Smoker's Rights ?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
I am new here, so I apologize if a couple of questions I plan to ask are repetition. First one: are there any groups for smoker's rights? I know the second hand smoke thing is already a losing battle and the idea of getting back to being able to smoke in restaurants, etc. is probably a lost cause. But what I am wondering about is if anyone or any group of people are pushing back against the many anti smoking groups? My issue with it is that they have reached a totally unrealistic level of condemnation of smoking, and are outright fabricating the dangers, paritcularly of 2nd hand smoke. Honestly, they seem to be trying to say that if you smoke about 1 oz. in any form, that you will die of COPD or something related, in about a month. But my bigger concern is that with the success they have had in banning smoking in bars and even on city streets, is that they will start approaching it from another angle, which will be trying to ban sale of tobacco products. With my (mail order) tobacconist already dropping another pouch just about every month , usually since they are no longer being made, seems it would not take a lot more pressure for them to go out of the pipe tobacco business. I think they do a bit better with cigars. OK, that was longer than I meant for it to be. What I hope we can beat is a situation where you can no longer buy a pouch or tin, or where you have to have a permit to smoke it. BTW- something REALLY goofy about this is that marijuana is simultaneously becoming legal in more places, as tobacco is banned ! Marijuana smoke is still smoke!

 
  • Like
Reactions: Edwin Weaver

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
Can’t answer your question about smokers rights groups but I came to also tell you that they are not just touting 2nd hand smoke now, they are also making up dangers about 3rd hand smoke, i.e., the smoke that clings to your clothes and your hair can be harmful to others. It’s definitely gotten out of hand.

 

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
HOLY CRAP!! I had not heard about the "3rd hand smoke" BS !! Utterly ridiculous. I have a bit of age on me. I might at some point try to decide on a couple of blends I like and try to stock up for life, before they manage their total ban.

 

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
Yep, I am not a big fan of the vegans, either. I have no problem with them wanting to only eat a limited diet, but a lot of them want to also restrict what I can eat, and that is where I have a problem with them.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I'm pretty sure smoker rights groups exist, but because smoking is so varied in form, and people quit and start sporadically, i don't think it has quite the adherence of other rights campaigns. The health issues, especially with cigarettes and later with chewing tobacco, were definitive enough to make anti-smoking/chewing a perennial cause, so the heath issues are here to stay. Now vaping has come under this perspective. Care facillities, with oxygen bottles and such, pretty much have to forbid any smoking, despite older people who would like the occasional smoke, and outdoors smoking often requires at least some attendance, so people lose that pleasure along with many others, with need for care. Various residential situations not related to age also limit or forbid smoking. It is somewhat a surreptitious activity even where it is legal. I would defy the third-hand concept of tobacco smoke, simply in comparison to general air pollution, other household pollution, water pollution, and occupational exposures...in terms of substantiating studies. This is just riding the coattails of the science behind firsthand smoke, and intense secondhand. None of this matters much if the predominant science on climate change is on target ... which I will leave to each of you so as not to be controversial.

 

autumnfog

Lifer
Jul 22, 2018
1,129
2,465
Sweden
Welcome to the forums!

No apologizes necessary.
It's absolutely ludicrous when acceptance for cannabis increases while tobacco is regarded as Public Enemy No. 1.

No logic behind that whatsoever.

 
  • Like
Reactions: mikey517

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
mso489- Glad you mentioned the general air pollution thing. When I used to be in London a lot, for up to a month at a time, I would come in from walking around and also using the tube (London Underground) for a day, and my shoes would be covered in black dust and also I would need to blow the black residue out of my nose. Those were just the things you could see, so gaseous pollutants, etc. were not even taken into account. So maybe some of the anti-tobacco people need to think about that a bit, since tobacco is so reviled in their book.

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Marijuana smoke is still smoke!
As is campfire smoke, burn barrel smoke, etc. I still do not understand this near compulsion, by some, to equate tobacco with marijuana. I guess it is because there is nothing efficacious about tobacco smoking and it needs to be paired with marijuana in any argument so as to have any support.
I'm also unaware of any so-called "smokers rights." I believe the term "rights" is a little strong. Tobacco use is hardly a right, neither is marijuana. Society determines legal and illegal behavior. "Rights" as in "Bill of Rights" is an entirely different matter.

 

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
autumnfog- I agree. I have only seen one article (though I am sure there are more), addressing the negative effects of marijuana smoke in terms of potential lung damage, etc. And I certainly know potheads who smoke more of their weed, and inhale it deeply, than most tobacco smokers.

