# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/61 "2012-11-28T02:29:01Z")
You know, you have a point, there. I think it’s foolish to tell someone ’ you shouldn’t smoke’ more than once, and it’s equally foolish to interrupt what is essentially a \ gripe session with counter-viewpoints. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/62 "2012-11-28T02:31:23Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > So there are asshole smokers. > That does not make all smokers assholes. If you always dispose of butts properly, if you smoke outdoors by yourself, if you aren’t ruining the walls, carpet, and ceiling of a rental, if you never blow smoke where someone is standing or walking, and if you never contract a preventable, tragic, and expensive disease caused by smoking, you aren’t an asshole. In 40 years I’ve never met a single smoker who didn’t throw butts on the ground or out the car window. I’ve never met one who gave the permeating, everlasting stench in cars or rentals a second thought. Never met one who was aware of the garbage-y stale stink that clings to ever hair and fiber. I don’t like standing next to an open garbage can or a smoker, but I probably can’t convince any smoker they are equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/63 "2012-11-28T02:33:16Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Well, I can’t argue with you on that. Does nicotine in the system have a smell? 'cause they aren’t smelling it on my clothes or hair or skin otherwise. Oh wait, people are being polite, that’s right. > Carry on. If a cow eats onions, and the cow is milked after eating those onions…her milk tastes of onions. The oniony taste seeps right through her body. Other herbs can flavor the milk. The diet of meat animals will affect the way their meat tastes. That’s one reason why people will pay a premium for free range animals. It’s also the reason why game tastes gamy. Venison from a wild deer has a much stronger flavor than venison from a farm raised deer. Same thing with smokers. The nicotine and smoke smell AND TASTE permeate a smoker’s body. The smoker can be fresh out of the shower with just-brushed teeth, and more likely than not, a non-smoker will be able to tell that this person is a smoker. And the smoke flavor is not just in the mouth, but everywhere on a smoker’s skin. Well, everywhere that I’ve kissed and licked, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/64 "2012-11-28T02:39:49Z")
I associate the smell of cigarettes with the ills of poverty. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/65 "2012-11-28T02:46:26Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > …Case in point, I was walking behind one particular gentlemen on campus at a cross walk where I could not avoid him and he blew a huge puff of second hand smoke right in my path of walking, plus I am sure several other people where unavoidably caught in the smoke plume. Dude was an asshole, and don’t tell me that doesn’t happen a lot. Because I know first hand it does. They don’t seem to care about where their smoke to blowing or who it is blowing at. I understand your frustration, but how was the guy supposed to know you were behind him? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/66 "2012-11-28T02:48:37Z")
I don’t hate smokers - my mom is a smoker and I like her quite a bit. However, I’m asthmatic and smoke (including from camp fires and whatnot) cause a rather nasty reaction so I try to avoid it as much as I can which means I would have a hard time dating a smoker or visiting someone who smoked indoors. I’m also annoyed by the ‘World is my ashtray’ many smokers have based in the butts I see everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/67 "2012-11-28T02:51:04Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I understand your frustration, but how was the guy supposed to know you were behind him? Because it’s a crosswalk. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/68 "2012-11-28T02:53:32Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > So there are asshole smokers. > That does not make all smokers assholes. Well then those are the ones I don’t like, and they are the ones who blow smoke in my face. Can we place a ban on asshole smokers? Would that even be possible. Probably not, so banning all smoking works for me too. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/69 "2012-11-28T02:54:56Z")
I’m gonna go ahead and admit what most smokers wont: Cigarettes out the window? Oh hell yeah. I know it’s wrong but the satisfaction I get from having a clean truck (or clean to me anyway) far out weighs any guilt I feel for doing such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/70 "2012-11-28T02:59:37Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I understand your frustration, but how was the guy supposed to know you were behind him? Think about that question again. I was crossing the street with a large group of other people at a public University. Unless he is completely out of touch with reality, he knew several people were behind him, in front of him, and beside him. He just didn’t give a fuck. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/71 "2012-11-28T03:01:23Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > If I see a young person smoking, I conclude that person is a total moron who is incapable of making rational decisions. Meh, I think that describes young people in general, not just those who smoke. I’m sure there are some notable exceptions, but speaking as a former teenager they don’t rank very high on my list of “rational decision-makers.” Like someone upthread, I’m a non-smoker who occasionally smokes, usually because I’m drunk. I’d say I probably go through 3 packs per year, maybe. I don’t really harbor any “smoker hate” per se. I probably wouldn’t mind dating someone with a 3-4 smoke a day habit, but anything more would get smelly and annoying quickly. One of my best friends’ smoking habits varies from a pack a week to over a pack a day, and hanging out with him during a pack-a-day phase is a chore. Ducking outside every 20 minutes, asking “Hey, is it cool if we swing by Sheetz?” every time we get in a car (“Well, it’s 5 minutes in the wrong direction, do we have to?” “Um, yeah.” :rolleyes:), etc. It’s not so much the smoke or the smell, it’s more the addiction and the way it shapes your life that I dislike. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/72 "2012-11-28T03:02:51Z")
