Smoking

[Washburne]

I don´t smoke so for personal reason it´s not like I have anything against the law. I´m not how ever to found of the smell so it´s working for my benefit. I´m mostly happy about it in restuarants and such. Not getting smoke on you all the time is a great feeling. Clubs and pubs? I can see both sides and I really don´t know which side I´m on. I can live with any decision. As for banning people to smoke in their cars that seems way stupid but I guess I have to read/hear the arguments before taking a final stand.

 

[T.I.P]

Dosnt bother me at all, i love going out in the rain for a smoke. Where i stay in alot of places theres smoking areas anyway, you dont even have to go outside most of the time.

 

[Kean]

It was brought into Ireland a few years back. The pub trade is huge there, everyone thought it would bring the country to it's knees and guess what? It didn't. In fact most people, smokers included, would find it strange and off putting to have people smoking indoors.

Like atticus said, beer gardens became a huge thing and you'll find most people like them better now, rain and all. Also it added a new aspect to your night out; meeting people in the smoking area. There were loads of stories of how people met and ended up getting married or you met friends you hadn't seen in years.

I think it can only be a good thing, sitting in a pub with my eyes burning from smoke is not how I would describe a good time.

 

[white avenger]

We had smoking/non-smoking segregation in bars, restaurants, and hotels in Georgia for years before everything went completely smoke free (well, except for the hotels), and I haven't seen any significant changes with the new rulings. Of course, being a non-smoker, it only affected me in the second hand smoke area anyhow.

 

[DrusillaRox]

Well im in NZ. and I really like the smoking ban, Cigarette smoke makes me feel sick. And im really loving the not dying part of it.

 

[ItMustBeBunnies]

As a smoker it is a tad annoying, especially in the winter months, huddling around outside all segrgated and stuff, but I mostly dont mind. I definately think its a good idea in restraunts, I dont like smoke around my food either. I remember when you could smoke inside back in the day (oooohhh that made me sound old didnt it? lol) It was kinda stupid, this is when I first started going to pubs, I remember one local we always use to go to that had smoking sections on either end and the non smoking in the middle, what the hell is the point in that?. I understand and am totaly cool with the fact that it bothers people, I am always consious not to blow smoke in the face of my friends who dont, with randoms I dont like to do it either but I am more aware when kids or someone with a baby/pregnant lady walks past me, then I really get out of the way. It does kinda suck for the non smokers in my group coz alot of the time they are the minority and if they wanna continue a conversation or they dont wanna be left alone they come out in the cold with us and stand around while we smoke. I think thats pretty rediculous that they are trying to ban it in your car, I have never heard of that before, I hope they dont do it here, its your own decision, granted a stupid decision but still your own one and you should be free to do it in your own space.

 

[November]

I pretty much agree with bunnies on this one too. I never liked smoking in restaurants, Alfresco areas I can understand a bit better but smoke around food doesnt seem to mix so well. Pubs and clubs its different, when the ban came in I heard of alot of pubs loosing business in country towns. People liked to sit around and smoke and drink so they started going to peoples houses instead with BYO and a great atmosphere so it worked out cheaper that way too. I dont have any hard facts to prove that but it was what I noticed when I was in the country and many people said that is was happening everywhere down south especially during winter. I think there are a few pubs now in rural areas that scrapped the ban and hope they dont get caught (seeing as many of them serve underagers too it is probably the least of their problems.)
Beer Gardens have always been popular here as we have brilliant weather, I would HATE it if they banned smoking in them too. Not that there are too many that I have been out to recently anyway. The best stories always come from going out for a smoke (that and the toilet line....) it gives a change to socialise with new people and a break from the noise and chaos inside. I hate that everything smells like spew now, it is gross. Most places that have an outdoor area for smokers are usually packed now with both non smokers and smokers. Many a time I have been to a club where it is MORE busy on the balcony or garden then it is inside! What does that tell ya?
For me as a smoker it has put me off some bars now. I tend to stick to the ones that have large outdoor spaces instead of small areas behind the bins. It certainly hasnt discouraged me from smoking, it has just discouraged me from going to the places that dont cater for smokers. I duno what will happen if they ban it all together everywhere.
Quick story, my sister is also a smoker. She got busted for smoking a cigarette inside a pub while her partner who was smoking a joint was allowed to stay. Bit stupid ay, but the guy that booted her out said the ban only specified CIGARETTE smoking..... I always thought pot was illegal too hmmmm.

