# Smokers have rights- to suck on a lemon full of spit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200 "2000-11-21T23:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/21 "2000-11-22T18:13:28Z")
My Mom is basically screwed—she’s lived in the same apartment complex for 25 years and it would be too much for her to move at this point, at her age. Even if she COULD find a non-smoking complex near where she lives, which is highly unlikely. I don’t know how much good an air filter would do, with smoke pouring upward through the floor and (non-closing) air vents. As it is now, she just moves from room to room to find the least-smokey one, and either turns on the a/c or opens the window to see how much that helps. Unlike the neighbors of Commander’s friends, she wouldn’t be nertz enough to ask the guy not to smoke in his own apartment . . . I have other apartment-living friends who have this same problem, it can’t be all that unusual. Would a non-smoking building run into legal trouble, like non-children buildings? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/22 "2000-11-22T19:43:44Z")
My friends have the same problem. Their down stairs neighbors smoke on their balcony almost constantly. They can’t ever open their windows for more than ten minutes without someone lighting up and filling their apartmart with smoke, making the apartment mate with asthma cough and go running to close the windows. If they accidently leave a window open while they are gone, they come home to a smoke filled room. You can probably have smoke-free apartments. We have them at our university. I can’t imagine you could get in trouble for it because you are talking about a behavoir, not a class of people. A smoker could still live in the smoke free apartments; he or she just couldn’t smoke there. And yeah, I guess my OP was a little inflammitory. But I am not trying say that people shouldn’t be allowed to smoke in certain area. I am a little perplexed as to why it is socially acceptable behavoir, but I am by no means proposeing any laws or restrictions on smoking outside. I am just saying it bugs the hell out of me and there is nothing I can (or should) do. But I really do wish that I could ask people to not smoke on my doorstep (I really did ask nicely) and not get yelled at and made faces at. I mean, it’s not like I go around LOOKING for smokers to bug. I only ask people to go somewhere else if I have to deal with there being smoke in my home. Heck, if they can find some way to smoke on my doorstep that doesn’t fill up my apartment with smoke I am all for it. It’s not smoking that bugs me (at least not when it doesnt involve the people I love). I kind of find cigarettes disgusting, but not smokers on the whole. No one is a jerk for smoking. I don’t preach to smokers about how bad I think smoking is…I just wish they would go somewhere else. It is people that smoke in a way which forces everyone else to, too, and then rail about their rights that bug me. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/23 "2000-11-22T20:03:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by even sven \* > \*\*I don’t preach to smokers about how bad I think smoking is…I just wish they would go somewhere else. It is people that smoke in a way which forces everyone else to, too, and then rail about their rights that bug me. > \*\* Judging by the OP which mentioned Redwoods, I’m going to assume you live in California. Where smoking is illegal in ANY public building. Offices: I can understand. Restaurants: OK, now we’re stretching things. Bars: that’s just plain wrong. Smokers are the jews of society. We’ve been kicked out of every possible location, and now you want us to have our own little nicocentric concentration camps. WTF? Listen. It’s simple: if you’re walking behind a smoker, SLOW DOWN–he’ll pull farther ahead. If you have to go through a small cloud of smoke to get indoors, DEAL WITH IT–you wouldn’t complain about having to walk past a smelly dumpster would you? Yes, smokers have rights. Try to take them away and you’ll have a lot of people beating down your door and lighting bales of tobacco in your fucking living room. Chill out…we’re dying anyway. Isn’t that enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![Lucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/24 "2000-11-22T20:45:14Z")