 

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
warren- for what it is worth, I have seen a warning about grill smoke from charcoal briquettes, as being a potential cause of respiratory disorders, also. But it was nothing remotely like the assault on tobacco.

 

husky

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2019
137
12
I know we are not supposed to talk about weed here but I must lay bare my ignorance and ask,

when you (I mean they) smoke cannabis or hashish, does it smolder on its own like tobacco or do you

mix it with tobacco to smoke it?

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Pretty much anything releases carcinogens when incinerated.
But it was nothing remotely like the assault on tobacco.
Carnivores do love their grilled meats. Vegans love to burn soy based products and pretend it's meat. So do not expect society to rise up against grilling and smoking food. Well, at least and until they have tobacco use fully under control.

 

alaskanpiper

Enabler in Chief
May 23, 2019
9,348
42,235
Alaska
I know we are not supposed to talk about weed here but I must lay bare my ignorance and ask,

when you (I mean they) smoke cannabis or hashish, does it smolder on its own like tobacco or do you

mix it with tobacco to smoke it?
It will smolder on its own for a few seconds, but not like tobacco, unless it is ground up and rolled into a joint or "blunt" (cigar paper). In a pipe it is usually lit like you would light a tobacco pipe, except the flame is applied and sucked down into the bowl constantly as the "user" inhales deeply. If you were to quickly begin drawing again, you could keep it going, but only for a dozen seconds or so between draws realistically. Marijuana pipes also have "carbs" (a hole in the side of the pipe) that is covered while drawing on the pipe, and uncovered at the end of the draw to rocket the smoke into the lungs and clear the entire pipes chamber of smoke.
I have no idea about hashish, as I did not consume large quantities of it when I was in Undergrad :D
As to all the above, smoke is smoke. Certainly some kinds may be worse than others, but at the end of the day smoke from combustible materials is irritating to soft tissue, whether it is lungs or mouth or tongue or whatever, and therefore it is somewhat unhealthy. Most anything burning will contain carcinogens as well. I think tobacco gets the worst of it simply because there has been far and away more scientific research done on tobacco than anything else that is inhaled (likely because it is A: legal, and therefore easier to study in a controlled environment, and B: widely used throughout the world, thus impacting a huge percentage of the population, which means more funding, more press, more publicity, more news, etc., and once again, plenty of willing subjects for research and long term studies)
The quality of said research will always be in debate from both sides, and I'm sure varies considerably from study to study like damn near any research on any topic will, especially when funded by parties interested in the outcome.

 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
Biggdon: to get a more in-depth analysis of the ridiculousness and lunacy of the antis, and the spuriousness of their 'studies': Tobakkonacht. Get it before it's also banned. Best read sitting down.

 

elbert

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 10, 2015
604
28
I was a vegetarian for 14 months, and much preferred it to the way I'm living now. I only mention it as a preface to this;
Every second you spend "worrying about the vegans" is a second consummately wasted. They're a fringe minority, and the economic clout against them holds as its subsidiary the legislature's of several large states.
Nobody's coming for your meat.

 

biggdonn

Lurker
Jun 7, 2019
12
1
Olkofri- I need to get that book! THAT is the issue with me, not so much that I can't smoke a pipe in a bar any longer. I guess we could get off on a lot of tangents, but I have yet to hear or see anything preventing fat people from buying and consuming enormous amounts of junk food. There are 2nd hand effects from that, just not publicized: fat women who cannot properly take care of their children, for example. One of the arguments against smoking is that it (might) cost society at large extra insurance premiums or tax dollars for medical care due to conditions allegedly caused by smoking. How about the diseases rather clearly caused by morbid obesity. I know a woman who handles disability claims, who tells me that the only disability some of her claimants have is that they have become too fat to walk. I don't care for one minute if someone weighs 600 lbs., but I don't get why they are given a pass and even have people defending them, their size, and lifestyle, when someone who smokes a pipe once a week is considered some sort of heretic. And, BTW- as far as the scientific evidence goes, I am not sure that occasional light smoking has been proven to be that harmful. To give anecdotal evidence on the other side, 3 of my 4 grandparents were heavy smokers (other one was a nonsmoker) and they lived to an average of 90 years of age. Late 80s, with one making it past 90. Anyway, I will just drop the subject by saying that if they can take tobacco away, they can take alcohol, sugar, and pork chops away when they come up with enough evidence real or contrived to do it.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.