For seven or eight years I had two coworkers who went out for random smoke breaks, and a couple of times a week I’d go with them. Frankly I loved the giddy sensation of that nicotine hitting my brain, and if work was being stressful, I enjoyed the respite and the brief high. So I certainly get the attraction of cigarettes, and it’s not so simple as “being cool” or simply being stupid: they definitely have a pleasant effect, and presumably the increased tolerance over time and need to smoke more to get that effect are one contributor to addiction. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/73 "2012-11-28T03:06:22Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m gonna go ahead and admit what most smokers wont: > > Cigarettes out the window? Oh hell yeah. I know it’s wrong but the satisfaction I get from having a clean truck (or clean to me anyway) far out weighs any guilt I feel for doing such a thing. Every summer around here some douche bag smoker starts a major grass fire in the middle of the city because of this very attitude. Frankly I hope the next time you do this the butt blows back in and goes down the back of your shirt (yes, I have actually seen that happen.) ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/74 "2012-11-28T03:07:32Z")
I’m so glad I quit smoking. I don’t miss the wheezing. Being in the food business, I try not to hire smokers. I am actually a little bit baffled that it is legal to make and sell cigarettes these days. It isn’t as though there is any doubt that they are poison. But I don’t hate smokers. I might have a bit of dislike for the folks making the cigarettes though. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/75 "2012-11-28T03:07:47Z")
Cigarette smoke scratches my throat up hella horribly and makes my nose run like a fucking marathoner. When I was 18 some of my friends and I went to a casino because why not. This was about a year or so before MN banned indoor smoking. We were there for about 3 hours and I had to leave 6 times to walk around the parking lot because I could. not. breathe. By the time we left, I was a sneezy, runny, raspy mess. Luckily since then, most people have wised up and kicked the habit and there’s no smoking inside anymore so I don’t have issues any more. But I did get annoyed when my friends went abroad to London in college because they always came back smoking. Anyway, I don’t hate smokers but I do sort of pity them. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/76 "2012-11-28T03:08:49Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m gonna go ahead and admit what most smokers wont: > > Cigarettes out the window? Oh hell yeah. I know it’s wrong but the satisfaction I get from having a clean truck (or clean to me anyway) far out weighs any guilt I feel for doing such a thing. That’s in the tip ten of the shittiest things I’ve ever read here. Don’t give a damn about anyone else, nature, wildlife. Only out to please yourself. Noted. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/77 "2012-11-28T03:10:58Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Every summer around here some douche bag smoker starts a major grass fire in the middle of the city because of this very attitude. Frankly I hope the next time you do this the butt blows back in and goes down the back of your shirt (yes, I have actually seen that happen.) My mom saved a guys life once who had been smoking when he got T-boned at an intersection and his cigarette flew out of his hand and into a pile of old papers in the back of his car. It set the papers on fire and my mom pulled him out of the car right before his whole inside of his car was on fire. I wouldn’t believe this story myself except I was an eye witness. My mom and I saw the accident when she was picking me up after school, and she saw the smoke coming from the back of the guys car, so she forced the door open and pulled him out. He was unconscious from hitting his head on the dash board. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/78 "2012-11-28T03:14:30Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m gonna go ahead and admit what most smokers wont: > > Cigarettes out the window? Oh hell yeah. I know it’s wrong but the satisfaction I get from having a clean truck (or clean to me anyway) far out weighs any guilt I feel for doing such a thing. And you don’t understand why some non-smokers hate smokers. One time my mother smoked with me in the car when I was a kid. When she was finished with her cigarette, she threw it out the window… except that it didn’t go out the window, it went in the backseat of the car and burned my arm. Very painful!! In driving school, we were told not to throw cigarettes out a vehicle window, because, among other things, it could go into the helmet of a motorcyclist behind you and cause some nasty damage. Whenever I see someone thrrow a cigarette out their vehicle window, I always want to grab the cigarette and throw it back in. ---
**Author:** ![spoon\_river](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@spoon\_river](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoon_river)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/79 "2012-11-28T04:15:09Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Whenever I see someone thrrow a cigarette out their vehicle window, I always want to grab the cigarette and throw it back in. Word. Just trashy. One hell of a lot different than throwing it in the gutter with all the mountains of waste products from automobiles and street cleaner chemicals and whatever else crap is on there – starting fires and shit is bad. Also, doesn’t make a damned bit of sense – you’re smoking in the car, you should have an ashtray, so use it, retard. If someone’s on the rag and doesn’t want to mess up their precious Barbie car, then either don’t smoke in it or drive straight into a lake, preferably unconscious. Louis CK had a bit about him tossing some junk food wrapper on the street walking with a friend. His friend was all butthurt like “You just littered man, WTF!” CK’s response was something like “This is NYC – this whole place is a giant trashcan.” Maybe not ideal civic behavior, but he does have a point. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/80 "2012-11-28T04:17:16Z")
Ashtrays have not come standard in many cars in years. So you have to use your own ashtray or soda can or something. But still, you should. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=5)