 

[Kemy]

I'm delighted at the ban and want it to go further. Its a disgusting and lethal habit that they feel they have to force on other people by lighting up and endangering the health of and annoying the Hell out of everyone around them.

 

[Fake Shemp]

up to the individual... personally ive never smoked (not cigarettes anywhos) and i never noticed how gross and horrid the smell is until my mum quit and now when my grandad had a cig it STINKS and makes me feel sick... and this is like, he's outside and im inside and i can smell it.

annoying smoking ban thing is, smokers go outside to smoke and you end up going with them for the crack (not that kind or that kind you know the conversation)

but other than that im happy about it.

 

[Schillaci]

There's a bit of a difference between passing a car's exhaust fumes in the street, and sitting in a restraunt/bar/club for hours with people smoking. That example makes no sense. I'd rather sit next to a stupid person than have someone blowing smoke all around me all night.

Prior to the smoking ban, most, actually all of the restaurants I ate in had smoking, and nonsmoking sections. I don't know if a restaurant to you denotes Burger king, but in general restaurants are pretty big. With the use of fans and ventillation it is easy to keep the two areas seperated, fumes wise. Most pubs also have two sections, they have a lounge section, and a bar section.

This whole argument is ludicrous. It is easy for establishments to create two spaces, have them seperated by walls, include proper ventilation, to have a smoking section and a non smoking section.

And, by the way, I am not a regular smoker. The majority of the time I smoke when I drink. To me, they both go hand in hand.

Since the smoking ban was introduced I go out to pubs a lot less, possibly smoke more cigars a week than cigarettes, and personally, I feel that my rights are being infringed upon, increasingly, by these idiots that couldn't run a brothel with a thousand women at their disposal. And when I hear these disgusting arguments, by non-smokers, that their rights were being infringed upon, it boils my blood. Half the time these are the same people that preach equality, and gay rights, feminists, and all that jazz.

Really its just I want what I want, I want more, and screw the rest. We'll find a reason, no matter how flimsy, to cover our asses. More for us! Equality for all eh, just as long as I'm more equal than you.

 

[itsxpaperdoll]

I don't really care. As a smoker, it can be annoying to have to go outside to smoke, but it makes a lot of non-smokers happier and like some others already mentioned, it's is indeed a great way to meet new people, or catch up with people you haven't seen in a long time cos it's usually a lot easier to talk outside.
Even in a not going out situation: during my introduction at uni, I met so many new people, just because we were all sharing the same plight of having to stand outside in the rain.

What gets on my nerves, tho, is when I hear people talking about restricting us even more. I recently read something about how some group of anti-smokers wanted to forbid smoking on terraces, or in some 5 metres around the entrance of pubs and restaurants. That is really such bullshit. Inside their own builing they can make rules, but outside is supposed to be for everyone, right? I think it staring to turn into some strange witchhunt.
Also I think the government should allow smokers pubs, or something like that. If everyone knows it's for smokers, people who don't want to go there can go somewhere else and people who smoke or don't care can have a nice time without having to go outside all the time.

