What the hell are you talking about guys? Nobody is offended or cares that you smoke or passes the moral judgement on you any more then they pass moral moral judgement on people eating candies and geting fat.
The problem most smokers are not aware of is that many people find the smoke nauseating even in extremely minute quantities. That smell can easily be felt at over 100 feet and it stays in a car or a house forever. Even if freshly painted over and not immediately detectable, the smell eventually permeats through the paint - requiring expensive stripping and repainting.
Even though concentration is likely to be too small to cause real second-hand smoke effects, the smell is enough to cause headeache, nausea and sleep problems.
People who smoke inhale such huge quantities of the pure tobacco smoke, that their smell receptors are numbed down and often cannot detect the amounts that make non-smokers sick. Or if they detect them, they do not even notice, being accustomed to the stuff and finding it pleasant.
People who bunch up in front of the buildings entrance smoking have no idea (or no care) that many people (myself included) have to hold their breath for 10-20 yards entering the building or passing by.
After such a brief passage my clothes and hair may take half an hour to air out the smell to the level where I cannot detect it.
When such a smoker enters an elevator, the disgusting smell is overpowering - your breath emits it for at least a few minutes after you put out your cigarette but the enclosed elevator is the worst.
Obviously I would never buy a car that was smoked in because I would feel it right away.
I would not buy a house that was subjected to more then occasional smoke unless I am sure that the smell is all gone. Freshly-painted walls or deodorants will only make me look harder. Not that only tobacco smells are important when buying the house - chemical, pet or cooking smells are just as irritating.
While I consider behaviour of many smokers offencive, I give them benefit of a doubt because they usually do not even understand how intrusive their action is. Same can be said about the people who abuse fragrances/aftershave.
Nevertheless when commented, some of them behave as is they are offended and prosecuted for the habit that has nothing to do with others - while it obviously does.
I am sure that many dumb anti-smokers could help the situation without antagonozing the others side if they took time to explain a problem in a civil way.
At that I pass absolutely no moral judgement on the smokers - there are plenty of pursuits that risk/damage health (like skiing) and any individual is free to excercise them if that does not interfere with others.
In fact, anti-tobacco legislation nonwithstanding, it is proved that smoking is very beneficial for society. It creates lots of jobs, really calms the nerves of people and make them easier to deal with (unless they are out of cigarettes
) and then kills them quickly and relatively cheaply around the time they stop being productive.
Look at Russia - with male average life expectancy under their retirement age (partially due to almost total smoking of nasty russian stuff) they save a lot of money.
miko
