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The Disappearance of the Ashtray

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Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#151

Post by kitsunesoba »

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…

> You would go to a restaurant and the first thing your hostess would ask is "smoking or non"?

In parts of the US this question was common in restaurants through at least the late 90s, maybe a bit longer.

As someone who was a kid during that time period, I heard it many times at a buffet-style steakhouse my family would go to for get-togethers, birthdays, etc. It's fuzzy but I think they may have even still asked into the 2000s. We took the smoking section through most of my childhood since my parents smoked, but they quit later on so we switched.

At least that building was big enough to where the division kind of made a difference… it had a very high ceiling and was huge. It did absolutely nothing in smaller buildings though.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#152

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

HyperSane wrote: post #85
OkayPhysicist wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Vaping is almost harmless compared to how many diseases smoking tobacco causes and how much it makes a person stink and how much it makes buildings stink and how the tar builds up on walls.

Key word: almost

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#153

Post by termau »

Stratoscope wrote: post #43
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…

Smoking or non? Looks like you're about 25 years younger than me. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a nonsmoking section. Of course you could smoke, anywhere! Us kids didn't get real tobacco cigarettes, but we always had candy cigarettes so we could "smoke" along with the grown-ups. https://www.google.com/search?q=candy+cigarette&tbm=isch One difference from today was that our candy cigarettes had brand na…

I remember flying to Australia from London as a 9 year old UM (unaccompanied minor) and they plonked me next to a man who Chainsmoked the whole flight there

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#154

Post by gymbeaux »

heavyset_go wrote: post #105
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 was just thinking about how family-oriented restaurants, where you'd typically go to take your young kids out to eat, would have smoking and non-smoking sections. No barriers, just one side of the dining room you could smoke and the other you can't. Millions of parents would regularly take their kids to these places. These days, it's often a crime to smoke in the car with kids, and exposure to second-hand smoke is…

Where is it illegal to smoke with a child in the car? Not to get political but we can’t even get people in the US to agree to a bump stock ban.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#155

Post by latchkey »

hnbear wrote: post #141

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 muc…

I remember being a kid on a flight with my dad and the people a row over from us glaring at him because he was smoking. Mind you, I was glaring at him too... so embarrassing and awkward.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#156

Post by mmcgaha »

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.

35% sounds right from that time frame. I smoked until Dec 1999 and almost everyone in my social circle smoked.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#157

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

gumby wrote: post #18
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…

Do you remember professors smoking in class or office hours? The student smoking area in high school?

By the mid-80s, kids generally couldn’t smoke in school in the US. Each school district or town or state had their own rules, though. I was told by kids a few years older than me that my high school allowed seniors to smoke in the early 80s. The 70s I think there were even fewer restrictions on the kids, but there were designated areas. You didn’t smoke in class.

But it changed mid-80s for students. There’s a famous 1989 song called “Smoking in the Boys Room” by Motley Crue, referencing kids going to the bathroom to smoke and then quickly leaving before getting caught.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5oVBvxA0mm0

Smokin' in the boys room

Teacher don't you fill me up with your rule

'Cause everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in school

Checkin' out the hall, makin' sure the coast is clear

Lookin' in the stalls, nah, there ain't nobody here

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#158

Post by myroon5 »

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…

Almost half the states still haven't banned smoking indoors in public places:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_Un...

Still common in bars in those states

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#159

Post by sircastor »

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 remember visiting Europe a few years ago and being shocked at how much smoking there was. My wife got an outside table at a restaurant only to quickly change our minds when we realized that it was the de-facto smoking section. I appreciate that everyone gets to make their own choices, but you really can’t “get away” from it without moving 50-60 feet. I really appreciate the limited smoking that happens where I live.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#160

Post by ashtonbaker »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #151
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…

> You would go to a restaurant and the first thing your hostess would ask is "smoking or non"? In parts of the US this question was common in restaurants through at least the late 90s, maybe a bit longer. As someone who was a kid during that time period, I heard it many times at a buffet-style steakhouse my family would go to for get-togethers, birthdays, etc. It's fuzzy but I think they may have even still asked int…

You might be around the same age as me. Michigan didn't ban smoking in restaurants until 2010, when I graduated high school. I think some (most?) restaurants phased it out earlier, but the sort of places we used to hang out at back then in small-town MI certainly did not, so it remained a common part of our lives all through childhood and high school. I kind of forgot about that.
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