# Smoking in your car **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795 "2013-04-26T22:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/1 "2013-04-26T22:04:11Z")
First, I am not a smoker. But I see people smoking in their cars all the time. Nothing wrong with that, if you want to smoke. I guess your own car is one of the last places you can smoke without violating a law, ruining someone else’s health, or pissing someone off. But even when it’s cold out, a lot of times I see them driving with their window open, purposefully blowing smoke out the window, or at least allowing it to escape on the draft. When I was a teenager in the 1970s I worked at a convenience store. We sold cigarettes, and when the price of smokes went up to something like 30¢ a pack you’d have thought the world was coming to an end. So I’m thinking, now cigarettes cost a few bucks a pack, and if I were smoking something that costs a few cents per puff I’d want to get my money’s worth. I’d be keeping those windows closed and breathing deep. Maybe even have the car hermetically sealed so none of that pricey smoke can get out before I’ve breathed it maybe two or three times. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/2 "2013-04-26T22:12:40Z")
I don’t think smoking is one of the most rational activities out there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/3 "2013-04-26T22:14:03Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > First, I am not a smoker. But I see people smoking in their cars all the time. Nothing wrong with that, if you want to smoke. I guess your own car is one of the last places you can smoke without violating a law, ruining someone else’s health, or pissing someone off. > > But even when it’s cold out, a lot of times I see them driving with their window open, purposefully blowing smoke out the window, or at least allowing it to escape on the draft. > > When I was a teenager in the 1970s I worked at a convenience store. We sold cigarettes, and when the price of smokes went up to something like 30¢ a pack you’d have thought the world was coming to an end. So I’m thinking, now cigarettes cost a few bucks a pack, and if I were smoking something that costs a few cents per puff I’d want to get my money’s worth. I’d be keeping those windows closed and breathing deep. Maybe even have the car hermetically sealed so none of that pricey smoke can get out before I’ve breathed it maybe two or three times. That’s not how it works. You want to inhale the fresh smoke. Second hand smoke often bothers smokers too. I do know people that smoke other things in the manner you suggest. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/4 "2013-04-26T22:28:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > That’s not how it works. You want to inhale the fresh smoke. Second hand smoke often bothers smokers too. I do know people that smoke other things in the manner you suggest. That’s pretty much it. Just about every smoker will tell you that second hand smoke bothers them just as much as it bothers non-smokers. Smoke that you inhale is very different then smoke that’s been sitting around in a bar getting stale. Also, you know those people that you walk behind in the store that absolutely reek like cigarettes. Not the ones that sort of smell, but the ones that smell like they have their pockets filled with old cigarette butts…that’s what happens when you smoke in your car with your windows closed. I don’t smoke in my car because I don’t want my car to smell, but back when I did smoke in my car, that was, by far, my favorite place to smoke because all the old smoke (and ash) got sucked right out the window and I didn’t have to smell it. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/5 "2013-04-27T01:25:50Z")
Smokers also enjoy fresh air. (I know! Who’da thunk it? :D) When I smoked, I always had my car window open a few inches, even in the depths of a Minnesota winter. It didn’t have anything to do with smoking; I do the same thing now that I’m 5 years post-tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/6 "2013-04-27T01:29:25Z")
I smoke in my car but don’t let passengers do it because it’s just part of the fuck-you attitude I like to adopt when driving. I keep the window down in the hope that my second-hand smoke will outrage someone, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/7 "2013-04-27T03:05:19Z")
I’m a serial quitter. I’m a non-smoker now, btw. When I smoked, I never smoked tobacco in my car or home. I knew that I would quit again and then the smell would bother me. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/8 "2013-04-27T03:51:10Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I don’t smoke in my car because I don’t want my car to smell, but back when I did smoke in my car, that was, by far, my favorite place to smoke because all the old smoke (and ash) got sucked right out the window and I didn’t have to smell it. …and right into my car’s windows and vents when I was behind you, if I didn’t notice quickly enough and shut off MY fresh air to prevent it. > [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > I smoke in my car but don’t let passengers do it because it’s just part of the fuck-you attitude I like to adopt when driving. I keep the window down in the hope that my second-hand smoke will outrage someone, somewhere. See? I _knew_ it. And this is why I race in front of you and cut you off. When I was a smoker, I smoked in my car, and I kept the windows open if it was warm and not too windy and closed if it was cold or I was on the highway. But I used the damn ashtray for the ash and the butts, because I didn’t feel the world was my ashtray. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/9 "2013-04-27T04:18:35Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > …and right into my car’s windows and vents when I was behind you, if I didn’t notice quickly enough and shut off MY fresh air to prevent it. > > See? I _knew_ it. And this is why I race in front of you and cut you off. > > When I was a smoker, I smoked in my car, and I kept the windows open if it was warm and not too windy and closed if it was cold or I was on the highway. But I used the damn ashtray for the ash and the butts, because I didn’t feel the world was my ashtray. I like it better when it causes someone to completely shut off their air: not just the fresh stuff. Caring about ash is like caring about dust. And I’ve never ever used the car ashtray. It’s for receipts, goddammit! \*I do, however, use an empty breath mint tin because there is a sense of irony about it, and non-smokers are trapped into thinking that I don’t smoke in my car. HA! \* ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/10 "2013-04-27T04:55:56Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > …and right into my car’s windows and vents when I was behind you, if I didn’t notice quickly enough and shut off MY fresh air to prevent it. > > See? I _knew_ it. And this is why I race in front of you and cut you off. > > When I was a smoker, I smoked in my car, and I kept the windows open if it was warm and not too windy and closed if it was cold or I was on the highway. But I used the damn ashtray for the ash and the butts, because I didn’t feel the world was my ashtray. You can’t really think that your reaction to his smoking has any measurable affect on anything can you? I’m sure that a passing bus would damage your lungs more than a whiff of cigarette smoke would. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/11 "2013-04-27T08:17:49Z")
