# How were non-smokers seen back in the day\*? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2014, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892 "2014-06-16T09:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/21 "2014-06-16T14:29:23Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Back in high school, I remember seeing a reprint of an anti-smoking pamplet from back in like the 17th or 18th Century, basically just after tobacco had been introduced to Europe. I was surprised at just how… modern the sentiment was. The pamplet was complaining about how smokers generated clouds of noxious smoke, how smokers stink badly, and how smoking probably hurts your lungs. > > A little discouraging that it took a couple hundred years to rediscover what was apparently pretty obvious from the beginning. I think you might be referring to King James’ [Counterblaste to Tobacco](http://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/james1.html). Warning - 17th century spelling, remember u=v, y=ie. They also capitalized many more non-proper Nouns like is currently done in German. Here’s a small taste (emphasis mine): [QUOTE=King James I of England, IV of Scotland] Haue you not reason then to bee ashamed, and to forbeare this filthie noueltie, so basely grounded, so foolishly receiued and so grossely mistaken in the right vse thereof? In your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming your selues both in persons and goods, and raking also thereby the markes and notes of vanitie vpon you: by the custome thereof making your selues to be wondered at by all forraine ciuil Nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and contemned. **A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs** , and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomlesse. [/QUOTE] Here’s that passage in more modern spelling (my own work) Have you not reason then to be ashamed, and to forbear this filthy novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof? In your abuse thereof sinning against God, harming yourselves both in persons and goods, and raking also thereby the marks and notes of vanity upon you: by the custom thereof making yourselves to be wondered at by all foreign civil nations, and by all strangers that come among you, to be scorned and condemned. A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomless. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/22 "2014-06-16T14:34:38Z")
nitpick: James I of England, \*\*VI \*\*of Scotland. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/23 "2014-06-16T14:39:16Z")
My experience was that non-smokers were scarcely noticed. They might have been thought wusses, but I don’t even recall that. Anti-smokers were resented. And when the banned smoking on airlines, there was a lot of talk that the airlines would lose business, but I don’t think they did. There was a fire on an Air Canada flight in around 1980 that killed 10 people (one of whom was the folk singer Stan Rogers) that apparently was started by someone smoking in the rest room and that was an incentive to ban smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/24 "2014-06-16T14:56:42Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Well, _pace_ Hitler, there are other determined warriors against unhealthy fun on the horizon… > > _Meanwhile in Mosul, one of Iraq’s most important cities, ISIS set about asserting its control, issuing an 11-point charter spelling out the creation of an Islamic state along with new laws, punishments and incentives. Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are outlawed, citizens will henceforth be required to pray five times a day, thieves will have their hands amputated and women must stay indoors except in cases of emergency, the charter said._ > > **[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraq-disintegrating-as-insurgents-advance-kurds-seize-kirkuk/2014/06/12/22e79e2b-f793-4120-8161-36f17c287e5f_story.html)** > Because, _FREEDOM !_ **Moderator Note** **Claverhouse** , I agree that comparing anti-smokers to ISIS is a political jab that is out of place. Some of your other remarks were also inappropriate. No warning issued, but drop the derogatory remarks and pernicious comparisons. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/25 "2014-06-16T15:15:27Z")
nonsmokers were no big deal if they kept quiet about their opinion of smoking. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/26 "2014-06-16T15:16:20Z")
I can’t speak for how things were a century ago, as I was only born in 1961. But when I was a kid, it sure SEEMED as if most adults smoked, and almost all public places were set up with smokers in mind. People smoked almost everywhere- in restaurants, bars, on airplanes, in theater lobbies, wherever. Even people who didn’t smoke were expected to have ashtays arround to accommodate people who did. But while there was absolutely no stigma against smoking, there was absolutely no pressure for non-smokers to partake. Even heavy smokers have long seemed to understand that their habit was not a healthy one. That was was true even before the famous 1964 Surgeon General’s report. Remember how even George Babbitt was constantly promising himself he’d stop smoking so many cigars, as they were sure to kill him. When I was a kid, my Dad was a 3 pack a day smoker, and he always offered a cigarette to any new acquaintance. If the answer was “No, thanks, I don’t smoke,” my Dad didn’t sneer, “What are you, a wimp?” He’d say something like, “Good for you- I need to stop myself.” ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/27 "2014-06-16T15:17:04Z")
I grew up in the 60s when smoking was common. If you were an adult who didn’t smoke, it was no big deal. Teens were subject to peer pressure, of course, but it wasn’t like only 10% of the population were non-smokers. It was a lot closer to 50/50 although higher for men than women. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/28 "2014-06-16T16:01:57Z")
