Smoker or Non Smoker

[gr8fulyankee]

I am curious as to how many people who hike ( be it weekend hikers or thru's) that smoke on a regular basis. I know when I am hiking for the weekend, my smoking goes from a little over a pack a day to like maybe 8 or 9 butts.

[Stoker53]

I like a good Honduran cigar after dinner but never smoke in a tent or shelter.

[Palmer]

I only smoke if I get too close to the fire.


Honestly, I usually smoke a pipe when hiking but not at home.

[Footslogger]

...only if someone is willing to share !!

'Slogger
AT 2003

[chknfngrs]

Non-Smoker...Allergic..my sinuses shut down. Probably due to the college years working in a bar. And thereafter in bands. I hate smoking, but not smokers. We all gotta get along.

[Tractor]

I smoke but less while hiking. I always either smoke away from anyone else or ask their permission before lighting up (let's say, out in the covered corner of a shelter yard, downwind, when it's raining...). I pack out the butts by the way.

[Scribe]

I quit smoking about 30 years ago. Hardest thing I ever did. I have only sympathy (no animosity) for those who keep on puffin'.

[Skeemer]

My friends I encourage not to smoke...

My enemies, I buyem cigarettes...Camels

[minnesotasmith]

Having passed that life I.Q. test. The way smokers and nonsmokers get along is by smokers hiding engaging in their habit to the point that a nonsmoker should have to ask someone if they smoke to find out if they do or not. A smoker who would light up in the presence of a nonsmoker (even outdoors) is an uncivilized jerk that doesn't belong under roofs.

[Footslogger]

A smoker who would light up in the presence of a nonsmoker (even outdoors) is an uncivilized jerk that doesn't belong under roofs.

==============================================
That's a bit harsh ..."inconsiderate" might be more accurate. You sound like a reformed smoker. I don't smoke myself (my earlier post was meant to be a joke) but in my experience some of the most violently opposed to smoking/smokers are former tokers themselves.

'Slogger

[gr8fulyankee]

Wow minnesotasmith , It sound like you could use a smoke! ;-)

[plodder]

Will I run into many opinions like that on the trail? Be it about x,y.or z? I try to stay away from strongly " " people. Don't know the word.

[MOWGLI]

Will I run into many opinions like that on the trail? Be it about x,y.or z? I try to stay away from strongly " " people. Don't know the word.

The answer is thankfully - NO.

[orangebug]

Will I run into many opinions like that on the trail? ...

Actually, you will, just as you run into them in the real world from time to time.

At least you will have the benefit of strong legs and the distractions of the trail to keep the their noise static down to a tolerable level.

[Jester2000]

Apparently, the way smokers and nonsmokers get along is by everyone avoiding Minnesotasmith.

I do smoke, but not in a shelter or in front of a shelter where it might bother those inside. I field strip my smokes and pack out the butts, as well as any other butts I find on the trail or at shelters, which, unfortunately, happens more often than I would hope.

An attempt to ban smoking in bars in Philadelphia failed recently, but I think we'll eventually get to the point where smoking is not allowed in public places. I wonder if that will extend to the woods, or if I will be able to continue having a post mac 'n' cheese smoke without breaking the law.

Note to Minnesota Smith: congrats on coming up with a whole new way of misusing the concept of IQ.

[foodbag]

My grandmother lost two husbands due to smoking-induced lung cancer. I saw them pass my first grandfather out of his bedroom window on his last trip to the hospital, just before he died. I was 3 and it made a lasting impression. I never tried it.

Good advice once came from Yul Brenner in a public service announcement, released after he died of lung cancer, "For God's sake, please don't smoke."

For those of you trying to quit, good luck and I hope you can beat it!

[rickb]

I could have quit without much pain on my thru hike, but I clung on to practice. Partly because it seemed like it would be easy to quit later. I did eventually, but doing it on my long hike was a golden opportunity lost.

Probably more difficulat to quit with the bar/town hopping thu hikes now, seems like a very large number of thru hikers smoke these days.

I will never forget the reaction a got from a physician with whom I shared a shelter in the Smokies as I, a super hiker coming from Katahdin, lit up. Not so much judgemental, as genuinely sad.

Anyway, at age 45 I hope my heart isn't f-ed up too much to enjoy hiking a long ways when I'm in my 60s. Used to seem so far off.

Rick B

[Ridge]

My hubby, currently on the PCT, has never smoked, he hates the smell. He commented to me once that at least half or more of all hikers he's encountered are smokers, including those with pot, pipes, and cigars. This, along with dogs in shelters, is why he always tent camps (even when going through the GSMNP) which I think you can do anyway if the shelters are full, but not sure. He also hates the firepit trash, and litter in general, hikers/tourons leave behind. hikerwife

[c63]

Anyway, at age 45 I hope my heart isn't f-ed up too much to enjoy hiking a long ways when I'm in my 60s. Used to seem so far off.

Rick B

At 42 im enjoying the wonderful repurcusions of almost 30 years of smoking (yes I was a fool and started at 13). I've had Bronchitis now for over a month and a half and I'm one my second cycle of antibiotics (first didn't clear it up) and a cycle of steriods (not for muscle build, doctor prescribed). I've had Bronchitis bouts once a year for the past 5 or six years. I have chest pains often that I cure with asprin.

The good news is that i've cut down to a cigarrete an hour in the last couple weeks. I use the timer on my sports watch and start it when the last smoke is completed.

When I take off to hike in a few weeks i'll be cutting down to 5 smokes a day since i'll carry 1 pack for every 4 days of hiking. I hope to totally wean myself off the smokes by the end of the year, but i'm afraid the damage is already done.

As far as smoking on the trail goes, pack your damn butts out. When I was last on the AT there were smoke butts all over the place especially Blood Mountain and the G.S.M.N.P. . I always pack out other people's butts around shelters, but while hiking on the trail I sure as hell don't have the time or energy to clean up after others. As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, its real easy to just field strip the smoke and put the butt in your pocket.

[rpettit]

I uit smoking 25 years ago, I am now in my 40's, glad I quit. I now find any type of tobacco smoke repulsive. Cut the smokers a break, they can hardly smoke anywhere now, they might even be the most discriminated against segment of our population. This is America and people can smoke if they want to, just not in my house, in my car, at my workplace or in my face. If I encounter someone on the trail that is smoking I simply stand upwind and address them with the same respect that I afford everyone else.