Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Disappearance of the Ashtray

clivethompson.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 668 posts

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#161

Post by HelixEndeavor »

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?

There was a small family owned diner in my hometown that had been built in like the 60s and never changed management. As such, they were one of the last businesses to still have a valid smoking permit. I distinctly remember the smell that permeated the walls, the chairs, the tables. Not unpleasant, necessarily, but distinct.

They eventually went out of business about a decade ago and got torn down and replaced with... a parking lot. With them went the last "smoking section" I've ever seen. If you want to smoke at a restaurant, you're eating on the patio.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#162

Post by toast0 »

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…

> It did absolutely nothing in smaller buildings though.

I remember restaurants where the nonsmoking section was a little back room, you'd have to walk through all the smoke to get there. Then at some point, it flipped, and that was the smoking section.

I also remember when the Wynn opened in Vegas, and you could gamble without smoke. Still not very fun, but at least I could breathe.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#163

Post by tb_technical »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #152
HyperSane wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's certainly safe enough that the NHS is using vaping to get people off smoking

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#164

Post by jhoechtl »

camillomiller wrote: post #88
Stratoscope wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Smoking on planes is absolutely something I can't wrap my head around in any possible way. How the hell someone EVER thought it would be a good idea to let people smoke while packed inside a flying metal cylinder?

Seems you never were on a smoking flight. Planes have excellent air conditions. It was not like the whole plane up in smoke. You could smell it a little on a non smoking seat but it was quite mild.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#165

Post by gymbeaux »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #29
bediger4000 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably due to insurance companies charging huge amounts more health insurance for smokers.

The smoking rate in Canada is far lower than the United States, despite having universal healthcare. I think it's more cultural than financially driven (though aggressive taxation of tobacco could be a factor if that's a thing in the US, too).

You both could be right.

Especially in places like NYC, cigs are very expensive.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#166

Post by gymbeaux »

nanidin wrote: post #30
bediger4000 wrote: post #15

Earlier 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).

That’s probably an exception. My understanding is that usually insurance companies charge MUCH more if you smoke.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#167

Post by LAC-Tech »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #23
colechristensen wrote: post #19

Earlier 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…

I still remember the ad campaigns from the 90s.

"I saw a girl walking down the street and I was like yeaaaahh and then i saw her light up a cigarette and I was like nah.... smoking usn't sixy"

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#168

Post by defrost »

gymbeaux wrote: post #154
heavyset_go wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

    15.6.5.2 Legislation banning smoking in cars in Australia

    All Australian states and territories now have legislation in force which prohibits smoking in cars while children are present.

    In June 2006, more than a decade after the issue of smoking in cars was first discussed in Australia, the Tasmanian Government released a discussion paper that included a proposal to ban smoking in cars carrying children in that state.

    In March 2007 a proposal to introduce legislation banning smoking in cars carrying children under 18 was announced.

    A Bill to amend s.67H(2) of the Public Health Act 1997 (Tas.) was passed and came into force on 19 December 2007,iv making Tasmania the first Australian jurisdiction to implement such a ban.
- https://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-15-smokefree-e...

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#169

Post by LAC-Tech »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #10

Looking forward to the day where the rest of Not-New-Zealand goes "actually, yeah, let's just ban this nonsense, this industry does not need to exist", and then have that industry cease to exist over the course of a, really too generous, "only existing addicts can buy your product" period.

We can't even stop methamphetamine or main street money laundering, this cigarette ban is not going to be effective.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#170

Post by ashtonbaker »

stickfigure wrote: post #131
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #5

The 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.

[flagged]

Can't win, can we?
Post reply on HN