# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/81 "2012-11-28T05:00:09Z")
Most smokers I have seen are excessively rude and inconsiderate about it. (though I do have some friends and relatives that are beyond polite and considerate about it too, but they’re in the minority by a long shot). There was this one guy in the building I worked at when I still lived in Anchorage. He worked on one of the floors above ours (of course no smoking in the building) and not a few times I’d see him sticking a ciggy in his mouth and lighting up as he exited the elevator to the lobby and out the door. And with a very “I dare anyone to challenge me” look on his face. I’m guessing he’d worked there forever and had been allowed to smoke back in the day before they changed the rules and now he’s mad at everyone so he’s “getting back at them”. He’s far from the only one, he’s just the most colorful example. There are those who take that last HUGE drag at the bus or light rail stop then step inside while exhaling their last drag (if I could afford the parking downtown, I’d totally drive to work for this reason alone). I carry those curiously strong peppermints and strong mint gum with me, and when some nasty smelling smoker sits down near me, they’re a life-saver, they help filter out the reek. Those who can’t seem to make it from the grocery door to their car without lighting up at the very door of the grocery. Or worse, those who somehow can’t possibly make it from their car, to the store to go shopping without tanking up on that last cigarette before going in (really? 47 steps from your car to the door and you couldn’t have smoked it in the parking lot?). All those little piles of cigarette butts from someone’s ashtray at almost any intersection YUCK. Smokers seem to have this idea that if they’re outside, there must be little Air Fairies that magically swoop the nastiness away before it can get to anyone. Like \*\*April R \*\*says earlier in the thread, nope…all that happens is their nastiness gets swooped back into unsuspecting victims’ lungs. One wisp and I’m coughing my lungs out and it’s not fun (got an uncommon form of asthma that causes hard choking fits, better than having your throat close up like normal asthma and it probably won’t kill me, but pretty sucky all the same). The problem is the horrendous stench, it is in their hair, clothes, and breath, and if they’re heavy enough smokers, it absolutely seeps out of their pores, even fresh out of a shower. I know a few smokers who like to claim “oh, I don’t smell”. No, you’re right, you don’t. You REEK. Unless you cover yourself in saran wrap and then smoke in a wind tunnel upwind of your own cigarette, you reek. Bottom line as to why I hate smoking? They are forcing what they want to do upon others. Often in surprise attacks (like A **pril R** ’s example of the man blowing out huge clouds of smoke for all and sundry to enjoy as he puffs on down the sidewalk). Based on the snotty looks and often obvious body language (try to stop me! it’s a free country!), I’m sure many smokers do that sort of crap on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/82 "2012-11-28T05:03:02Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > 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. I give him props for being honest, few smokers will admit this. I knew one smoker (now an ex-smoker) who was considerate as he was ex-army, and always field stripped his cigs and was careful about where the smoke went. But he did dip mostly. Due to major dental work and mouth cancer he has now given that up. But he was the only smoker I knew who was considerate about others. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/83 "2012-11-28T05:04:40Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > A related question I’ve answer wondered about. Above, someone says that they assume a smoker is incapable of rational thought. Do you feel the same way about people who are obese. Like, obviously unhealthy obese? Would you cut their benefits? > > Skip the arguments about how they aren’t hurting you - I’m really just interested in the judgment part of things. I’m puzzled why it’s okay to malign smokers, but we mustn’t ever say anything bad about obese people, since it’s really about the same thing in terms of addiction. Simple. Obese people don’t force me to eat twinkies. ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/84 "2012-11-28T05:40:20Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Smoking is bad for you. Unlike alcohol, it cannot really be done in moderation, and does not have any health benefits. > > If I see a young person smoking, I conclude that person is a total moron who is incapable of making rational decisions. Exactly. Everybody knows what smoking does to you, this is not new information. I realise some people got addicted before the risks were known, but they’ve had ample time to stop. I don’t like seeing smoking because it’s dangerous (and disgusting, but that’s a secondary concern), and the smokers are being stupid, irrational and showing no regard for their own health or the health and comfort of other people. And then they have the nerve to get pissy about it when people object. “How dare you try to stop me inhaling poison and contaminating the air you breathe!”:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/85 "2012-11-28T06:01:41Z")
Here’s an angle that’s not been discussed much. I got talking with a gay acquaintance not long ago. I asked him what cum tastes like. He answered: “Not bad, unless the guy smokes. Then it tastes awful.” Just another data point to add to the conversation. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/86 "2012-11-28T06:03:30Z")
