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The Disappearance of the Ashtray
31–40 of 668 posts
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#32It's tough to portray just how ubiquitous smoking was to a modern audience. You would go to a restaurant and the first thing your hostess would ask is "smoking or non"? I remember standing in a checkout line in the 80s as a child and being fascinated with the billowing clouds of smoke an old lady blew. I remember coming home from bars reeking of smoke, even though I didn't. Even teachers had their own lounges that re…
I remember the smoking/non choice not being there in many places but for the other reason: there was no non-smiling section. That was often just in fancy places!
(UK, born in 78 so remembering no further back than the mid 80s for the most part)
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Like I get that it’s a nuisance when other people don’t have a choice but be forced to be around it which makes restaurant and workplace bans make sense, can’t you let people make their own choices though? I like to smoke very occasionally and am not at all addicted, a lot of people are like this. Way too little to have meaningful effect sizes on long term health.
Time to read up on how NZ implemented it. Already smoke, even if incidentally? You're 100% unaffected, you can still buy them until you die from old age. Too young? Cool, you're never going to get ciggies sold to you, and you're not going to miss suddenly no longer have access to them because you never did anyway. No one loses. It's a very long term solution, and one that (the current forms of) the US or Europe could…
Are tourists able to purchase Tabacco?
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Like I get that it’s a nuisance when other people don’t have a choice but be forced to be around it which makes restaurant and workplace bans make sense, can’t you let people make their own choices though? I like to smoke very occasionally and am not at all addicted, a lot of people are like this. Way too little to have meaningful effect sizes on long term health.
Time to read up on how NZ implemented it. Already smoke, even if incidentally? You're 100% unaffected, you can still buy them until you die from old age. Too young? Cool, you're never going to get ciggies sold to you, and you're not going to miss suddenly no longer have access to them because you never did anyway. No one loses. It's a very long term solution, and one that (the current forms of) the US or Europe could…
There are a lot of people who insist that prohibition never works. I wonder if this is successful it will change their minds.
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#35Uggh, I remember ashtrays in the 70s the size of basketballs sliced in half below the equator. Full, every other day? Yellow walls and clouds in the living room. Don’t miss that shit one bit. Last time I experienced it was a trip to Europe around 2005, multiple people smoking indoors at the next table without a concern in the world.
Nothing like when someone brought a PC into the shop to work on and it was from a smokers house. Made the whole place small like an ashtray, and the parts were sticky with tar.
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's probably due to insurance companies charging huge amounts more health insurance for smokers.
IIRC the difference when applying for insurance on the healthcare marketplace for 2023 was like $5/month (out of $700 total - so less than 1% more).
My employer plan charges $500/yr
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#37My grandfather (who died because of his smoking addiction) had a number of ashtrays I distinctly remember. There was a push-down one that would spin, depositing the ashes and butts into a trap door compartment inside. There was one made of old coins bent and welded together. Of course simple glass ones around the house. The truck had an ash tray built in, with a lid mechanism so it could be removed and emptied without making a mess. Go to estate sales and you'll see them sometimes.
The statistics can be really surprising to people: "Only 40% of people smoked?" and "Wow, that many?" equally likely. Drinking alcohol is similar in that regard, people are amazed (for opposite reasons) to find out 60% of Americans drink.
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#38Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#39It's tough to portray just how ubiquitous smoking was to a modern audience. You would go to a restaurant and the first thing your hostess would ask is "smoking or non"? I remember standing in a checkout line in the 80s as a child and being fascinated with the billowing clouds of smoke an old lady blew. I remember coming home from bars reeking of smoke, even though I didn't. Even teachers had their own lounges that re…
Yeah, smoking was everywhere. I remember flying when you could smoke.
But the main thing is the smell of stale cigarette smoke was just like this undercurrent of any public place you went. Everyone's car. Churches. Everywhere it was that smell.
Also at least where I was in KS, store clerks didn't give a crap. We could buy smokes in middle school if we wanted. Thankfully I never did more than a brief fascination with cloves (and believe me, smoking too many cloves one night because you're upset over a girl will cure you of that).
Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray
#40The plummeting rates of smoking in the US is one of the rare areas where this country really shines when it comes to social welfare. Even many European states that have what I'd consider much more progressive social welfare systems have smoking rates that are appalling, often 3x or more the US rates.
On the other hand, being constantly ostracised from public spaces isn’t great either… something I find infuriating when I travel abroad. If there were at least a few smoking bars where you don’t have to go out into the cold to smoke I think that would be nice.
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