# People Who Smoke in the Car with Children in Them **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964 "2013-03-25T22:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [March 27, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/101 "2013-03-27T18:01:21Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > Ditto > > Grew up with both parents who smoked…dad a few times a week andmy mom smoked at least a pack a day…we also were in the car while she smoked and none of us kids suffered any effects from it, in fact, we are all pretty physically healthy…im not recommending driving with a smoke filled car, im just saying its not the evil horrific tragedy its made out to be by some…wouod i have preferred she didnt smoke in the car, yes, i wouodve preffered it but no, it wasnt the end of the world either You’re lucky. I have a lung disease from all the second-hand smoke I’ve breathed through the years. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/102 "2013-03-27T18:32:57Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > April R, I’d rather see children exposed to second hand smoke than see them raised Mormon. > > Do you think it should be against the law for parents to allow their children to become fat? Being overweight is going to do far more long term damage to a child than being exposed to second hand smoke is. As a smoker and an ex-Mormon, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been searching for studies showing that obesity is more dangerous and causes more health problems (and costs more in healthcare and to taxpayers) than smoking. I’ve found a couple. But I also tend to be one of those considerate smokers. I hate this addiction and I am taking baby steps to quit, and. I will make every effort not to smoke around nonsmoking adults, nevermind not smoking around children. I don’t smoke in my own car because I might have to give a ride to a nonsmoker. Or to a kid. I don’t smoke inside my house or upwind of my pets either; we go outside and I smoke downwind of them so they don’t even have to be subjected to it. So yeah, I’m a little appalled when I see an adult smoking in a car that has kids in it, but I’m outraged when I see adults feeding kids a steady diet of deep fried chicken nuggets and french fries. And I get white-hot livid enraged at the idea of 2-3 year olds bearing their testimonies in mormon sacrament meetings. Those children do not have testimonies. They are being whispered into their ears by their moms. That’s brainwashing and having been a victim of that cult system, I hate seeing little children’s minds warped far more than anything else. For the OP, she’s got a hard on about smoking around kids. I’ve got one about brainwashing them to be little mormon zombies. Your mileage may vary as well. ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/103 "2013-03-27T19:24:29Z")
Eh, I guess y’all just don’t know how to do it. When I was a teenager I smoked in my parents’ cars for years and they never knew it. Obviously when you stop you have to roll the window down and hold it outside. Preferably you only do it in places where you’re not likely to have to stop. If you crack the window just right and hold it in the right place it works. But don’t let that get in the way of your outrage. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/104 "2013-03-27T19:32:04Z")
> [@Leonard](#): > > Eh, I guess y’all just don’t know how to do it. When I was a teenager I smoked in my parents’ cars for years and they never knew it. Obviously when you stop you have to roll the window down and hold it outside. Preferably you only do it in places where you’re not likely to have to stop. If you crack the window just right and hold it in the right place it works. But don’t let that get in the way of your outrage. Carry on. Nah, probably won’t work on me. I have a quite sensitive sense of smell. I can smell cigarette-smoking many yards away in fresh air. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/105 "2013-03-27T21:55:56Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > You’re lucky. I have a lung disease from all the second-hand smoke I’ve breathed through the years. I pray that the Lord heals you of your sickness. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you always!!! Holly ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/106 "2013-03-28T00:33:33Z")
> [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](#): > > I pray that the Lord heals you of your sickness. 🙂 🙂 🙂 > God bless you always!!! > Holly You know that isn’t possible right? Prayer may help, but it isn’t a cure. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/107 "2013-03-28T00:40:29Z")
^^^ A lady who went to the church that I grew up in was supposed to have breast cancer surgery one day all them years ago and she got sent home because just before she was to be taken to the operating room, the doctors found that there wasn’t anything inside of her to remove anymore when it was there as clear as glass earlier. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you and her always!!! Holly ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/108 "2013-03-28T00:44:01Z")