I’m a non-smoker – even an anti-smoker – but I actually like smokers! At my company Christmas Party, I always hung around on the balcony outside, with all the smokers. At work, when one Secretary took her smoking break, I’d take a break too, and go outside and chat with her. I don’t like the smell…but I don’t hate it all that much. I’d far rather smell tobacco smoke than, say, the hideous aura of stench from people who don’t bathe often enough. (Or my old boss, who used so damn much cologne, you always had twenty seconds warning when she was coming your way. Eyuck!) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/87 "2012-11-28T06:10:26Z")
I hate smoking pretty rampantly and deeply; when they’re actively smoking around me, it smells terrible, it makes me feel ill, and it is forcing me to breathe a Grade A carcinogen (there is no safe exposure limit for a Grade A carcinogen). When they have _been_ smoking and are around me, they smell incredibly bad and they can stink up a whole room (chronic smokers, people whose clothes, hair, and skin are steeped in smoke, smell nauseating). I also hate the disposal of cigarette butts and cigarette package litter - I pick smoker litter up off my front lawn on an almost daily basis. I think my favourite smoker littering habit is the mounds of cigarette butts in parking lots that smokers have just dumped in the parking lot. Oh yeah, I also hate that smokers cause so many fires, especially grassfires and forest fires. ETA: I also hate how smokers get so many more breaks than other workers. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/88 "2012-11-28T10:56:41Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Smokers seem to have this idea that if they’re outside, there must be little Air Fairies that magically swoop the nastiness away before it can get to anyone. IIRC it’s sort of the opposite; the smoke is slightly electrically charged, someone who isn’t smoking has an opposite charge, so the smoke is actually attracted to them. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/89 "2012-11-28T10:58:55Z")
I’m glad of this thread, because talking to smokers about what bothers you about smoking is next to impossible. They get incredibly defensive. I must say, I do not hate smokers. Many of my good friends smoke. Smoking upsets me and I find it incredibly selfish. It’s so selfish that it really makes me sad that people put their habit before the other people in their life. Here’s why: 1. 50% of smokers will die early as a result of smoking. That’s huge. So if you smoke and someone loves you, you are basically saying to them: fuck you, I don’t care if I hurt you by dying young. And no, it’s not like “driving a car because that’s dangerous too”. Yes, I too engage in certain risky behaviours, like drinking alcohol. But 50% chance that you’ll die early. There is nothing I can think of that people make a similar choice in that puts them at that risk. 2. Second-hand smoke. If you are smoking near me you are putting me at risk. Clearly, you don’t think that is very important. That’s selfish. And it’s not just a question of moving away. If a whole group of people smoke, and go and stand on the other side, you expect me to stand alone over here? See, that’s not very nice either. 3. It stinks. It absolutely reeks. If I visit a smoker’s house I need to have my coat dry cleaned. That costs money. If I don’t shower before going to bed my hair makes the pillow smell. You stink so badly I don’t really want to hug you. I don’t want to come to your house. That makes me sad, because I want to visit my friends and hug my friends. 4. It’s hard to be accommodating to smokers. When people visit my house I want to be accommodating. I want them to feel comfortable and at home. Obviously you can’t smoke inside. You can smoke on the balcony, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to make you stand outside on your own. And then you drop the butts on the floor of my balcony, which is incredibly rude. People have even used candles and pots as ashtrays. The whole thing is selfish and rude. 5. My SO has asthma and reacts very strongly to smoke. How many smokers do you think ever considered that smoking near him could cause and asthma attack and even death? That’s right: none, ever. 6. There are many situations in which you don’t have the option to ask people to not smoke near you. If someone offers you a ride or invites you to their house you can’t very well complain if you later find out they smoke in those areas. So there you are, sitting in their stink and breathing their second-hand smoke, knowing they don’t care enough about you not to do it. 7. Trying to talk about it makes you the devil. Non-smokers rarely let smokers know what they think. All non-smokers I know agree with all of the above, but won’t say it. Because smokers get defensive, they keep repeating: it’s my life, I’m free to do what I want. And it’s no fun seeing this nasty, selfish side to your friends. Suddenly they’re like Gollum and a cigarette is the ring. It’s weird to see. I’ve tried explaining to friends what I think. You wouldn’t believe the reactions. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/90 "2012-11-28T11:52:49Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > 1. It stinks. It absolutely reeks. If I visit a smoker’s house I need to have my coat dry cleaned. That costs money. If I don’t shower before going to bed my hair makes the pillow smell. You stink so badly I don’t really want to hug you. I don’t want to come to your house. That makes me sad, because I want to visit my friends and hug my friends. I’m a former smoker, and this is the one thing I notice more than anything. And even that smell can be enough to set off my sinuses if it’s strong/fresh enough. So yes, smokers, you stink. If you smoke inside your house/apartment, it stinks, even if you don’t think it does. I don’t hate smokers. But I think you’re stupid for smoking - I know quitting is hard, but I also know how much better you’ll feel by quitting. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/91 "2012-11-28T12:51:33Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I get that smoking is a nasty habit and it makes us stinky. It’s a minor annoyance. What I don’t get is the deep seething hate. > > Why? And how common is this among non-smokers? > > Don’t be shy. Please tell us what gets said behind our back. How do YOU really feel? (answered before reading the rest of the thread) It’s because you (generic you, for all smokers) are so oblivious and inconsiderate of how your smoke affects others, and how much it **stinks**. I’ve been on holiday with people who would considerately leave the building, but smoke next to the open back door. Yeah, it’s blowing into the house. It still stinks, I can still smell it, yes even though you were “nice” and left the room. Even if you’re a stranger on the street walking past me smoking and keeping walking, that lungful or two of smoke is enough to have an effect on me, oh, I’m not claiming I’ll drop dead, but yes, I will get lightheaded and mildly dizzy. And it stinks, I mentioned that already, right? And you stink too, even if you’re not smoking this second, you still smell of it, your clothes and hair smell, and just from being around you, when I go home I’ll still be able to smell it on me too. Inconsiderate. And that’s leaving out all the studies about passive smoking’s health risks and lung cancer. Basically it’s the socially acceptable equivalent of repeatedly farting on people and expecting them to breathe the stench without complaining. Oh, and now the smoking ban’s in place in the UK, you’ve hogged the outdoors too. I now can’t walk into a pub/restaurant without running the gauntlet of the crowd of smokers huddled round the door creating a fog you have to pass through. Or sit in a beer garden with a pint on a sunny day, without you sitting down next to me and lighting up ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/92 "2012-11-28T13:14:23Z")
I do not use tobacco. I have some friends who do, but they are considerate of those around them. Why would I have them for friends otherwise? I hate inconsiderate douchebags, litterers, pedophiles, and people who fart on elevators. Smokers? Meh. ETA: I find cologne/perfume far more annoying than cigarette odor. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/93 "2012-11-28T13:15:55Z")
I don’t feel any animosity towards smokers. It is more like pity and avoidance. It is an addiction that smokers have a hard time kicking. The worst thing is the smell. The flights leaving here for the US can take up to 14 hours to get to their destination. The smokers waiting in the lounge seem to consume an entire pack of cigarettes so they have enough nicotine in their system to get them through the flight. The smell is awful if I am stuck sitting next to a smoker. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/94 "2012-11-28T13:25:27Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > It’s really sad that so many people know it’s killing them and can’t stop…sometimes even to the point of still smoking when they’re on supplemental oxygen. Yup - instantly killing them in some cases: [“The reports include a person being blown up while on oxygen therapy after lighting a cigarette.”](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20395257) ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/95 "2012-11-28T13:35:39Z")
People have the choice to smoke, but I think anyone who does in this day and age is an idiot. Maybe the health risks were not well known in my grandparent’s generation and hell I’ll even give that to my parent’s generation, but knowingly getting addicted to such a foul-smelling habit, as well as bringing down property value and potentially causing health problems to others is beyond idiotic in my opinion. My parents are smokers. Dad had a few off years and at least has the decency to smoke outside. Mom never tried stopping once in her life. So, I grew up with the nicotine-stained walls, smelly clothes, and sinus infections. Last Christmas I spent 5 hours at my mothers and got a sinus infection that lasted over a week. Not letting that happen again this year. She didn’t believe me and didn’t exactly help her case by saying “I smoked around you all the time growing up and you are just fine!” :rolleyes:Yeah, as far as she can tell just by looking at me. Seeing the type of people who smoke around me, and working in a grocery store that sells cigarettes, I just equate smoking with trashy. Can’t stand the revolting smell, perhaps partly because it brings back bad memories- family members fighting over stupid cigarettes, losing two grandparents to cancer brought on by a lifetime of smoking, and having a mom so addicted that she’d put those things before basic necessities. So I guess the hatred is pretty deep for me, but given how much better I feel and how I don’t smell like an ashtray (the smokers who don’t think they do are just denying this- you really do) I’m okay with my deep hatred. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/96 "2012-11-28T13:59:03Z")
