# Locked in a room with someone who smokes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034 "2014-09-20T19:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/21 "2014-09-21T07:47:27Z")
Makes no difference. As soon as he falls asleep, I’m hiding the matches. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/22 "2014-09-21T09:33:06Z")
Former long-time smoker and it never bothered me at all obviously, now really dislike the smell; it’s gross. I think some pipe tobaccos smell quite nice though. No combustible materials in the room would be ideal, but if I _had_ to: pipe. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/23 "2014-09-21T10:09:20Z")
I’ve never been around anything but cigarette smoke. All I know is it’s not its much easier to stand if they are menthols. And I would insist they open a window and smoke by it, and I would spend my time as far a way from it as possible. We can’t be locked in indefinitely. Though, come to think of it, if I’m locked in a house with them for any significant length of time, the main scenario that comes to mind is if we’ve (or at least I’ve) been kidnapped. So the only smoking I’d expect would be if the smoker is the kidnapper. And then I wouldn’t really be in any position to make requests. Unless I guess some dangerous shooter is outside and we’ve stayed locked indoors for safety. But that’s only a significant amount of time if it’s something like what happened in Boston. Otherwise, it’s just until the police arrive. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/24 "2014-09-21T10:18:33Z")
I haven’t seen a pipe in that long that I cannot imagine its aroma. Between cigar and cigarette, I choose cigar. Stronger smell, but less annoying. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/25 "2014-09-21T13:56:03Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Is she good-looking? Dude, she’s smokin’. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/26 "2014-09-21T14:17:18Z")
Pipe isn’t too bad. I can tolerate it. Cigar smoke is bad, but not as bad as cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke sickens me. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/27 "2014-09-21T15:36:38Z")
I’d choose the one who wouldn’t smoke once I let him/her know that I’m asthmatic. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > This thread is a time warp and I am not even that old. How did you people that are threatening violence to smokers survive in the 80’s or earlier? My asthma was much worse. I remember having to use my inhaler multiple times when we’d go to certain restaurants. As a young adult, I’d use it multiple times a night when I went out to bars/nightclubs because of the cigarettes. And my mother and stepfather didn’t smoke. My father and stepmother did, but not in the house or car, because, duh, asthmatic kid. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/28 "2014-09-21T16:49:59Z")
I say pipe. It is more pleasant at first but it does get unpleasant when stale. However, I would be operating under the assumption that there is less actual smoking with a pipe as opposed to a cigar and much less actual smoking than cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/29 "2014-09-21T20:00:20Z")
When Kâtip Çelebi wrote in the 17th century about “ **the noxious effects of the corruption of the aerial essence** ” (what a great phrase!), apparently all they had in Turkey back then was pipes. This was even before cigars and cigarettes appeared on the scene there, which are even worse. Cigar smoke is overpowering, but cigarette smoke gags me the worst of all and makes me feel like I’m suffocating. Pipe smoke is the least intolerable of the three, and as noted above, may bear a vague resemblance to incense (I love good incense). I grew up with my dad smoking cigars and pipes, and his dad who had a heavy cigar habit, and then in later years Dad quit cigars and limited himself to an occasional pipe, and I found his pipe smoke to be tolerable enough. The asphyxiation from fresh smoke is bad enough—but also intolerable is the stale residual reeking stench in the aftermath of cigars and cigarettes. Cigars leave the vilest disgusting reek in a room. But cigarettes infest the smoker’s body, hair, and clothes with the worst disgusting aftereffects, in addition to fouling a room. Compared to those, pipe smoke is the least worst. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/30 "2014-09-21T22:06:11Z")