Let’s stay on topic about smoking in cars and forget this off topic discussion. I would love for you to start a thread about prayer healing. Please do. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/109 "2013-03-28T00:47:06Z")
^^^ Actually I don’t have anything more to say about that miracle. God bless you always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/110 "2013-03-28T01:03:50Z")
I remember my parents smoking so much in the car when driving us kids to school that I’d have to wave the smoke away and clean the window to be able to look out. Backseat seat belts were also laughed at as something silly they did in Sweden. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/111 "2013-03-28T13:14:41Z")
> [@Leonard](#): > > Eh, I guess y’all just don’t know how to do it. When I was a teenager I smoked in my parents’ cars for years and they never knew it. Obviously when you stop you have to roll the window down and hold it outside. Preferably you only do it in places where you’re not likely to have to stop. If you crack the window just right and hold it in the right place it works. But don’t let that get in the way of your outrage. Carry on. I’m not calling you a liar because I don’t know you and your situation, but I find it extremely difficult to believe anyone’s claims of smoking and other people not knowing - smoking is extremely stinky, and people who smoke off-gas for hours afterwards. That was going to be my point about smoking parents - even if you don’t smoke right in front of your kids, your off-gassing will be affecting them for a long time after each cigarette. I work in a trailer that has orientations for blue-collar workers in it; when they get a bunch of smokers in there (which is always), they stink up the whole trailer even though they aren’t actively smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/112 "2013-03-28T14:23:29Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m not calling you a liar because I don’t know you and your situation, but I find it extremely difficult to believe anyone’s claims of smoking and other people not knowing - smoking is extremely stinky, and people who smoke off-gas for hours afterwards. > > That was going to be my point about smoking parents - even if you don’t smoke right in front of your kids, your off-gassing will be affecting them for a long time after each cigarette. I work in a trailer that has orientations for blue-collar workers in it; when they get a bunch of smokers in there (which is always), they stink up the whole trailer even though they aren’t actively smoking. The occasional pot smoker and once or twice per week cigarette indulger does not smell as bad as someone who smokes every single day, but cigarette smoke is greasy and leaves a residue on surfaces that no amount of wind will blow away. In my experience smokers believe they don’t carry a residual odor. Or if they admit it, they compare it to the relatively pleasant smell of a campfire, and it’s not even close. The metabolism of nicotine results in the production of both cotinine and aldehydes, and it _reeks_. Winters are the worst when smokers sport the coats they regularly saturate with smoke on the outside of the garment, and that nameless sweaty cigarette stench that permeates cloth and hair from the inside. Smokers sweat it, they exhale it, and the smell is suspended in the oils on their skin. Nothing at all like wood smoke; there is an ammonia-like component to it which to me smells more like a trash fire set in a urinal. Either smokers’ sense of smell is damaged while they have the habit, or the emotional comfort the addiction provides causes them to find the smell pleasant and there’s just no convincing them otherwise. It ranges from unpleasant to offensive in exactly the same way that unwashed body odor does. It’s not judgement that causes me to step away from a smoker; it doesn’t smell like a _vice_ because I don’t give a damn what others do to their own bodies. It actually smells slightly poisonous, oily, and dirty. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/113 "2013-03-28T16:01:38Z")
Smokers’ sense of smell is damaged by smoking. Pointless anecdote: I was just at the dentist, where the hygenist talks to me about smoking at every appointment. This morning, she told me she thought I’d quit because she couldn’t detect a whiff of smoky smell on me. Of course, I was in fresh, clean clothes and was not sweaty. I would imagine, as the day goes on, I get… reekier. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/114 "2013-03-28T16:31:35Z")
^^^ If smoking does make a person lose their sense of smell, I don’t know why that is not enough to make a person quit. No more smelling good food and no more heads up if something that you can’t see is burning or flat out on fire. God bless you always!!! Holly ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/115 "2013-03-28T16:37:41Z")