You know, funny thing is, in France and Italy (you know, hot tempered mediterranean countries) people where going all mad about the smoking ban but when it was introduced they were just obeying while in Holland there are smoking cafés and police and fines and everything everywhere. It just made me laugh when I read it 😉

 

[hannahfngrl26]

I was a smoker for years. I have since quit but I do smoke the occasional cigar and I have two thoughts on this subject. First, I get all the health reasons for not allowing smoking inside public places and I say fine, however, we all know that for years if you were going to go to a bar you would be around smoke. That was it. You either went or you didnt and the bottom line is if you wanted to go out you decided the smoke wasnt enough to stop you. It is annoying to me that in some places you have to be like fifty feet from a door when smoking or your breaking a law. C'mon, that is a little overkill. People are going to do what they want regardless. Second, I think a better move to make would be to just make smoking illegal period. It seems like eventually there wont be anywhere you can smoke so what is the friggin point....

 

[Veyron]

Edit: I think smoking should just be against the law in total. I don't say my grandmother died of it, but it was sure not a help with all her drinking & smoking.

That's never ever going to happen - a world wide ban on smoking, ha ha!

There would be such an outrage from anyone involved in the tobacco business for starters - think of the number of people would lose their jobs. Then there's us smokers - a complete ban is infringing on our rights and civil liberties.

Whilst I'm sad at the amount of people who die through smoking related problems and probably will myself, it's each persons right to choose whether or not to smoke and if they decide to smoke where they should smoke - all this banning it in public places is rubbish.

Pubs and restaurants used to have smokers sections and I never ever heard anyone complaining. Decent ventilation systems are what's required to take away the smoke, nothing more, nothing less.

But ask any pub landlord what his/her business has been like since the smoking ban came into effect in England and they'll tell you that it's gone down - a lot. Some have opened there businesses' up for meals and live music - some proving really popular and attracting big crowds, but overall the amount of money they take from people actually drinking has decreased rather than increased since the ban came into effect - people are staying at home to drink and smoke.

Also many pubs are dead now in my area and they can stink because their no smoke masking body odour.

In my local area there have been thirteen pubs that I know of that have gone out of business since the ban came into effect.

 

[Buffanator]

Ack. Smoking is the most disgusting habit of which a person can imbibe. Not to mention how bad it is for the smoker's health, but also dangerous for the NONsmoker's health as well. Wanna blacken your own lungs? Be my guest. But keep MY HEALTHY LUNGS out of it!

And oh my god does it STINK! The smell gets in your hair, your clothes, your car, your home. And YOUR BREATH! - do you smokers have ANY IDEA how much your BREATH just STINKS?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh, & as if the stench weren't bad enough, there's also the grossness of ashes & butts everywhere. Yup, truly disgusting. And for the jerkoffs that flick their butts out the window when they're driving, and the idiots who leave their butts all over the beach & dump them in the parking lots of the grocery stores???? :asshole2:

GAG! - not to mention how STUPID it looks seeing people draggggggg on a ciggy. To those who think it's "sexy"? Uh, yeah, you have no CLUE what "sexy" really is. :tongue05: Hope you enjoy those wrinkled up smoker's lips when you're 40! Smoking also dulls the complexion, so expect your skin to look haggard way before its time! ::dead::

So yeah, any smoking ban gets my vote & good ol'fashion WOO HOO! It's becoming fairly prevalent in the U.S. I don't frequent any restaurant that allows smoking, and I don't go to bars. I don't allow smoking in my home, my car, or my general presence (that's right, even outside... you smokers can go stand "way over there").

Hope you enjoy that lung cancer, throat cancer, and losing your teeth & bone density.... :nopity:

Sorry to all you smokers out there. :nana:

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

That's never ever going to happen - a world wide ban on smoking, ha ha!

There would be such an outrage from anyone involved in the tobacco business for starters - think of the number of people would lose their jobs. Then there's us smokers - a complete ban is infringing on our rights and civil liberties.

There is a ****ry where smoking is completely banned and they seem to be doing okay.

For the smokers, I don't think there would be such a discussion about civil rights and yadayadayada. id you want to smoke, you'll do it anyway, if it's prohibited or not. Like with the alcohol in the 20's in the States.
I see it gong on with weed. Here in the Netherlands you cana ctually smoke it without getting in trouble, but in Germany it's different. Yet there are tons of people in Germany who smoke weed, even more people have tried it at some point in their lives.

