# Going for a smoke during a restaurant meal **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866 "2015-10-07T21:50:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/21 "2015-10-08T17:06:42Z")
I make sure to satisfy my companion _before_ stepping out for a smoke. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/22 "2015-10-08T17:26:40Z")
Would it be rude to go outside, smear yourself with dogs shit, and then come back to the table? Sorry, but if you go out for smoke, you’re coming back stinking. Have some common courtesy for your fellow diners and wait until you’re leaving for good. Shameless stolen from the George Carlin routine where someone asks, and I think it’s in an elevator, Do you mind if I smoke? And he replies: Do you mind if I fart? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/23 "2015-10-08T18:02:37Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Do you step away from the table to fart or do you just hold it til dinner is over? ? Either way is fine, as the stink is not forced upon people trying to enjoy a meal. People who have just smoked a cigarette smell horrible, and it’s unpleasant to eat next to someone who stinks. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/24 "2015-10-08T18:08:43Z")
Filthy. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/25 "2015-10-08T18:21:30Z")
If it’s a large enough group where your absence will not be terribly missed, I don’t see the problem of stepping out while everyone is chatting, looking at the menu, whatever. If it’s just two people and one of them doesn’t smoke, I think it’s pretty rude. Certainly not in the middle of a meal under any circumstances. It’s always surreal to me, as a person who grew up in a time when people smoked everywhere and anywhere, to hear people frothing at the mouth about it, as if the world were their personal little snow globe that smokers suddenly invaded. We \* were here first, yo 😉 - I only vape now but I feel for smokers ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/26 "2015-10-08T19:07:39Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > Going for a smoke during a restaurant meal > > What’s your take on someone going outside for a cigarette while out at a restaurant? Is weird? Rude? Totally okay? Does it matter if it’s with a new date vs a SO vs a friend vs a group? Is it okay during drinks or after appetizers or before dessert, but not mid-meal? Is it a total non-issue? Or just always unacceptable? Are they going for a smoke to appease their craving or are they just avoiding the current conversation? _Holy Crap, how much longer do I have to listen to the asshole’s life story? What an egotistical meadow muffin!_ Hey folks! I’m going out for a smoke. Be right back. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/27 "2015-10-08T19:14:36Z")
I guess rude if you’re in a one-on-one situation. I think really it’s just kind of sad. I’m an ex-smoker (or, a smoker who no longer smokes) and it makes me mad when a smoker can’t just chill out for however long it takes to do whatever we’re doing before they have to excuse themselves. My dad is a smoker and this frustrates me about him. I totally understand needing to smoke very soon after a meal is done, so I don’t hold it against someone who has to “go pull the car around” while we’re finishing up the check and getting set to go. But in the MIDDLE of dinner (like between apps and main course or something)…eh, grow up and hang loose. Or get yourself some Nicorette. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/28 "2015-10-08T19:17:41Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > The reason it’s rude is because the smoker comes back smelling awful, and now everyone else’s enjoyment of the meal is negatively affected. Like someone farting at the dinner table. I think it’s also kind of weird, but maybe that’s because I hardly know any smokers anymore. Anyway, if I was dining with a person who was inclined to go smoke in the middle of the meal, they better be someone I _really_ otherwise enjoy spending time with if I’m going to want to dine with them again. > > If I was on a date, it would be the end of the date, since I would not date a smoker. Preach it Sister! I agree 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/29 "2015-10-08T19:26:54Z")
Not near as bad as watching someone smoke and eat at the same time. _Bite, chew, chew, swallow, puff, puff, bite, chew, chew, drink, swallow, puff, puff…_ ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/30 "2015-10-08T19:32:08Z")
This thread helped me realize that I don’t really socialize with any smokers. I know one smoker socially, but she and I just go to baseball games. If she’s going to smoke it’s not any different than going to get a beer or hotdog to me. I used to smoke and I would go outside. I was being rude in retrospect, but that’s the nature of addiction. It is in charge. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/31 "2015-10-08T19:40:46Z")
I hardly know any smokers anymore, but when I did, almost routinely across the board, they smoked before or after a meal. And I wonder how long a dinner we’d have to be talking about in the first place for them to do otherwise. However, if anyone did, I wouldn’t mind and certainly wouldn’t see it as anything more than just a polite accommodation one makes for others in a social setting. A phone call, feeling sick and having to temporarily go outside, multiple trips to the salad bar beyond the usual, talking to an old friend or whatever. I’m all about the give and take. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/32 "2015-10-08T19:57:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Preach it Sister! I agree 100%. _Preach_, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/33 "2015-10-09T02:01:25Z")
We’re out to enjoy the meal. If you going out for a cig helps you enjoy the meal more, then go have a cig. I don’t care, and I can survive alone for a few minutes. I wouldn’t take it personally or be offended. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/34 "2015-10-09T02:14:19Z")
I say it is weird, and it would irritate me, as someone who is not a smoker and unaccustomed to the ways of smoking. It would signal to me that the person indulges their smoking so much that their “breaks” would be a constant feature of our social interactions. No thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Skiwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Skiwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skiwoman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/35 "2015-10-09T14:29:38Z")
It is perfectly okay to go outside for a smoke at a restaurant,after the meal before desert. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/36 "2015-10-09T14:32:44Z")
Cigarette smoke doesn’t smell anywhere near as bad as the scent of smug unjustified superiority. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/37 "2015-10-09T14:43:48Z")
From the gist of the OP I’m assuming this is an intimate dinner for two and not a large, social gathering of workmates or friends. I would put, between ordering and desert, going out for a cigarette on a par with checking your phone or making a non-urgent phone call; rude, antisocial and bad etiquette. With social interactions there are always outliers, for instance if you’re both going out for a smoke or both using your phones then it would, obviously, be fine. Either done by one party, as a _needed_ distraction from a hostile or tense conversation would also be apt, as long as apologies were made beforehand and **also** afterwards. It would be a completely different set of rules for drinks in a bar or other social outing. I say that as a smoker and a phone user. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/38 "2015-10-09T14:56:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Cigarette smoke doesn’t smell anywhere near as bad as the scent of smug unjustified superiority. Smoking Causes Cancer. Secondhand Smoke Kills. As for nicotine addicts calling people ‘smug’… _“Waiter, is the Black-Kettle Fresh…?”_ ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/39 "2015-10-09T16:30:05Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Smoking Causes Cancer. > Secondhand Smoke Kills. > > As for nicotine addicts calling people ‘smug’… > > _“Waiter, is the Black-Kettle Fresh…?”_ Dislike "nicotine addicts " (oh please) all you like, but I don’t think the word smug means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866/40 "2015-10-09T17:32:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Cigarette smoke doesn’t smell anywhere near as bad as the scent of smug unjustified superiority. Smokers kill 50000 non-smokers a year in the USA via SHS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-for-a-smoke-during-a-restaurant-meal/733866.md?page=3)