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The Disappearance of the Ashtray

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Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#561

Post by ptaffs »

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 my dad would ask that our non-smoking family of four was seated in the restaurant smoking section (if it's the same room), as we would be taking seats away from the smokers and reduce the smoke in the room.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#562

Post by michaelrpeskin »

donatj wrote: post #525
comboy wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't stand it right now, but it was everywhere so it wasn't annoying. I think smell adjusts to certain things not just temporarily but also on some longer periods. As a kid I wouldn't notice which friends parents smoked at home and which didn't, even though I came from a non-smoking home. And most of them lived in small apartments, so it must have been reeking.

I don’t smoke, but my mom smokes heavily. Whenever my wife (whose parents did not smoke) and I visit my parents, she always remarks afterwards on how terrible the smell was but I never really notice it at all despite having lived on my own for 15+ years now. I really think it’s just something your brain blocks out, it doesn’t smell like much to me.

When I was an intern in the 1990's, I was on a team of old unix greybeards. Every 20 minutes or so, someone would have to go outside for a smoke break and they invited me along because that's where all the good design discussions would happen. Even today, I immediately recognize the smell of Marlboro Lights if I walk past a group of folks smoking outside.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#563

Post by ch4s3 »

weberer wrote: post #348
ch4s3 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it’s really quite something. I end up having to increase my dosage on asthma meds for a week or two every time I go to Europe. Some of the cooler places to go are sadly a bit smokier than I like.

That may also be due to the heavy use of diesel cars in Europe and their higher emissions of nitrates and sulfates. It is very noticeable when walking along a busy avenue in Sweden compared the USA.

It's definitely from going into smoky bars, though I doubt the diesel helps.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#564

Post by buildsjets »

mjg59 wrote: post #323
quickthrower2 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admirial Cloudberg covered at least one crash caused by fire caused by a cigarette. The response from the industry: smoke alarms. Banning smoking too was unthinkable!

Brand new aircraft still include fixtures to stub out cigarettes in the bathrooms, because it doesn't matter if you declare that something's forbidden, people will do it anyway and you need to do what you can to minimise harm.

The ashtray is required equipment, and you can't legally dispatch the airplane if it is inoperative, unless you disable that lavatory. Truth! 14 CFR 25.853 (g)

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-C...

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#565

Post by zeroonetwothree »

314 wrote: post #434
pigsty wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, unless as a child you had abusive parents who forced you to smoke, it’s absolutely a choice. There are people who can’t stop doing stupid stuff for attention (like breaking electronics for YouTube views or whatever), and we don’t blame “idiots” commenting online for their habits. There are people who refuse to eat vegetables and only eat junk food and we also don’t blame “idiots.” Yes. It’s addictive. But per…

> Countless people never smoked. Countless people stopped. Some people act like quitting smoking is some insufferable thing that others will never understand. Everyone has bad stuff they do that’s just as hard to quit. While smoking is a choice, not all choices are the same. Not all choices are weighted by a chemical addiction, comparing quitting smoking to bad food or exercise choices trivialises it in an unnecessar…

For me quitting smoking was much easier than certain other things that I haven’t been able to quit yet (eg social media and sugar). Smoking I just decided to stop one day and that was it.

So it probably varies a lot based on the person.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#566

Post by brazzy »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #286
camillomiller wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Admirial Cloudberg covered at least one crash caused by fire caused by a cigarette. The response from the industry: smoke alarms. Banning smoking too was unthinkable!

I think you misremember. The cause of the fire on Air Canada flight 797 was never conclusively determined; a cigarette could not be completely ruled out, but was deemed very unlikely.

Smoking culture was a contributing cause since it made fires in trash bins so common that the pilots didn't react with urgency to a fire that looked like that (but in that case was definitely not).

Having smoke alarms was absolutely the correct response, because smoking is by no means the only cause of fires on airplanes. In fact, I'm not even sure there has been a single fatal crash involving fire that has been definitely caused by smoking, but there are many that are known to have been caused by other things, such as Nigeria Airways Flight 2120, Swissair flight 111, ValuJet flight 592 and China Airlines Flight 120.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#567

Post by zeroonetwothree »

throw827474737 wrote: post #462
PaulRobinson wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an ex-smoker, I'd ask you to consider it as about the most addictive thing going. Think of something you really, really like doing. Something that calms or pleases you every time you do it. Like, playing a game, or reading a book, or eating your favourite food. Now imagine someone telling you that you don't have to do that, it's just a choice. Imagine being deprived of it and being guilt-tripped into it. Sure you…

As an ex smoker, I found quitting smoking one of the easiest things to do, just knew and decided it is time to stop now.. so I'm always surprised why is that. Also recently just going interval fasting for first time in my life because becoming a bit fat, not any problem, at all strangely. I wonder why that is, I wouldn't think I have a super strong will or just cannot be addicted, if I consider gaming or other procra…

I quit drinking and smoking. Of those drinking was probably harder but neither was very hard for me.

The key is to avoid situations that trigger your addiction. Don’t buy any of the products. Don’t hang around people that use them. Don’t go to places where people use them. And so on. This might mean you need to get new friends. It’s unfortunately the way it is.

That’s why it’s harder to quit more ubiquitous things (like eating sugar). And it probably varies from person to person

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#568

Post by lopis »

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 coming home from bars reeking of smoke

Unfortunately, that's still common in Germany, most notably in Berlin.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#569

Post by astura »

larve wrote: post #453
chongli wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 s…

I'm confused - the comment you are replying to basically says the Navy can freely ban smoking onboard submarines and end up with no real consequences other than some mildly grumpy sailors. It made no moral judgement about smoking or addiction.

Did you mean to reply to another comment?

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#570

Post by QuarterReptile »

csomar wrote: post #200
jacobsenscott wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The navy didn't ban smoking on subs until 2010. That must have been something.

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

Surprisingly this hasn't been answered. Yes, smoking is banned (with probably 3 hours of exception, all at once and in one inconvenient place.) No, smokers aren't banned. They all hate the ban, live with it, and mostly use chewing tobacco. And then they go back to smoking.
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