Maybe I’m way off base here, so I’ll trust that someone will correct me if that’s the case, but… It’s my opinion that American non-smokers completely over-react to smoking. For example, in even’s last post, s/he said that some friends have downstairs neighbors who smoke, and that them smoking outside on their balcony leads to an asthmatic in the apartment above having an attack. Even also says that if they leave the apartment with the window open, they return to find it “full of smoke”. What are the neighbors doing? Climbing up to the other balcony and chain smoking directly into the apartment? I hear these complaints time and time again and I have to wonder, what happens when these people who are so dramatically effected by a cigarette that is 30 feet away walk down the street and are forced to breathe in exhaust fumes from passing cars? Can these people mow their own lawns, or do they have to buy electric mowers? What happens if they are at a birthday party and smokes whafts up from the freshly blown out candles? Do they have to stay away from Fouth of July celebrations? Factories? Barbeques? If this is a true affliction and is as common as I have been lead to believe, why aren’t Europeans so effected? I have yet to see a European claiming that they cannot possibly dine in a restraunt becasue someone on the other side of the room is smoking, yet in America a huge amount of non-smokers seem to fall into major, uncontrollable coughing spasms if anyone in a three block radius lights up. Ok, now the disclaimers: I do believe that there are some people who have extreme cases of asthma or other respiratory disease for whom being in the presence of smoke would be a major problem (I don’t understand why this seems only to apply to cigarette smoke, but no matter). Furthermore, I am not an inconsiderate smoker. I do not smoke if anyone I am with is bothered by it, even in my own home. OK, I’m ready. Tell me what an ignorant, selfish asshole I am. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/25 "2000-11-22T20:57:42Z")
I’m not critisizing any smokers, I’m criticizing their right to smoke. Around me, especially. I live in Montreal where EVERYONE smokes. It’s SO fucking annoying. I can’t spend time with my friends in a bar anymore. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by blessedwolf > > If you have to go through a small cloud of smoke to get indoors, DEAL WITH IT–you wouldn’t complain about having to walk past a smelly dumpster would you? The smelly dumpster isn’t giving me fucking asthma! I am allergic to cigarette smoke (I can’t even smell the slightest hint of it without going into violent coughing spasms) and my doctor told me a few weeks ago that I now have to take a puffer every night because of the exposure to smoke. Yeah, you have to right to kill yourselves. Do you have the right to kill me??? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/26 "2000-11-22T21:03:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucky \* > \*\* > OK, I’m ready. Tell me what an ignorant, selfish asshole I am. \*\* Look out! Lucky Strikes! :: running away in a coughing fit :: ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/27 "2000-11-22T21:04:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LaurAnge \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by blessedwolf > > > > If you have to go through a small cloud of smoke to get indoors, DEAL WITH IT–you wouldn’t complain about having to walk past a smelly dumpster would you? > > The smelly dumpster isn’t giving me fucking asthma! I am allergic to cigarette smoke (I can’t even smell the slightest hint of it without going into violent coughing spasms) and my doctor told me a few weeks ago that I now have to take a puffer every night because of the exposure to smoke. > > \*\* Okay. You have a valid medical point. Smoking around you is a big no-no because of immediate health concerns. I can understand and respect that. But if that weren’t the case, if you just didn’t like cigarette smoke, I’d tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/28 "2000-11-22T21:16:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > > Okay. You have a valid medical point. Smoking around you is a big no-no because of immediate health concerns. I can understand and respect that. > > But if that weren’t the case, if you just didn’t like cigarette smoke, I’d tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. And you’d know the difference between the two how, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/29 "2000-11-22T21:20:20Z")
from **lucky** > [@](#): > > I have yet to see a European claiming that they cannot possibly dine in a restraunt becasue someone on the other side of the room is smoking, yet in America a huge amount of non-smokers seem to fall into major, uncontrollable coughing spasms if anyone in a three block radius lights up. just another factor in the equation: [annoying, uniquely american trait #1]+[annoying, uniquely american trait #2]+[annoying, uniquely american trait #3]=last remaining world superpower. i know its cliche. couldn’t help it, though. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/30 "2000-11-22T21:21:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > > > > Okay. You have a valid medical point. Smoking around you is a big no-no because of immediate health concerns. I can understand and respect that. > > > > But if that weren’t the case, if you just didn’t like cigarette smoke, I’d tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. > > And you’d know the difference between the two how, exactly? \*\* If someone told me, “please don’t smoke around me, I’m allergic,” or even a ruder facsimile thereof, I’d make it a point not to smoke around them. I’d even wash my hands and grab a breath mint after a cigarette so they wouldn’t smell it on me. But if they said “Smoking is disgusting. \!” I’d make a point of blowing it right in their face. Both scenarios have happened. I can be as polite as the next person. But if the next person is rude or obnoxious, I can deal with them on that level, too. ---