C’mon **dnooman**! The measurable effect is **InternetLegend** ’s shithouse driving! Toxic, carcinogenic pollutants spewing from every fuel-driven mode of transport never count when there’s a _smoker_ around :eek:. Why, just ask any non-smoker sitting upwind at a cafe or restaurant’s outside tables. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/12 "2013-04-27T20:39:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > When I was a teenager in the 1970s I worked at a convenience store. We sold cigarettes, and when the price of smokes went up to something like 30¢ a pack you’d have thought the world was coming to an end. So I’m thinking, now cigarettes cost a few bucks a pack, and if I were smoking something that costs a few cents per puff I’d want to get my money’s worth. I’d be keeping those windows closed and breathing deep. Maybe even have the car hermetically sealed so none of that pricey smoke can get out before I’ve breathed it maybe two or three times. When I was a teenager in the 80s I worked at a convenience store. The week I started cigarettes went up to $1 and at least half the customers declared that meant it was time to quit. My ex-ish husband is a heavy smoker. He cracks the window when he drives. Believe me, plenty of the smoke stays in the car. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/13 "2013-04-27T20:53:03Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > C’mon **dnooman**! The measurable effect is **InternetLegend** ’s shithouse driving! > > Toxic, carcinogenic pollutants spewing from every fuel-driven mode of transport never count when there’s a _smoker_ around :eek:. Why, just ask any non-smoker sitting upwind at a cafe or restaurant’s outside tables. That’s right! I mainly need an excuse to be an asshole on the road! I don’t imagine anyone’s smoke is damaging my lungs at that distance or in those amounts. I just get really cranky about having my general airspace stunk up (by something other than my own attitude, that is). ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/14 "2013-04-27T21:32:03Z")
Smoke leaves a film on the inside of windows. Cleaning the inside of my Mother’s car windows was one of the chores she made me do when I was kid. Every weekend. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/15 "2013-04-27T23:09:45Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Smokers also enjoy fresh air. (I know! Who’da thunk it? :D) When I smoked, I always had my car window open a few inches, even in the depths of a Minnesota winter. It didn’t have anything to do with smoking; I do the same thing now that I’m 5 years post-tobacco. I always drive with my window open, even back when I lived where it snowed. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > But I used the damn ashtray for the ash and the butts, because I didn’t feel the world was my ashtray. I don’t care if you smoke in your car, I don’t care if you smoke in your house, I don’t care if you smoke while walking around. I do get really ticked off at people who toss their butts around. I scare Hell’s Angels into picking their butts so they don’t have to hear me lecturing about how birds and small animals eat the butts and can’t poop them out and die horrible deaths. One of my proudest moments was when I went outside to smoke at a biker event and someone saw me and shouted in a panicked tone that “Quick, Flatlined is here, if you don’t police the area she will talk about bird poop!!!” Everyone scrambled to clean up the mess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/16 "2013-04-28T02:10:11Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > …and right into my car’s windows and vents when I was behind you, if I didn’t notice quickly enough and shut off MY fresh air to prevent it. If it bugs you that much, stay home or don’t follow so close so the smoke has a chance to dilute a little bit. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > When I was a smoker, I smoked in my car Hypocrite much? > [@notfrommensa](#): > > Smoke leaves a film on the inside of windows. Cleaning the inside of my Mother’s car windows was one of the chores she made me do when I was kid. Every weekend. I’m sure it does, but so does offgassing from all the glues and vinyls that the car is made up from. I haven’t smoked in my current car or my last car and I have to clean the windshield just as much as I had to with all my other car due to that same film. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/17 "2013-04-28T03:33:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Hypocrite much? Yeah. Also, before I had kids, I didn’t like children. And before I became an atheist, I believed in God. I’m all kinds of a hypocrite! ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/18 "2013-04-28T10:27:06Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > I don’t imagine anyone’s smoke is damaging my lungs at that distance or in those amounts. I just get really cranky about having my general airspace stunk up (by something other than my own attitude, that is). Thanks for the clarification, Bubble Boy. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/19 "2013-04-28T14:32:24Z")
…Jesus is okay with it but we can’t tell dad. Shhhh… ---
**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:** [April 28, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795/20 "2013-04-28T15:20:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That’s pretty much it. Just about every smoker will tell you that second hand smoke bothers them just as much as it bothers non-smokers. \ Wait a second - why the arguments from smokers about second-hand smoke, then? I’m starting to think smokers in general just might be rampant assholes. :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-your-car/656795.md?page=2)