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The Disappearance of the Ashtray

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Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#141

Post by hnbear »

I remember being on a long (9ish hour) flight from London to Nairobi as a child. My heavy-smoker parents thoughtfully bought non-smoking seats for the flight.

We turned out to be a row or two away, made no difference at all.

But, they both smoked heavily, continuously in the car and at home too. My whole family did. Grandparent, parents, siblings (2 of 6 didn’t), step parents, aunts and uncles. Growing up it felt much odder and rebellious to not smoke.

In addition to the ash trays my father insisted he use little heavy, silver tubular extinguishers in each ash tray. Silver plated, from memory. Doubt they did much, but were ubiquitous at home.

My father was proud when he “gave up smoking” by moving from Gitances to Silk Cut, which he said were like fresh air compared.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#142

Post by todfox »

aimor wrote: post #37

My 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 withou…

Only 60% of Americans drink? I routinely get astonished looks when I tell people that I've never in my life even tried a drop of alcohol. It seems like way more than 60% have had alcohol.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#143

Post by antihipocrat »

j_m_b wrote: post #7

It'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…

The smoking area was also the prime location in the restaurant! I would often choose to sit there (as a non smoker) just so I didn't have to sit in the back room.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#144

Post by gymbeaux »

cobbzilla wrote: post #136
userbinator wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still ubiquitous in China, or at least was when I was there several years ago. On the other hand, perhaps because of that, some of their buildings seem to have insanely powerful ventilation systems. I remember being in a mall and talking with someone who was smoking only a few feet away, seeing the smoke get sucked straight up into the vents on the ceiling as he exhaled, and I couldn't even smell it (I have a ra…

Many Vegas casinos have similar ventilation systems, it’s amazing to be near smokers and barely smell it.

Those ventilation systems in Vegas casinos are running at half power or something. I was there in 2011 and 2021 and it seemed like the indoor air was much lousier in 2021. I couldn’t walk from my hotel room to outside without ending up smelling like smoke (this was the MGM Grand). If you want to avoid this in Vegas, Park MGM is the only smoke-free casino hotel on the strip. There are a few hotel-hotels that are smoke-free as well.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#145

Post by jeffbee »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #87
jeffbee wrote: post #67

That Gallup survey doesn't really scan for me. If you had told me in 2001 that 35% of my generation were smokers I would not have believed that. There must be a huge regional component to those survey responses.

Too high or low? It sounds about right to me, if you include the casual smokers in the 35%.

Too high. I do not and did not know any smokers of my age in high school, college, or after. Seriously zero, which would be odd if it was really one-third. And I'm from Oklahoma which has a high rate of smoking, but I associate it with my friends' grandparents.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#146

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

bigDinosaur wrote: post #140
TylerE wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in the early days of aviation lung cancer was, erm, pretty far down the list of hazards.

Commercial aviation in the 60's was quite safe. Of course there were plenty of issues but the truly dangerous era was the preceding decades. The 747 dates from the very late 60's for example and that's an extremely safe plane. Conversely the 50's was a much scarier decade as commercial jet engines were in a fairly experimental decade.

I believe in the 50s, commercial flights were propeller planes.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#147

Post by mmcgaha »

cableshaft wrote: post #65
aimor wrote: post #37

My 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 withou…

> Drinking alcohol is similar in that regard, people are amazed (for opposite reasons) to find out 60% of Americans drink. I'm technically in that 60%, but I drink so infrequently I barely qualify (outside of certain social events, I never drink, and never more than 2 drinks). I think I had about a dozen drinks in all of 2022. I wonder what percent of that 60% are similar to me.

I tell people that I don't not drink. The reality is I drink when I want but I almost never want. I am sure that people like me are part of that 60%.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#148

Post by nsxwolf »

petsormeat wrote: post #100
j_m_b wrote: post #7

It'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 spent my freshman year of high school in rural Kentucky. Many of my classmates lived on tobacco farms. We had a _student_ smoking lounge at school!

We also had a student smoking lounge in my suburban Chicago area high school in 1991! I think you had to have a parent sign a permission slip or something like that, and I don't know how it didn't run afoul of the law as few kids were 18. But it was always packed.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#149

Post by splistud »

midoridensha wrote: post #114
porkbeer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we chill on the hate? Be impassioned, sure. But this 'people like you deserve' is not welcome. You arent going to convince a smoker tgeyre wrong by being a shining example of the prototypical asshole non smoker

[flagged]

[dead]

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#150

Post by gymbeaux »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #45
j_m_b wrote: post #7

It'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 went to Vegas a couple months ago, and one thing that absolutely blew me away was the fact that, just within the last ~5 odd years since I last visited even the casinos stopped reeking of tobacco . I figured it was a confluence of factors: people smoke less now, people are far more likely to vape than smoke (which, for its ills, definitely doesn't leave a lingering stench like cigarettes), and there was a lot of ta…

I was just there in 2021 and the smell was at least as present as it was in 2011 when I was there last. I think if anything, they’ve cut back on the ventilation to save money.
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