**Author:** ![Kvallulf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kvallulf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kvallulf)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/31 "2000-11-22T23:26:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucky \* > \*\*Maybe I’m way off base here, so I’ll trust that someone will correct me if that’s the case, but… > > It’s my opinion that American non-smokers completely over-react to smoking. For example, in even’s last post, s/he said that some friends have downstairs neighbors who smoke, and that them smoking outside on their balcony leads to an asthmatic in the apartment above having an attack. Even also says that if they leave the apartment with the window open, they return to find it “full of smoke”. What are the neighbors doing? Climbing up to the other balcony and chain smoking directly into the apartment? > > I hear these complaints time and time again and I have to wonder, what happens when these people who are so dramatically effected by a cigarette that is 30 feet away walk down the street and are forced to breathe in exhaust fumes from passing cars? Can these people mow their own lawns, or do they have to buy electric mowers? What happens if they are at a birthday party and smokes whafts up from the freshly blown out candles? Do they have to stay away from Fouth of July celebrations? Factories? Barbeques? > > If this is a true affliction and is as common as I have been lead to believe, why aren’t Europeans so effected? I have yet to see a European claiming that they cannot possibly dine in a restraunt becasue someone on the other side of the room is smoking, yet in America a huge amount of non-smokers seem to fall into major, uncontrollable coughing spasms if anyone in a three block radius lights up. > > Ok, now the disclaimers: I do believe that there are some people who have extreme cases of asthma or other respiratory disease for whom being in the presence of smoke would be a major problem (I don’t understand why this seems only to apply to cigarette smoke, but no matter). Furthermore, I am not an inconsiderate smoker. I do not smoke if anyone I am with is bothered by it, even in my own home. > > OK, I’m ready. Tell me what an ignorant, selfish asshole I am. \*\* You are Correct Sir! ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/32 "2000-11-23T00:14:14Z")
Lucky: I just got back from a trip to Scotland and one of the first things I noticed upon landing in the UK was the smell of smoke. I realized soon after that I couldn’t remember the last time I had to just endure stench of smoking in a public, indoor place. Americans, especially in places like California, have gotten used to the luxury of smoke-free restaurants, waiting rooms, offices, etc. They are more sensitive to smoke because they usually don’t have to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/33 "2000-11-23T02:41:54Z")
I think it’s pretty much a given that smoking is pretty nasty. But so is picking your nose, burping, and farting. Anyone who tries to take away my right to fart in public had better be wearing a cup over their groin. Anyhoo… Smoking in public: Is it rude? Yeah. Should it be banned? No. If you don’t like people smoking around you, what can you do? Ask them to stop, or to move… or you can try to get cigarrettes banned (good luck). Or you can whine. I’m well aware of the therapeutic nature of venting off steam. But keep in mind that smokers have no obligation to sit on their thumbs while hearing their practice bashed. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/34 "2000-11-23T05:25:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Missy2U \* > \*\* > > Eve - I’m sorry to hear about what your mom is going through. Would a good air filter help at all? \*\* I have a neighbor who smokes, her husband doesn’t. He bought her a special air filter (it may have been an ionozer) She now is able to smoke in her downstairs with the door shut. He claims it no longer bothers him because he can’t smell the smoke. I don’t know because I am a smoker. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/35 "2000-11-23T15:42:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cher3 \* > \*\*I just got back from a trip to Scotland and one of the first things I noticed upon landing in the UK was the smell of smoke. \*\* Cher3, where the fuck where you? There’s not a single airport in scotland that allows smoking anywhere other than in designated smoking areas. I’m a non-smoker, I don’t give a shit about smokers rights but I do get severely bored of some of the whining that non-smokers engage in. Surely to god if people are that sensitive to smoke they wouldn’t be able to live in a city anyway, or is there some major difference in irritation between cigarette fumes and car fumes. Just another form of puritanism. