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The Disappearance of the Ashtray

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Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#451

Post by alfiedotwtf »

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #179
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 worked at a Lebanese reception centre in the 90s before smoking was banned inside in Victoria (Australia). By the end of the night, there was a clear horizontal delineation of where the fresh air stopped and where the cigar smoke started. Also, I remember ash trays every few metres or so in our local Target - mind blowing these days that you were allowed to walk around and essentially vandalise clothing and other w…

I should have explained the baby powder - it helped when doing the Melbourne Shuffle

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#452

Post by kzrdude »

noduerme wrote: post #268
gambiting wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snus isn't actually legal in a lot of places. As in - it's legal to have, but you can't buy it anywhere(most of EU and UK I believe).

it's quite a shame, because it's much cleaner and less dangerous than other ways of taking up nicotine.

I agree, but also know what a Swedish school looks like, with such pouches stuck in various places, ceiling etc.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#453

Post by larve »

chongli wrote: post #208
csomar wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But subs get deployed for 6 months at a time. Unless they banned smokers from getting into subs??

You don't have to ban smokers to ban smoking on a sub. Smokers don't have to smoke, they merely choose to do so.

This narrow view of addiction is also missing the fact that smoking has many positive effects. I smoked from age 13 to age 38, and I’m pretty sure smoking made my life better overall.

Besides allowing me to socialize more easily, it’s an incredibly potent stress reliever which allowed me to deal with sensory overload and other stressors (I’m autistic). Nothing comes even close to how quickly it can defuse stressful situations.

The fact that something nudges you to take a break and a few steps every hour is also something I miss tremendously. I always joked that I was the in-house bug hunter and hard problem solver because I’d walk the stairs every hour and would solve the problem on the way back up.

Now that I’ve quit, many things in my life have become much harder. I need to be conscious of my stress level at all times and plan for mitigation through cardio, ear protection, fixed schedules. A 1h run achieves the same result as a 2 minute cigarette break would, and I have to set an alarm to remind me to take breaks. Because of Covid and consequent work from home, this has all become manageable, but I don’t think I could function in normal society very well without picking smoking back up.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#454

Post by noduerme »

karashi wrote: post #443
noduerme wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just saying that it's hardly more of a burden on society for someone to burn some dry leaves than for someone to create a new human or several of them, with all the burden that places on our ecosystem and our society. Having children is a wildly antisocial and narcissistic act in the modern world. It's hilarious and ironic that the people who defend it are the same ones who care whether I smoke a cigarette from t…

This line of reasoning troubles me. Calling swaths of people narcissistic and antisocial isn’t productive and comes off as really hateful and bitter. IDK. Maybe hacker news isn’t a healthy place for me to be. Perhaps I need to take a break from the Internet.

I think it's important to point out that I didn't "call" any swath of people anything; I flipped the accusation of engaging in antisocial behavior that's routinely leveled at childless, hedonistic smokers on its head, and made the counter-argument that our impact is relatively small compared to people who willingly have children. That is definitely an unpopular view, and I'm proud to state it. You can totally consider it unproductive and debate it on the merits. As to the feelings my point of view engenders, 1. my comments don't really matter and you are free to ignore them; 2. you're free to discuss or debate them; 3. you don't need to take them personally, because I'm just one person with my own opinion. As unpopular as it is. You can't expect everyone to only write things you love and agree with, especially those who aren't directly responding to you or didn't know you existed until moments ago. I'm sorry if my thoughts hurt your feelings.

[edit] Taking a break from the internet is never a bad idea, though. I could probably use one myself. I could use another trip. I do wish the alternative to staying home wasn't getting on a plane with everyone else's children... only slightly kidding.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#455

Post by Vedor »

mkl wrote: post #400
bambax wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think an accident ever occurred because of smoking in the cabin? (Possibly one because of smoking in the lavatory, and I'm not even sure). For smokers, going 4, 6 or 9 hours without smoking is just unthinkable; I know it was for me. So glad I quit (a very long time ago), but I don't know how smokers deal with it today.