I didn’t say it makes you lose your sense of smell completely. I said the sense of smell is _damaged_. Big difference. I can still smell food cooking and I can still tell if something is on fire. However, in the post above mine, the person was talking about how smokers can’t smell their own smoky smell on themselves. It’s subtle smells I have trouble with. When I’ve been sweating and smoking all day and haven’t washed my hands, I can smell the reek on me. Take a shower, clean clothes, brush teeth – I think I smell a nice and clean and spiffy. Poster above me begs to differ. I’m not going to argue his/her point because my sense of smell is damaged and I probably cannot smell what nonsmokers can. But my sniffer _works_, just not as well as a nonsmoker’s. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/116 "2013-03-28T17:59:24Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > The occasional pot smoker and once or twice per week cigarette indulger does not smell as bad as someone who smokes every single day, but cigarette smoke is greasy and leaves a residue on surfaces that no amount of wind will blow away. In my experience smokers believe they don’t carry a residual odor. Or if they admit it, they compare it to the relatively pleasant smell of a campfire, and it’s not even close. The metabolism of nicotine results in the production of both cotinine and aldehydes, and it _reeks_. Winters are the worst when smokers sport the coats they regularly saturate with smoke on the outside of the garment, and that nameless sweaty cigarette stench that permeates cloth and hair from the inside. Smokers sweat it, they exhale it, and the smell is suspended in the oils on their skin. Nothing at all like wood smoke; there is an ammonia-like component to it which to me smells more like a trash fire set in a urinal. Either smokers’ sense of smell is damaged while they have the habit, or the emotional comfort the addiction provides causes them to find the smell pleasant and there’s just no convincing them otherwise. > > It ranges from unpleasant to offensive in exactly the same way that unwashed body odor does. It’s not judgement that causes me to step away from a smoker; it doesn’t smell like a _vice_ because I don’t give a damn what others do to their own bodies. It actually smells slightly poisonous, oily, and dirty. I bought my grandparents’ old house. My grandfather was a very heavy smoker, who sometimes would light up a cigarette in one room, take a few puffs, remember that he needed to get something from another room, leave the cigarette in the ashtray in the first room, get to the second room, remember that he needed to do something in THAT room, light up a SECOND cigarette while the first was still burning in the other room, take a few puffs, and sometimes he’d repeat this for a third and even fourth room. I never caught him with five cigarettes going at one time, but having two cigarettes burning at once was not rare. At any rate, the buildup of smoke residue in that house was amazing. And I’ve dated a couple of smokers, too. Not only do they smell like ashes, they taste like ashes, too. All over. Do I have to draw a picture, here? ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/117 "2013-03-28T18:13:07Z")
^^^ I for one do not need a picture. I’ve never kissed a smoker after they got done with their puffing, but I did one time have to smell it on the breath of a lady that I work with. It was as if she had literally eaten a lit cigarette. ☹ ☹ ☹ God bless you and her always!!! Holly ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/118 "2013-03-28T20:30:06Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > Ditto > > Grew up with both parents who smoked…dad a few times a week andmy mom smoked at least a pack a day…we also were in the car while she smoked and none of us kids suffered any effects from it, in fact, we are all pretty physically healthy…im not recommending driving with a smoke filled car, im just saying its not the evil horrific tragedy its made out to be by some…wouod i have preferred she didnt smoke in the car, yes, i wouodve preffered it but no, it wasnt the end of the world either > [@Tollhouse](#): > > Im sorry, butI agree, it would be. a nanny state, I know you feel strongly its child abuse,if I understand your post, I just do not agree at all and it should not be legislated. What about a whole host of behaviors that arent that healthy either, such as fast food, some parents have their kids live off it, parents who let their little kids watch R rated stuff or. worse not on purpose but they dont supervise, im tired so wont bother to think of a parade of u healthy undesirable behaviors Are you sure it didn’t affect you? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/119 "2013-03-28T20:31:49Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Back in my childhood (I’m 27), I remember lots of commercials and stuff showing different organs of smokers and non smokers-- I remember it in school, too. Nowadays, they have gross [commercials like this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zWB4dLYChM). I knew what that was even before clicking the link. I even posted it in the stupid PSA’s thread. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964/120 "2013-03-28T20:33:56Z")
Can someone _clearly_ define the term “nanny state” (with examples)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-smoke-in-the-car-with-children-in-them/653964.md?page=7)