# Non-smokers: How rampant and how deep is the smoker hate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 27, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317 "2012-11-27T22:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/281 "2018-10-27T22:31:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > As a non-smoker, I’ve never minded the smell of secondhand smoke; even somewhat liked the acrid, bitter scent of it. But that may be because I rarely encountered it. > > As a side note I have still never yet encountered marijuana and still never smelled it yet. That’s what i always thought about weed. Until - at the age of forty-eight - I sniffed an exceedingly familiar odor while walking through an parking garage in Boulder, with Mrs. SMV. "Wait, is _that_ weed? "Yes, that’s marijuana. " Ohhh… " It was then I realized I’d been smelling it for decades. And I also solved the mystery of why there were so many skunks around, even in a big city. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/282 "2018-10-28T04:16:21Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That’s what i always thought about weed. Until - at the age of forty-eight - I sniffed an exceedingly familiar odor while walking through an parking garage in Boulder, with Mrs. SMV. "Wait, is _that_ weed? > > "Yes, that’s marijuana. > > " Ohhh… " > > It was then I realized I’d been smelling it for decades. And I also solved the mystery of why there were so many skunks around, even in a big city. :smack: Yes, well, you could have been smelling skunk weed. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/283 "2018-10-29T11:28:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Myself, I would have no problem refusing to go anywhere near my FIL until he cut that out. And to hell with him if he didn’t. I have zero time to spare for the Archie Bunkers of the world. We have moved, and are staying with the in-laws until we can get into our new place. Thursday, if not sooner. I just hope the effects (congested sinuses, sore throat, burning eyes) wear off quickly. As a Libertarian, all the smoking restrictions bug me in theory, but I am very grateful for them. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/284 "2018-10-29T11:39:10Z")
Bus stops are bad for non-smokers. The bus shelter could be constructed entirely of “NO SMOKING!” signs, but when one person lights up it gives permission for all the others to do so. When the bus comes they all take one last large puff and throw their butts on the ground before getting on. Yeah, I know-_You_ never do this. No smoker on the SDMB _ever_ does this. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/285 "2018-10-29T11:42:00Z")
I love that this thread keeps getting bumped. Nice reminder of when I quit. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/286 "2018-10-29T11:53:42Z")
Since smoking in public places like restaurants and other public buildings is illegal in Chicagoland, I have no problem with smokers. What used to really irritate me was going out to a club and having to breath secondhand smoke. It would stink up my clothes and hair, too, so it naturally produced resentment. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/287 "2018-10-29T13:54:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > They have to quit, or they have to say they quit? Not sure about weight loss surgery, but I had an uncle who had bad emphysema from smoking his whole life. He took a trip from Arkansas to Florida to to get a new lung. They tested him there for nicotine and he failed, so no new lung for him. He ended up killing himself not long after, presumably because not being able to breathe all day every day was torture, and he had no more hope of improvement. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/288 "2018-10-29T14:40:07Z")
Apparently the smoker hate is rampant and deep enough that it looks like this thread will never die. Though I guess there could be a new angle on this subject with the pot issue. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/289 "2018-10-29T14:48:03Z")
I’m a non-smoker and I really like it that there are so many places I can go where I don’t have to put up with that. I also like it that a hotel room I’m in is unlikely to smell of smoke. I don’t believe that I hate smokers, but on the inside (I hope it’s not obvious) I do judge them for it, at least a little. And that’s with some understanding of the addiction. I guess I basically look at them as addicts, feel a little sorry for them, and wonder if there going to “trample” my rights. Most smokers I know don’t do that anymore- they’re careful to smoke outside and not obviously litter. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because they know they’re on thin ice with everyone else. Many non-smokers remember how smokers used to be, so very brazen, “asking” for permission knowing that they could hardly be refused, blowing smoke in people’s faces, etc. There is still an essential rudeness in it. It can’t be done without smoking up the place, even outdoors. They can’t smell it, so they don’t know, but everyone else can. Lots of smokers (or one HUGELY rude smoker who chainsmokes all around town) is leaving cigarette butts all around and throwing lit buts out of cars all the time. So non-smokers don’t want to give an inch to smokers, because they’re sure smokers will try to take a mile. That’s why I think non-smokers are so skeptical of vaping. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/290 "2018-10-29T14:56:15Z")
I don’t hate smokers themselves, but I can say that I _really_ don’t like being around smoke anymore. It’s kind of funny how say… 20 years ago, it was just part of the background- smoke in bars, smokers outside buildings, etc… But now, it’s very uncommon- it’s about like being around older cars and trucks and the noticeably pungent unburned gasoline in the exhaust- something we never used to notice, but now we do. Public transit in general is rife with asshole behaviors- w.r.t smoking- it’s people who smoke like crazy at the stops, and who then get on the bus/train and stink it up. Or if it’s rainy, they’ll cluster under the small amounts of sheltered area… and smoke, despite a bunch of others grimacing and scowling because they are stuck with this smoking asshole or standing in the rain. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/291 "2018-10-29T15:52:07Z")
They hurt their kids and pets. For kids it is hard to speak up, but pets really can’t escape the danger to themselves. When I see someone smoking with a caged bird being forced to breathe the smoke, I feel deeply angry. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/292 "2018-10-29T17:33:34Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > Is it that smokers really don’t know how they affect the rest of the world, or is it that they don’t care? I don’t care. I’m an adult using a legal product, and if you don’t like that, read my first sentence again. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/293 "2018-10-29T17:47:49Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > I don’t care. I’m an adult using a legal product, and if you don’t like that, read my first sentence again. But wouldn’t it be better if you were addicted to something that didn’t directly effect the health of others? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/294 "2018-10-29T17:57:36Z")
Knowing someone smokes gives me a general negative impression of them, probably about on the level of their having a faded Bush Cheney 2004 bumper sticker on their pickup. But I’ve had some friends who smoked and since they generally refrained from doing so around me when we were indoors, I had no problem with them. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/295 "2018-10-29T20:27:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But wouldn’t it be better if you were addicted to something that didn’t directly effect the health of others? [sarcasm] Yeah, my life is totally better now because I’ve quit smoking cigarettes and started shooting up heroin again, and it’s because shooting up heroin doesn’t directly affect the health of others! [/sarcasm] So that’s a no. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/296 "2018-10-29T20:30:34Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > [sarcasm] Yeah, my life is totally better now because I’ve quit smoking cigarettes and started shooting up heroin again, and it’s because shooting up heroin doesn’t directly affect the health of others! [/sarcasm] > > So that’s a no. Those were your two choices? ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/297 "2018-10-29T21:05:55Z")
> [@Crazy\_Canuck](#): > > I don’t care. I’m an adult using a legal product, and if you don’t like that, read my first sentence again. Yeah, that’s exactly why all those nonsmoking laws were passed. So, yeah, it’s legal, in some places. And it’s not in others. And non-smokers might care more about smokers, except that they suspect that many smokers, like you, really just don’t care about them. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/298 "2018-10-29T21:48:10Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > And non-smokers might care more about smokers, except that they suspect that many smokers, like you, really just don’t care about them. No they wouldn’t. They care more about breathing clean air than my right to smoke, and I can’t even say they are wrong to do so. Sadly, there’s no compromise possible on this issue that I can see. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/299 "2018-10-29T22:48:13Z")
Right to smoke? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/300 "2018-10-30T02:03:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But wouldn’t it be better if you were addicted to something that didn’t directly effect the health of others? He was addicted to love, until the health department got on his case. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=16)