# Steophan, throwing cigarette butts on the ground IS littering **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078 "2010-10-23T06:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/81 "2010-10-25T13:37:36Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > One day, I’m going to start a cigarette brand, with a big skull and crossbones and name it Cancer-Schmancer. I’ll make a billion dollars. It already [exists](http://www.cigarettespedia.com/images/6/61/Black_death_07.jpg), more or less. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/82 "2010-10-25T13:43:56Z")
One of the reasons I moved out of my townhouse was that I got tired of my stump-toothed slack-jawed neighbors using the complex as their personal outdoor ashtray. What kind of douchebag litters butts all over their own fucking neighborhood? I hope they all suffer an agonizing death from emphysema. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/83 "2010-10-25T15:22:46Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > \What kind of douchebag litters butts all over their own fucking neighborhood?\ In my experience, the smoking kind. Sorry, _most_ smokers, not _all_. Can’t tar all smokers with the same lung cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/84 "2010-10-25T15:30:56Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Yeah, I could quit smoking. God knows it’s the only thing that would make you happy. But since I enjoy smoking and care not at all about making you happy, I think I’ll continue to do what makes ME happy, thanks. See, it’s not the smoking _per se_ that’s the problem. It’s this totally self-absorbed, me-first, fuck-everybody-else, the-rules-don’t-apply-to-me way of thinking. Kudos to the smokers who do get it and are good citizens, as lamentably few of them as there are. **DianaG** , you’re not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/85 "2010-10-25T16:09:37Z")
> [@cedman](#): > > Even more infuriating when they pitch it out of their driver’s window and the sailing butt hits your mirror and the glowing coal flys in YOUR open window and drops down the neck of your shirt. > > I stopped when he stopped for gas a few minutes later and told him what happened; his reply? “Roll your g\*\* d\*\*\*ed window up!” He walked into the store (lighting up another cig) leaving the gas pump running. I pulled the hose out of his tank and put it into my tank. When my tank was full, I replaced the nozzle in his car and drove off. I did this because I REFRAINED from putting the hose in through his open window and filling up the floorboards with fuel. > > Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it! > > :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D Awesome. I would’ve dumped the gas station trash through his window for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/86 "2010-10-25T16:18:57Z")
Hey, **DianaG** , isn’t your daughter like 19? You were complaining about not having money to send her to college in various other threads. In [20 years of smoking](http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-Cost-Of-Smoking/886356) that’s $36.5k you could have had to send her to college. Two years of a state school! > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > So you think it is ok to steal? What gives you the right to break the law and do something immoral just because someone else did something bad, which really wasn’t even on purpose? I think it’s pretty shitty of you to steal his gas. Just kidding, that was awesome. +1 I was visiting family in Miami when I was 5 or so. We’re in a restaurant, and I had to tinkle. I walk towards the bathroom, grandmother’s hand in mine, and a hand holding fire flew back forcefully - onto my right arm. Ever smelled burning flesh before? He wasn’t apologetic so much as surprised. The management didn’t even throw him out. I still have the scar. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/87 "2010-10-25T18:54:43Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > That’s like saying it’s ok to toss a banana peel on the ground if there isn’t any garbage near. Sure it is. Under a bush or something. Those suckers break down fast. See also: apple cores, pear cores, peach pits, and orange peels. Cigarette filters, on the other hand, \*don’t \*break down in any reasonable time frame. > [@DianaG](#): > > There’s no such thing as a ‘workplace smoking area’. Sure there is. My last job had what I called the “leper colony,” which was a sort of half-bus-shelter thing with two walls and a roof, in the middle of one of the parking lots. (So termed because you got the definite feeling that the person who designed it desired you to ring a bell and shout “unclean, unclean!” as you walked to it.) Current building has those butt depositories set up at various places appropriately distanced from the entrances. > [@LurkMeister](#): > > I’ve known at least one smoker who carried a pocket ashtray I haven’t smoked for a couple of years and I still have the portable ashtray I bought when I lived in Japan. It’s a little pouch with a flame-resistant lining. When the top was folded over and snapped shut, you couldn’t smell anything. (Was pretty wiffy with the top open, though.) A friend of mine used to occasionally smoke out the window of his car on long trips, and he kept a plastic soda bottle under the passenger’s seat for the butts. Again, you could smell it as soon as the cap was off, but nothing when it was sealed. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > The rich irony of that statement is almost too much to bear. Smokers stink. Oh, what a shock: confirmation bias. Everyone who reeks of cigarette smoke is a smoker; therefore, all smokers reek of cigarette smoke. :rolleyes: People who only smoke outside don’t reek, nor do their homes and belongings reek. People who smoke indoors, or who are around people who smoke indoors, do. > [@mhendo](#): > > The thing about debates like this is that just about every single smoker who participates describes their own behavior as completely responsible. And yet, assuming they’re telling the truth, the evidence on the ground of the nation’s cities and highways and beaches and parks suggests that these responsible smokers constitute a pretty small minority of all smokers. The SDMB is an odd community that isn’t terribly representative of the world at large. > [@Kobal2](#): > > Don’t want to set bins on fire. It’s difficult to be sure to really have extinguished every last little ember of a cigarette without doing that. Are you fucking kidding me? If you can’t figure out when you’ve extinguished your cigarette, such that you’re leaving it on the ground _to be conscientious_, you shouldn’t be smoking, period, because you’re clearly \*so fucking retarded \*that you’re going to set your own head on fire very, \*very \*soon. If you throw your butts on the ground, just admit it’s because you’re fucking lazy. Don’t try to dress it up as a safety issue. > [@cedman](#): > > I pulled the hose out of his tank and put it into my tank. When my tank was full, I replaced the nozzle in his car and drove off. So illegal, yet so hilarious. > [@lindsaybluth](#): > > Hey, **DianaG** , isn’t your daughter like 19? You were complaining about not having money to send her to college in various other threads. In [20 years of smoking](http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-Cost-Of-Smoking/886356) that’s $36.5k you could have had to send her to college. Oh please. 1.) Not everybody smokes a pack per day. When I smoked regularly, it only hit that much on my absolute peak days, which would pop up a handful of times a year (usually one or two days around finals week). Usually, it was three to eight cigarettes a day, which meant that a pack could last for up to a week. 2.) The cost of cigarettes has changed drastically over time, and it varies widely by brand and location purchased. 3.) People who don’t smoke spend the money on other things. Or are you seriously going to try to convince me that every non-smoker here has put aside $5 a day since they were 18 into a special “money I would have spent on cigarettes” account? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/88 "2010-10-25T18:58:58Z")
No, but it’s a damn good idea. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/89 "2010-10-25T19:21:03Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > One of the reasons I moved out of my townhouse was that I got tired of my stump-toothed slack-jawed neighbors using the complex as their personal outdoor ashtray. What kind of douchebag litters butts all over their own fucking neighborhood? I hope they all suffer an agonizing death from emphysema. One of my best friends when I lived in Cleveland was a smoker, and until I got him a receptical for them, I caught him flicking his butts into my yard. :rolleyes: I don’t know why smoking and rudeness seem to go so hand in hand but they do. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/90 "2010-10-25T19:46:51Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Are you fucking kidding me? If you can’t figure out when you’ve extinguished your cigarette, such that you’re leaving it on the ground _to be conscientious_, you shouldn’t be smoking, period, because you’re clearly \*so fucking retarded \*that you’re going to set your own head on fire very, \*very \*soon. > > If you throw your butts on the ground, just admit it’s because you’re fucking lazy. Don’t try to dress it up as a safety issue. Reading comprehension. It’s good for you. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/91 "2010-10-25T19:48:14Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Hitler! He was a smoker… ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/92 "2010-10-25T20:02:21Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Reading comprehension. It’s good for you. Whoops! My apologies–I \*totally \*dropped the ball and conflated you someone else. :o I agree that it’s reasonable to dispose of the non-filter parts of the cigarette outside of a trash bin. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/93 "2010-10-25T20:32:13Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Whoops! My apologies–I \*totally \*dropped the ball and conflated you someone else. :o I agree that it’s reasonable to dispose of the non-filter parts of the cigarette outside of a trash bin. Whadda…what ? People apologize now ? Recognize their mistakes too ? On the INTERNET ? The fuck is wrong with you, sister ?! Seriously though, kudos, respect, and apology obviously accepted. We cool. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/94 "2010-10-25T20:34:42Z")