When I open the door of small single engine Cessna’s where the pilot smoked a King Edward cigar, that smell I can almost touch takes me back to my youth and great memories of flying with my Dad and just flying his planes in later years. I love that particular ‘stink’ as many would call it. Bawahahahaha I also love the ‘horse or horse barn smell.’ Better than most scents women wear. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/31 "2014-09-21T23:04:50Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > This thread is a time warp and I am not even that old. How did you people that are threatening violence to smokers survive in the 80’s or earlier? People used to smoke everywhere: workplaces, restaurants, bars, trains, planes, cars, houses and everywhere else. Europe and Asia are still like that. > > I lived through the transition just like I assume most of you did. This isn’t some foreign concept. I am not a smoker anymore but you can become completely unaware of it very quickly if the people around you are doing it all the time. Cigarette smoke becomes about as notable as the sound of an air conditioner after a while - you aren’t even aware of it. Cigars and pipes may smell better at least superficially but the smoke is much more thick and stronger. > > I voted for cigarettes just because millions if not billions of people have lived through second-hand cigarette smoke over the years without much incident. Cigar and pipe smoking usually draws undo attention. It certainly isn’t a good thing but it also isn’t like tear gas bomb going off like some of your are making it out to be. People used to throw buckets of shit out of the window into the street, and presumably that was OK at the time, until one day, it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/32 "2014-09-22T13:07:16Z")
I smoked for 22 years so cigarettes don’t really bother me. I have a roommate who smokes them so it’s not a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/33 "2014-09-22T14:27:39Z")
I vote pipe, just because I find them the most pleasant smelling, but I really enjoy the smell of all three. The only exception being clove cigarettes. Something about that smell just annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/34 "2014-09-22T15:43:11Z")
I vote pipe being the most pleasant of the bunch. I enjoy cigar smoke, too, ever since being a kid. I’m not sure why. It’s what the old men in the neighborhood smoked, and I’ve always enjoyed that smell. Cigarette smoke is my least favorite of the bunch, but as an ex-smoker, I can stand it fine. I don’t care if anyone smokes around me. I even let people smoke in my car if they want to. Not a big deal to me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/35 "2014-09-22T16:18:02Z")
> [@Zyanthia](#): > > I vote pipe, just because I find them the most pleasant smelling, but I really enjoy the smell of all three. The only exception being clove cigarettes. Something about that smell just annoys me. Heh–I was gonna mention adding cloves to the mix. My order would go: 1. Pipes, since my dad smoked one for much of the eighties, and I really enjoyed the smell. 2. Clove cigarettes, since they take me back to my days–scratch that, nights–of hanging around goths all the time, back in the late eighties/early nineties. 3. Cigarettes, since fresh cigarette smoke isn’t all that terrible-smelling to me, even if the stale stuff is awful. 4. Burning hair. 5. Burning fetid garbage. 6. Hellfire. 7. Cigars. I’m not sure why, but cigar smoke has always been far and away the most horrifying of the lot to me. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/36 "2014-09-22T16:50:10Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > I also love the ‘horse or horse barn smell.’ Better than most scents women wear. I try to wear this scent as often as I can. A delicious combination of hay, horse, leather, and just a pinch of manure. Wonderful! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/37 "2014-09-22T17:10:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Doesn’t matter. I would not allow them to smoke. It would come to unreasonable violence if need be. This. There would be no smoking in that room at all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/38 "2014-09-22T17:21:18Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > This. There would be no smoking in that room at all. Right- Pipe- as it’s easier to kill them with it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/39 "2014-09-22T17:29:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I vote pipe being the most pleasant of the bunch. I enjoy cigar smoke, too, ever since being a kid. I’m not sure why. It’s what the old men in the neighborhood smoked, and I’ve always enjoyed that smell. Cigarette smoke is my least favorite of the bunch, but as an ex-smoker, I can stand it fine. I don’t care if anyone smokes around me. I even let people smoke in my car if they want to. Not a big deal to me. Actually, I should amend this. I really don’t like the smell of menthol and especially cloves, although I haven’t seen the latter being smoked in quite some time, so I don’t know if they were just a passing fad, were banned, or I’m simply not running in crowds where they may be smoked. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034/40 "2014-09-22T17:37:44Z")
I’d go with a cigarette smoker, provided s/he is smoking a premium brand. American Spirits or one of the other additive-free brands are about as close as it gets to inoffensive smoking, which I admit still isn’t very close. Cigars and pipes have a heavy, cloying stench that overwhelms me. I especially detest the shitty smell of cheap pipe tobacco that is loaded with vanilla or other fragrances that are supposed to mask the shittiness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/locked-in-a-room-with-someone-who-smokes/699034.md?page=3)