco over the last 300 years. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/58 "2014-04-20T21:21:05Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Inside? > Nope. > Outside on the deck? > Sure. > > But they have to clean up after themselves. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > No. Although once I had a party and people smoked in the lawn. I provided ash buckets but still I spent the next morning having to pick up the butts in the grass. I hate careless smokers. That’s the other thing - no butts left behind, please. It bugs me that I have to clean up the butts that people walking by flip onto my lawn almost daily; if my friends were flicking their butts onto my lawn, we’d have a discussion about that. > [@Pai325](#): > > \ And when they had non-smoking sections on the airplanes, good luck not smelling it. The smell was everywhere. Like the non-smoking sections of restaurants; it was a joke. I recall eating a donut someplace more than once that tasted of smoke from all the smoke in the donut shop where it had sat. > [@Claverhouse](#): > > \ > However to develop the idea, I do have a near pathological hatred of the smell of beer — and loathe the taste — but if people want to drink beer that’s fine, and if they drink it next to me, or if they bring it to my house that’s fine also. My preferences are subordinate to politeness. > And I’m sure more people have been harmed by the use of beer than the use of tobacco over the last 300 years. I’m not sure why we have to keep re-iterating this every time we have a discussion about smoking; smoking is not like other habits or preferences, because the smokers impose _their_ choice on everyone around them. If smoke didn’t come off of the cigarettes, and smokers didn’t blow their smoke out into the air, I wouldn’t care if anyone smoked or not. As it is, a smoker’s choice affects me if I’m near them, and that’s where I get a say in what they do. I posted this link in the other current thread we have on smoking - [third hand smoke may be as dangerous as second hand smoke, study suggests.](http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-headlines/third-hand-smoke-may-be-as-dangerous-as-second-hand-study-suggests-1.1664800) They found that smoke lingered on surfaces and objects, and it continued to create health problems. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/59 "2014-04-20T21:49:01Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Cite? People may or may not have died from using tobacco — amusingly, at least in the UK, smoking-related statistics include all deaths from those diseases even if the victim was a lifelong abstainer — less likely some may have died from second-hand smoke. Victims of alcohol though, include not just the drinker from the various deteriorating conditions such as cirrhosis, brain damage, heart disease etc. etc., but those who died from being beaten by drunks, in fights, or through familial abuse, assaults on police or medical workers, rape, being in car accidents driven by drunks or industrial accidents etc. amongst others. These things happen even in Russia, which I mention to point out that statistics are not USA-centric. Plus _having an alcoholic in the family_ can devastate in a way that _having a smoker in the family_ does not. Nonetheless I certainly do not suggest drinking should be banned or people who like alcohol should not drink. Same with drugs, hard or soft, although I wouldn’t ever have tried them. Recreational outrage is no solution to recreational destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535/60 "2014-04-20T22:05:25Z")
Non-smoker for 49 years. In public school, no one smoked in class. I started smoking in HS, but we never smoked inside. Although against the rules, smoking outside the school building was tolerated. The teacher’s had a smoking room (called a teacher’s lounge or something like that, but it was dense with smoke). When I was in college, I smoked in class as did the teachers. Then I started teaching and smoked in class. No one gave it a second thought. Then I quit, but students still smoked in class. I had also gotten married–to a non-smoker. Since I now realize that smokers stink, I have asked her how she put up with me. She answered only that it was just something she had to get used to. Now nobody smokes in our house. Some will refrain, some will go to the front stoop or back porch. Although I can only think of one smoker who is in our house regularly and it would never occur to smoke in the house, although she smokes on the porch in the summer. None of our kids, their spouses, nor grandkids, smokes. My son-in-law used to smoke, but my daughter made it a condition that he stop before they started living together. He stopped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-people-smoke-in-your-home/686535.md?page=4)