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/36 "2000-11-24T01:49:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by even sven \* > **I live about ten feet away from a busy classroom. After class and during breaks, people ignore the “no smoking with twenty five feet of a residence” rule, and smoke their death rods practically on my front door step.** There is an interesting thing you can do with Super-Soaker pressurized water guns. If you unscrew the orange cap on the front, you can make it so that the entire tank will discharge in about 0.8 seconds. It is roughly akin to having a quart of water forcefully thrown in your face. This technique is effective only from about 8-10 feet and closer, however, so make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/37 "2000-11-24T01:56:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by blessedwolf > > Okay. You have a valid medical point. Smoking around you is a big no-no because of immediate health concerns. I can understand and respect that. > > But if that weren’t the case, if you just didn’t like cigarette smoke, I’d tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. Hate to tell you, but EVERYONE has a valid medical point. So I’m more sensitive to cigarette smoke, doesn’tmean it’s not still doing damage to the lungs of those who don’t go immediately into coughing spasms. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not rude to people who smoke, even when they’re sitting right next to me as a cough up a lung. I don’t even politely ask people to stop smoking cause at the moment it is their right. I just fucking hate the fact that you smokers have the right to poison the lungs of people who have decided it’s better for their health not to. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Gary Kumquat > > Surely to god if people are that sensitive to smoke they wouldn’t be able to live in a city anyway, or is there some major difference in irritation between cigarette fumes and car fumes. Just another form of puritanism. Another form of puritanism? Fuck you! There are chemicals in cigarettes that are not found in car exaust that are damaging to the lungs. An apology to being so snappish about this issue (yeah, an apology in the Pit, ain’t I way too polite?) but this is an issue I really need to vent about since I just found out about my newfound medical condition. Before I always just thought I was hyper-sensative to smoke. Now I need an inhaler. So a “fuck you” to all you smokers for making me sick. I feel a little better now =\> ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/38 "2000-11-24T02:20:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > > > > > > Okay. You have a valid medical point. Smoking around you is a big no-no because of immediate health concerns. I can understand and respect that. > > > > > > But if that weren’t the case, if you just didn’t like cigarette smoke, I’d tell you to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut. > > > > And you’d know the difference between the two how, exactly? \*\* > > If someone told me, “please don’t smoke around me, I’m allergic,” or even a ruder facsimile thereof, I’d make it a point not to smoke around them. I’d even wash my hands and grab a breath mint after a cigarette so they wouldn’t smell it on me. But if they said “Smoking is disgusting. \!” I’d make a point of blowing it right in their face. > > Both scenarios have happened. > > I can be as polite as the next person. But if the next person is rude or obnoxious, I can deal with them on that level, too. \*\* Wait a minute…if I just don’t care for your cigarette smoke around me…and I say so in a polite way (that does NOT include immediate health threats, like allergies, to me), do you still tell me to “take a flying fuck at a rolling donut”? Your earlier criterion was whether I had an immediate health problem or just an aversion to cigarette smoke, you said if “I just didn’t like cigarette smoke, you’d tell me to take a flying fuck”… NOW you say it’s whether I ask politely… When you make up your mind, let us know. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/39 "2000-11-24T05:12:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LaurAnge \* > \*\*I’m not rude to people who smoke… > > …So a “fuck you” to all you smokers for making me sick.\*\* Um… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2000, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200/40 "2000-11-24T08:45:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LaurAnge \* > Another form of puritanism? Fuck you! There are chemicals in cigarettes that are not found in car exaust that are damaging to the lungs. \*\* Ah stop being such a wuss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokers-have-rights-to-suck-on-a-lemon-full-of-spit/42200.md?page=3)