If there were to be a global smoking ban, I'm not sure what I would do. Probably not overtly buy cigarettes or anything, ut if somebody had any (which is very likely) I would just smoke anyway.

 

[JenniferAlice]

Ack. Smoking is the most disgusting habit of which a person can imbibe. Not to mention how bad it is for the smoker's health, but also dangerous for the NONsmoker's health as well. Wanna blacken your own lungs? Be my guest. But keep MY HEALTHY LUNGS out of it!

And oh my god does it STINK! The smell gets in your hair, your clothes, your car, your home. And YOUR BREATH! - do you smokers have ANY IDEA how much your BREATH just STINKS?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh, & as if the stench weren't bad enough, there's also the grossness of ashes & butts everywhere. Yup, truly disgusting. And for the jerkoffs that flick their butts out the window when they're driving, and the idiots who leave their butts all over the beach & dump them in the parking lots of the grocery stores???? :asshole2:

GAG! - not to mention how STUPID it looks seeing people draggggggg on a ciggy. To those who think it's "sexy"? Uh, yeah, you have no CLUE what "sexy" really is. :tongue05: Hope you enjoy those wrinkled up smoker's lips when you're 40! Smoking also dulls the complexion, so expect your skin to look haggard way before its time! ::dead::

So yeah, any smoking ban gets my vote & good ol'fashion WOO HOO! It's becoming fairly prevalent in the U.S. I don't frequent any restaurant that allows smoking, and I don't go to bars. I don't allow smoking in my home, my car, or my general presence (that's right, even outside... you smokers can go stand "way over there").

Hope you enjoy that lung cancer, throat cancer, and losing your teeth & bone density.... :nopity:

Sorry to all you smokers out there. :nana:

OK, thanks for stating all the dangers I already know about smoking, thanks, great help.

I don't really want to live to be old anyway, so I'm good with the "lung cancer, throat cancer, and losing your teeth and bone density..." thing. I know smoking is unhealthy, I know what I'm doing to myself, it's just that I don't CARE.

But yeah, very positive post.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Prior to the smoking ban, most, actually all of the restaurants I ate in had smoking, and nonsmoking sections. I don't know if a restaurant to you denotes Burger king, but in general restaurants are pretty big. With the use of fans and ventillation it is easy to keep the two areas seperated, fumes wise. Most pubs also have two sections, they have a lounge section, and a bar section.

This whole argument is ludicrous. It is easy for establishments to create two spaces, have them seperated by walls, include proper ventilation, to have a smoking section and a non smoking section.

Yes, before the ban in Scotland, most restaurants had smoking/non-smoking areas. Fine. I don't know if dining out to you denotes eating alone, but in general if I'm going to a restaurant, it's going to be as a part of a group. If people smoke, we make a choice. I choose not to have my lungs filled with smoke all night, and 99/100 times that's fine by the smokers. I'm grateful. But, what if they need a smoke? Ok, they go to the smoking section, leaving the non-smokers. Wait a minute.....I've seen this situation somewhere before...

The only difference is that they are inside. Now, I understand, that's great for the smokers. If the place is well ventilated, I don't have a problem. Smoke away. It's the ideal solution. But that was never usually the case. Yes, people were smoking over there but I still stank of smoke when I got home, and I still breathed it in.

And, by the way, I am not a regular smoker. The majority of the time I smoke when I drink. To me, they both go hand in hand.

To you. To me, and plenty of others, they don't. You say that you don't get to go to bars so often because you don't get to smoke with your drink. Tough. Why the hell should I, a person who makes a concious decision not to smoke for health reasons be endangered because of your indulgance? You not smoking won't kill you. Your smoking may kill me. Simple.