Do nicotine patches, gum, etc. not work? (Serious question)

I quit smoking the old-fashioned way so I don't have a first-hand experience in that matter, but I was thinking a lot about this once. I belive patches and gums may not work in every instance. Please let me provide some context.

I was smoking for around 7 years, from my late teens (jus a couple smokes per day) to my early 20' (1.5–2 packs per day). I haven't smoked in quite a few years, I think it's close to 10 years, I don't count anymore.

I have never felt addicted to nicotine. To cigarettes, yes. I was addicted to all those little smoking rituals, gestures, and to all that social behaviour around smoking. I liked going out on the balcony in the morning in my bathrobe just to smoke. Or go out to the garden with another smoker after a party and have a conversation that wouldn't otherwise happen. Hell, I even liked the gesture of shaking the ashes off a cigarette.

Smoking was also a way to deal with boredom for me, a bit like a smartphone now. I'm waiting for a bus that won't arrive for 15 minutes? That's a great time to smoke a cigarette or two.

To the point: would nicotine patch help me to quit smoking? Probably yes, on the long run. Would gum / snuff / snus limit my craving to cigarettes to the point where I could work in a completely smoke-free place? I do not think so.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#456

Post by xwolfi »

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…

Im a smoker, and damn the plane story sounds terrifying. In fact Im smoking now, in my bathroom next to a loud exhaust fan because my wife isn't here. A far cry from when my dad used to smoke next to me while I was doing my homework :D

In fact in my city, Hong Kong, they are now under 10% of the population smoking, and on the street, when I smoke at the ashtray reserved for that on top of the public trashes (yeah, it's not a luxury habit anymore), people wave their hands in front of their nose while passing, "loudly" signaling my alien nature, something I had never experienced in France where I come from.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#457

Post by globular-toast »

bentobean wrote: post #89

To each their own, but personally - I don’t find them beautiful or nostalgic at all. They remind me of the stench of stale smoke and death. > “Even if your parents don’t smoke, it’s nice for them to have an ashtray available for guests.” …the thought of someone trying to light up a cig in my house. Haha. No.

Same. They remind me of worse times. It was very clear to me as a child that smoking was killing my grandfather. It eventually did. I'm glad I never see these any more.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#458

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#459

Post by michaelt »

chongli wrote: post #208
csomar wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But subs get deployed for 6 months at a time. Unless they banned smokers from getting into subs??

You don't have to ban smokers to ban smoking on a sub. Smokers don't have to smoke, they merely choose to do so.

I think the real thing people are disagreeing about here is whether you're still a smoker when you're deliberately going 6 months without smoking.

Is 'smoker' a permanent status, like some people consider themselves alcoholics even when they haven't drunk alcohol in a decade? If so, you could have a submarine full of smokers very easily!

But if you're only a smoker if you've had at least 1 cigarette in the past week, your submarine would have no smokers after seven days at sea.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#460

Post by detritus »

j33zusjuice wrote: post #195
MisterBastahrd wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... I didn't. My grandfather smoked until his 70s before quitting and my great grandfather was still smoking a couple of Keep Moving cigars a day until he died in his mid 80s. All of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side are in their 60s and 70s and still smoke. Hell, nothing brings me back to my childhood like the whiff of a freshly lit cigarette. I still remember being a very young boy back in the 70s and smelli…

I love the smell of a cigarette when it’s first lit. If they packed them well, it’s just the scent of the paper with a hint of tobacco. It’s a great smell for about a second, then it turns to the smell we all hate. But I miss the scent of a my parents’ and grandparents’ cigarettes, or maybe I just miss all the people who’ve died.

My father stopped smoking in the car when little me brightly piped up from the back seat after he lit up "Mmm, I love that smell when you first light a cigarette, Dad!". I still like that smell - for all of its second's existence!
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