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OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
6,661
35,896
72
Sydney, Australia
I went out with some cigar-loving friends for a dinner the week before the indoor smoking ban was coming in. After dinner we settled to a few drinks and cigars in the bar/lounge of a hotel.

Someone was playing the piano in the room.

There was a gent sitting in one corner smoking his pipe. The lovely scent of his pipe made me decide to pull out my collection of pipes and start up smoking pipes again.

Such civilised times
 

Hovannes

Can't Leave
Dec 28, 2021
355
851
Fresno, CA
The most sick i ever got on nicotine was when I was a non-smoking recent high school grad taking a Greyhound bus from Chicago to Ft. Myers, Fla. People were smoking cigarettes by the carton it seemed. I'd get out at the rest stops and try to walk it off, and had to walk around a few blocks before I called to be picked up by my aunt and cousin.
The smell of Menthol cigarettes on a Greyhound bus is a terrible, terrible thing.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,548
31,005
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
You are correct, I flew to Japan a lot and JAl and ANA were the last to ban smoking on flights.
In the late seventies I smoked a pipe in my office, two others smoke cigarettes and pipes in their offices, and we worked, Drum roll, in a hospital,,,,
cheers
I feel like if cigs were not the most popular type of smoking and pipes and even cigars where more common, there would be less drive for no smoking. Hell I've had more then a few times where people said no smoking here, oh wait you got a pipe smoke as much as you want.
 
Jan 28, 2018
13,824
153,327
67
Sarasota, FL
I remember when people smoked in doctor's office and our family doctor chain smoked camel non filters. I remember smoking in department stores and the burns on the linoleum floors. Perhaps if more common sense had been applied back in those days combined with some sensitivity towards the non smokers, there might be more tolerance today.

But how can you blame people who smoked everywhere back then? The military gave out cigarettes to the troops like candy. There were more cigarette commercials on TV then than Viagra commercials today. And the government taxes didn't make up 95% of the cost.
 
Jul 8, 2022
22
80
North Vancouver
I wasn't happy with the old days. There was simply too much smoke, everywhere, all the damn time. Worse still, it was mostly from acrid and deadly cigarettes.

This said, I'm not happy with the current state of affairs, where it's pretty much impossible to smoke anywhere civilized.

Government overreach, particularly in BC is at an obnoxious high. It's now unlawful to smoke anywhere in parks, wilderness or otherwise. Adding up all the land, we're talking an area about the size of New England.

I liked the intermediate phase, where most things were non-smoking, but one could still smoke outside in a special section on a patio, or in an enclosed, air-filtered smoking room in a bar, where servers were not required to enter to deliver food and drinks.

All this said, I smoke outdoors anyways, but this presents some challenges in our typical torrential downpours.
 

monty55

Lifer
Apr 16, 2014
1,725
3,573
66
Bryan, Texas
Ah yes, the good old days...

I remember as a kid going to my dad's workplace, and it seemed everyone there was smoking a pipe, cigar, or cigarette.

I remember riding a Greyhound bus from Roswell NM to Houston Tx for Christmas break from NMMI and I was nauseated the whole time from the cig smoke. Soon after graduation I started smoking myself...

I flew on the last Delta flight to allow smoking coming from Lisbon back in 94-95. The guy sitting next to me and myself smoked our heads off... much to the dismay of those around us.

When I was at A&M from 87-92 you could smoke outside the buildings. Now you can't smoke anywhere on campus.