Since the smoking ban was introduced I go out to pubs a lot less, possibly smoke more cigars a week than cigarettes, and personally, I feel that my rights are being infringed upon, increasingly, by these idiots that couldn't run a brothel with a thousand women at their disposal. And when I hear these disgusting arguments, by non-smokers, that their rights were being infringed upon, it boils my blood. Half the time these are the same people that preach equality, and gay rights, feminists, and all that jazz.

Really its just I want what I want, I want more, and screw the rest. We'll find a reason, no matter how flimsy, to cover our asses. More for us! Equality for all eh, just as long as I'm more equal than you.

Yeah! Let's all be equally cancer-ridden and dead whether we smoke or not! Let's have the people who are indulging in a luxury be allowed to declare bars and clubs as their territory, and exclude people who don't want to fill their lungs with smoke! Equality for all! I mean, it's not like clubs and bars are specifically designed for a purpose other than smoking is it? Oh wait... That last argument is simply ridiculous. SMOKING IS A LUXURY. Go ahead, do it for all I care. But as soon as it starts to impact upon MY health in a completely public place, I have a valid complaint.

It's like saying that a person who enjoys a smattering of violence with their drink should be allowed to go around hitting people. (I'm looking at you Jen!) They get their fun, the other people who didn't go out to get injured, get injured. But....hey, they deserved it. It's all more, more, more with them...

 

[Buffanator]

I keep hearing/reading about "ventilation systems" & how it's possible to keep a smoking AND a non-smoking section, but that's not really true, UNLESS, they are COMPLETELY divided by walls AND doors. Most restaurants that have a smoking/non-smoking section are just a few feet away from each other, & you have to pass or GO THRU the smoking section to get to the non-smoking section or to the restrooms, etc.

In all my life I've only seen ONE TRUE DIVIDED smoking & non-smoking section. But as a waitress (at that time) I had to work BOTH sections. There was no "getting away from it" for me. And it was disgusting.

While I agree that people should be able to smoke if they want to - I mean, it's their business what they do with their bodies, & if cancer & so forth isn't enough to urge one to quit, well then more power to'm, I always say.

But I have a right to not have to be subjected to such. The only way to ensure that right (in a public setting) is to NOT allow smoking.

Where I live now, almost all restaurants are completely non-smoking. And those that aren't, those that have that "section" for smokers, I do not frequent.

 

[Harley]

I fall on the "yay ban" side of the fence. My simple reason is that smoking infringes on my RIGHT to life, even if it infringes your PRIVILEGE to smoke.

 

[palabravampiress]

I am a non-smoker. Smoke makes me cough and it makes my eyes water and burn. I rather like the fact that I don't have to deal with smoke when I eat out.

That said, I think public bans on smoking should be restricted to truly public places like courthouses, municipal buildings, police stations, public schools, public hospitals, etc... places to which citizens MUST go. Privately owned establishments like restaurants, bars, grocery stores, clothing stores, privately operated hospitals and clinics, religious institutions, etc. should be free to make their own smoking and/or non-smoking policies in the interest of catering to their own clientele. Likewise, smokers should always be free to smoke inside their own personal spaces, like cars and homes. I dislike smoke, but I see no reason to be quite so harsh on smokers as the public is starting to become. People should be free to ingest harmful substances if they so choose.

I'm not sure how I feel about smoking on public sidewalks, though. When I was in New York, this cigar smoker and I shared part of our walk to work. Inevitably, I ended up walking behind him for a block and a half every morning. Inevitably, he puffed away at his cigar and the smoke blew back right into my face. Eww! Similarly, when I was in college, the smokers used to stand on both sides of the rather long, covered sidewalk leading into a non-smoking academic building. The result? Non-smokers had to pass through a cloud of smoke just to get to class. I'm not sure we need laws to address it, but I do think smokers should at least try not to blow smoke in non-smokers' faces. It's not like being outside makes the smoke magically disappear. I really do wish that smokers would be considerate enough to at least attempt to keep their smoke to themselves. I think that if smokers were more generally considerate of the health and comfort of non-smokers, then non-smokers wouldn't feel the need to start legislating where and when smokers may indulge.