I was born in 1960, so I remember when smoking was fairly ubiquitous. There always seemed to be a number of people who didn’t smoke at all, though. My mother and a lot of my relatives did not. Quite a number of these folks were conservative Christians and were teetotalers as well, so I guess it was a general “anti-vice” vibe that led them to not partake of tobacco and assorted recreational chemicals. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/29 "2014-06-16T16:08:42Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > I was born in 1960, so I remember when smoking was fairly ubiquitous. There always seemed to be a number of people who didn’t smoke at all, though. My mother and a lot of my relatives did not. Quite a number of these folks were conservative Christians and were teetotalers as well, so I guess it was a general “anti-vice” vibe that led them to not partake of tobacco and assorted recreational chemicals. I don’t remember people giving non-smokers any problems. It was generally conceded by my time that smoking was not good for you! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/30 "2014-06-16T16:32:06Z")
Interesting. My conclusion, then, is that smoking was largely seen as a habit, rather than something that was pleasurable in and of itself, like drinking alcohol or eating meat. In other words, smokers didn’t smoke because they particularly enjoyed smoking - they smoked because they smoked. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/31 "2014-06-16T17:52:02Z")
I was born in 1960, I don’t really think that’s “back in the day”, but things were still a lot different than today. I recall more than half of all adults I had contact with smoked. You could smoke in the public library in the city I grew up in. And in most stores. People were smoking in the waiting room of the doctor and dentist clinics. When I was little and at some function (like a wedding) it was hard to walk around and not get zapped in the eye by an adult holding their cig down to their side. There was no age (at least no enforced age) to buy cigarettes. At 9 I would routinely go into the store and buy them for relatives. It was no big deal. For a lot of families it wasn’t a crises for a teenager to be smoking. Few threw a fit over it. There was a designated place for students to smoke at the high school I went to. It was official too. The student handbook stated that students could smoke there between classes or during their free mod. Could you imagine this today? People who quit smoking were chastised. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/32 "2014-06-16T18:13:49Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > People who quit smoking were chastised. Did you misplace a “not” in that sentence? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/33 "2014-06-16T18:41:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Did you misplace a “not” in that sentence? Not at all. I remember a couple adults who quit in the late 60’s. Others around them would give them the “what’s your problem, buddy” attitude. My widowed Grandmother had a “gentleman friend” who quit and was called stupid by my uncles for believing the bad press smoking had gotten lately. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/34 "2014-06-17T04:01:30Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Generally known among those of use who have spent time around your countrymen, yes. Well, obviously. But it didn’t occur to me as I was typing it that it’s a word not in general use in other countries as well. I’ll try to do better next time. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKindWorld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@HelloKindWorld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKindWorld)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/35 "2014-06-17T04:06:20Z")
Reminds me of that Family Guy scene during a brief flashback to the 50’s… “What do I look like, _a Mary_? Of course I want cigarettes on my sandwich!” ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/36 "2014-06-17T04:09:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I grew up in the 60s when smoking was common. If you were an adult who didn’t smoke, it was no big deal. Teens were subject to peer pressure, of course, but it wasn’t like only 10% of the population were non-smokers. It was a lot closer to 50/50 although higher for men than women. I watched a programme last evening called _Addicted to Pleasure_ and that episode was about tobacco. It quoted - I assume accurately - 60% of the adult population of Great Britain were smokers during WWII. Men were a greater percentage of smokers than women but the exact numbers have slipped my mind. It was considered unladylike for a woman to smoke on the street. My mother, who smoked like a chimney, smoked everywhere else. These days, the street is probably about the only place she’d be legally permitted to smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/37 "2014-06-17T04:24:15Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > When I was doing my nursing training in the '70s, patients had ashtrays on the bedside lockers. > > My memory is that non-smokers were seen as essentially harmless but a bit like wowsers. My parents were on vacation in Oklahoma in 1990 and they were involved in a horrendous car wreck that put both of them into intensive care. I went to see them in the hospital and my Dad was cheerfully smoking away in his hospital room. Again, this was 1990. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/38 "2014-06-17T04:27:44Z")
I was born in 83’ and can remember my dad sending me to the cigarette machine in restaurants and hotels etc, I was never challenged by anyone on why I was buying them(I liked doing it! feeding the machine quarters and selecting the lever and bringing them to my dad). I can remember no stigma or discrimination against non-smokers, someone who made a fuss about smoking might merit an eye roll. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/39 "2014-06-17T04:30:17Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > There was no age (at least no enforced age) to buy cigarettes. At 9 I would routinely go into the store and buy them for relatives. It was no big deal. Still happened in Texas in the 80s and early nineties, I can remember cigarette machines which anyone could access and had no age restriction sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892/40 "2014-06-17T04:33:46Z")
Back in the day athletes I hear would light up and smoke while they were on the sidelines. What gets me is didnt they notice is was bad on their breathing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-non-smokers-seen-back-in-the-day/690892.md?page=3)