I can still find a bar now and then that allows smoking in certain counties, but not too many.

very sad
 

warren99

Lifer
Aug 16, 2010
2,355
27,677
California
When I first started practicing law, 40-plus years ago, we could smoke in the court house--not in the courtroom but in the hallways, cafeteria, and judge's chambers. Then, there were airports, airplanes, trains, restaurants, stores, bars, college classrooms, parks, beaches, etc. A lot has changed since then around the world. When I was in Tokyo a few years back, the only places in public where smoking was permitted were marked areas on the sidewalks.
 

macaroni

Lifer
Oct 28, 2020
1,015
3,196
Texas
My favorite high school math teacher smoked a pipe in the classroom during class. Smelled great! There was a designated covered area outside one of the main doors called, "The Smoking Court." Students were allowed to smoke there during any free time (lunch, in between classes, free periods), providing that a parental permission note was on file in the office. It was usually full. This was in Virginia in the 70's.
 

johnscs

Might Stick Around
May 23, 2009
87
92
I wasn't happy with the old days. There was simply too much smoke, everywhere, all the damn time. Worse still, it was mostly from acrid and deadly cigarettes.

This said, I'm not happy with the current state of affairs, where it's pretty much impossible to smoke anywhere civilized.

Government overreach, particularly in BC is at an obnoxious high. It's now unlawful to smoke anywhere in parks, wilderness or otherwise. Adding up all the land, we're talking an area about the size of New England.

I liked the intermediate phase, where most things were non-smoking, but one could still smoke outside in a special section on a patio, or in an enclosed, air-filtered smoking room in a bar, where servers were not required to enter to deliver food and drinks.

All this said, I smoke outdoors anyways, but this presents some challenges in our typical torrential downpours.
Totally agree: The intermediate phase seemed like a sound and fair compromise. I have absolutely no nostalgia for the smoky free-for-all leading up to limited indoor smoking. There were very few public places where smoking wasn't allowed, and you could almost never escape the stale odor that accumulated in your clothes.

The pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction. Total smoking bans on college campuses, in parks, on beaches where your pipe smoke wouldn't bother anyone (or even be noticed, most likely)? Unnecessary and unfair.

In that short intermediate phase, you could avoid the acrid smell of cig smoke in public spaces where everybody should expect clean air and an absence of lingering odors (stores, schools, libraries, clinics, airports, offices, public buildings, etc.). You could choose a smoking- or non-smoking section in a restaurant or bar. If you worked in a private office, you could smoke if you wanted to. People who didn't like it could stay away. Thinking back, I considered smoking policies to be pretty reasonable. When I was a student living on a big university campus, you could choose to live on a smoking- or non-smoking floor (non-smoking was by far more popular). I chose non-smoking and was perfectly happy: Whenever I wanted to smoke my pipe, I just had to hang out in a quiet lounge on a smoking floor, go outside, or find a smoke-friendly spot in the student union. Profs and TAs smoked in their offices, and a few senior profs actually smoked their pipes in class (despite the "NO SMOKING" signs posted on the walls). Those minor acts of defiance weren't the norm: People generally respected the restrictions, and it seems like everyone got along just fine. Sigh ...
 

vosBghos

Lifer
May 7, 2022
1,630
3,582
Idaho
I remember being on a stretcher in the emergency room at a hospital with my first of many bouts with kidney stones . It was around 1984 or so and they gave me a shot of Demerol for the pain and I was able to smoke my Marlboro Reds as much as I wanted.
When I had kidney stones I named my morphine drip Charlie and gave him a collared shirt and name tag to wear. I was under orders to walk around a lot to move the stones so Charlie and I would wonder out to watch the emergency helicopters land and take off. That‘s when I‘d smoke Charlie hated it and complained the whole time. Aw I miss wheeling Charlie around and the pretty nurses…
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,306
66
Sarasota Florida
When I had kidney stones I named my morphine drip Charlie and gave him a collared shirt and name tag to wear. I was under orders to walk around a lot to move the stones so Charlie and I would wonder out to watch the emergency helicopters land and take off. That‘s when I‘d smoke Charlie hated it and complained the whole time. Aw I miss wheeling Charlie around and the pretty nurses…
I had one episode where I was in the hospital for a week and I was on a Demerol drip. Today you cannot get Demerol in a hospital as they only use Morphine and Dilaudid which sucks compared to Demerol.
 
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