Smokers who smoke outside do smell - they smell like they were just outside smoking. They bring a cloud of it back with them, clinging to their clothes, hair, skin, and breath. Also, my friend set her head on fire once. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/95 "2010-10-25T20:36:17Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > …People who only smoke outside don’t reek, nor do their homes and belongings reek… Ok, so smokers stink. Well, I don’t say stink, because oddly, I don’t mind the smell. When I smoked as a kid I didn’t notice the smell, and now that I don’t smoke, I do notice it, but it doesn’t bother me. It is very distinctive, though, and when smokers come in from outdoors after a smoke, the smell is _loud_. It is probably best that smokers just go ahead and concede that one, because it is undeniable. And everyone has their things that annoy, and I’ll be the first to bet that my annoying quirks are probably more annoying than the smell of cigarettes. The whole cigarette butts on the ground thing, I have never noticed much. I sometimes notice where someone has dumped an entire car ashtray, which is fucking disgusting. But if someone is dumping just the \*tobacco end \*of their cigarette, and someone is \*still \*complaining, I am going to assume that that person just really likes to complain. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/96 "2010-10-25T20:40:14Z")
> [@](#): > > People who only smoke outside don’t reek, nor do their homes and belongings reek. People who smoke indoors, or who are around people who smoke indoors, do. Ohhhh, yes they do. My sister is an outdoor smoker and she reeks for a good 20 - 30 minutes after she comes back inside. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/97 "2010-10-25T20:50:06Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > The fuck is wrong with you, sister ?! I wasn’t here. This never happened. 😃 > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Ok, so smokers stink. The only smokers I’ve noticed to smell like smoke _all the time_, versus right after having a cigarette, are the ones who smoke indoors. That was my impression even when I was an obnoxiously anti-smoking child and teen; it was my impression while I was smoking; and it’s \*still \*my impression now that I don’t smoke anymore. And if > [@EmAnJ](#): > > Ohhhh, yes they do. My sister is an outdoor smoker and she reeks for a good 20 - 30 minutes after she comes back inside. Not remotely comparable. Somebody like \*\*Czarcasm \*\*is saying that smokers stink _all the time_. I’ll agree that if someone has \*just \*had a cigarette, it will probably be noticeable. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/98 "2010-10-25T20:55:50Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > …The only smokers I’ve noticed to smell like smoke _all the time_, versus right after having a cigarette, are the ones who smoke indoors. That was my impression even when I was an obnoxiously anti-smoking child and teen; it was my impression while I was smoking; and it’s \*still \*my impression now that I don’t smoke anymore… I realize you don’t smoke, but I will say to you the same thing I say to smokers when this topic comes up and they insist that no one can smell their…aroma. “Okay.” ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/99 "2010-10-25T20:56:00Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I wasn’t here. This never happened. 😃 You two are cute 🙂 > [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Somebody like \*\*Czarcasm \*\*is saying that smokers stink _all the time_. I’ll agree that if someone has \*just \*had a cigarette, it will probably be noticeable. No way. If you’re a former smoker, you may not have a great sense of smell. But if you’ve never smoked and have just a decent sense of smell, you can definitely tell if someone is a smoker, even if they haven’t had one in hours. A lingering odor is there, in their coats and in their clothes and especially their hair. My little brother, stupid shit that he is, occasionally smokes on weekends, and I _always_ know. Boyfriend’s best friend quit a few weeks back; I asked him why he’d fallen off the wagon when we hugged in greeting last week. He said he had been good since a few weeks back, why did I suspect anything? Ah, well, his coat hadn’t been laundered, so he still reeked of it. My mom, OTOH, a smoker of a dozen years (more than 25 years ago), can’t tell. Her car, purchased used a few years back, was a great deal because the guy who previously leased it smoked. She was happy as a clam, couldn’t tell at all. It took over 2 years for the stench to subside. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078/100 "2010-10-25T21:00:54Z")
Oh look, more confirmation bias. Everyone who smells like smoke has been smoking! So therefore all the people who smoke smell like smoke, and all the people who don’t smell like smoke don’t smoke! :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steophan-throwing-cigarette-butts-on-the-ground-is-littering/558078.md?page=6)