Smokers have become a very easily reviled group of people because it is thought that they are engaging in their behavior by choice. All social decorum goes out the window when it comes to smokers, and faux-coughing and waving your hand in front of your face while asking, “Don’t you know that’s bad for you?” doesn’t carry the same social ramifications as telling a fat person they eat too much. We all do things that are bad for us, but for some reason, it’s considered easier by our culture to quit smoking than stop pounding Bud Lites or jamming Big Macs into your face, which are both perfectly “acceptable” by our social standards. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/97 "2012-11-28T14:04:26Z")
Non-smoker. I believe people have a right to smoke if they want to. I have argued on many occasions against smoking bans in, for example pubs. I believe that the option to make a pub non-smoking should be up to the owner and if such places were as in demand as militant anti-smokers claimed they were they’d have no trouble staying in business. Which, weirdly, is about the most Conservative/capitalist thing I have ever said. Note: I don’t want to discuss that here. I am just mentioning it to show the level to which I am OK with smokers, as per the question. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/98 "2012-11-28T14:12:24Z")
Oo, _haters_. As a nonsmoker and someone who supports anti-public smoking ordinances, I don’t hate smokers at all. As a pathologist, I derive a good-sized chunk of my income from the consequences of their habit (mostly through biopsies and excisions of tumors caused by smoking, but there’s also the odd autopsy where someone died of heart or lung disease secondary to smoking). While there’s no hate for smokers, there’s a certain sense of satisfaction I get from current trends favoring the nonsmoking majority. Years ago I couldn’t go out for a meal without breathing someone’s cigarette smoke. Then there were (largely ineffective) smoking and non-smoking sections, and now it’s a rarity (unless I’m traveling to certain states) to have my meal impaired by secondhand smoke (or to worry about Mrs. J. getting an asthma attack due to it). The whining from smokers about their “rights” is music to my ears. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/99 "2012-11-28T14:13:01Z")
I smoked for 22 years. I quit almost five years ago and for probably at least the first two years I gagged every time I smelled cigarettes. Even unlit ones. I don’t know what Allen Carr did to me but I still have no desire to smoke. And now it doesn’t bother me at all when others smoke around me. But please don’t do it in my house. I don’t want my little girl exposed to it. Also, it bothers me to go to my doctor’s office and see so many employees standing around the door on their breaks smoking. It stinks up the area bad. I don’t mind that my doctor smells of smoke, as long as he’s not doing it with me in the room but seeing all those scrubs-wearing smokers by the front door seems wrong. For one thing I always have to wait two hours to be seen. They don’t have time to be hanging around outside smoking. I realize they get breaks, but I know from experience they tend to slip out to smoke when they’re on the clock sometimes. That seems acceptable to smokers too. They’re offended if they’re asked to go to their cars. When I was a smoker and worked in the schools we couldn’t even smoke on campus in our cars, which I thought was a little ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317/100 "2012-11-28T14:25:15Z")
Ex-smoker. I smoked from the time I was 13 and quit when I was 21 and had a newborn. Way back then my OB actually told me to cut back during pregnancy but not to force myself to quit as the stress was going to be worse than the nicotine. Oh how we learn as time goes on. Everyone I knew smoked then, I smoked at my desk at work although as I was trying to cut back they instituted new rules making you move to a smoking “area” instead of your desk. Oddly the area they choose was the ground level walkway that everyone had to go through to get to their desks. Indoors, no special air filtration and everyone had to walk through that area multiple times a day. Half of it was used by the Red Cross on blood donation days so in hindsight, that’s a little hilarious. I quit fairly easily once I decided I was actually quitting not just cutting down. My son’s father and all of our friends still smoked so didn’t really save my son from exposure, luckily he has escaped any effects. I was adamant that I was not going to be a militant nonsmoker but a funny thing happened after I dumped my ex and was not always surrounded by smoke - I got used to breathing real air. It’s astonishing how much you become acclimatised to I now actively avoid places where smoking is allowed. The smell annoys me and I admit I make those judgemental faces when I notice it and if possible I move away. You absolutely can identify a smoker, or one who lives with a smoker just by the smell on their bodies and clothes. I stayed with a friend a couple years ago who was a couple pack a day smoker. Her place was one stop on a two week vacation driving trip and I used her laundry machines while I was there to run a load through. Freshly washed and dried clothes smelled like smoke right out of the drier. It even overwhelmed the Downy. Smokers who think they are clean and unsmokey are kidding themselves. It’s like the lady who puts on more perfume every day because she can’t smell it anymore. Eventually it creates a cloud around you that only quitting fixes. That said, other than avoiding them I don’t actively hate smokers. I do hate assholes. Some smokers just happen to be very visibile members of that club. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-smokers-how-rampant-and-how-deep-is-the-smoker-hate/642317.md?page=6)