View Full Version : Smoker or Non Smoker
gr8fulyankee
04-25-2005, 11:21
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
04-25-2005, 11:40
I like a good Honduran cigar after dinner but never smoke in a tent or shelter.
I only smoke if I get too close to the fire.:D
Honestly, I usually smoke a pipe when hiking but not at home.
Footslogger
04-25-2005, 12:12
...only if someone is willing to share !!
'Slogger
AT 2003
chknfngrs
04-25-2005, 12:20
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.
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.
I quit smoking about 30 years ago. Hardest thing I ever did. I have only sympathy (no animosity) for those who keep on puffin'.
My friends I encourage not to smoke...
My enemies, I buyem cigarettes...Camels
minnesotasmith
04-25-2005, 14:32
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
04-25-2005, 14:37
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
04-25-2005, 14:41
Wow minnesotasmith , It sound like you could use a smoke! ;-)
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.
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
04-25-2005, 17:42
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
04-25-2005, 18:29
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.
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!
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
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
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.
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.
Lion King
04-26-2005, 14:13
There a great number of smokers out here...the butts drive me mad as well, but in general you will find them mainly at road accessible or higher then average 'touristy' or party areas...and some where sectioners hike well. Not even saying that some thru-hikers arent jerks and throw theirs down as well, because I have seen it and verbally bitchslapped those who do it.
The thing is this, with drinking, smoking good buds, smoking butts, whatever...be considerate of those around you, step out to the fire pit, or away from those who dont smoke, I ask folks...thats the best bet, and usually you will find most could give a rats ass if you smoke, they just dont want it in their faces.
And just because a fire pit is there doesnt mean it is ok to toss the butts there, that is nasty as leaving them on trial. Pack em out, keep them in a ziploc, store them in a pocket, whatever man, just take them.
Smoke um if you got um.
Stoker53
04-26-2005, 14:30
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.
Ahhh....A true Southern Gentleman. Well said rpettit !!
Footslogger
04-26-2005, 15:14
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.===================================
Ya know ...smoking and farting are a lot alike in that respect.
'Slogger
RockyTrail
04-26-2005, 15:19
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. We sure do...I used to hang around those places all the time too, don't know how I did it, it didn't bother me back then. Today, 30 years later I can tell if there is a smoker in the car 1/4 mile ahead of me on the highway but I'm not allergic or anything, it just stands out much more. Ever noticed how staying in the woods a long time will enhance the sense of smell? Not bashing smokers here, God bless them, my uncle warned me as a kid how addictive cigs are and I never forgot his words.
YerbaJon
04-26-2005, 15:25
Read somewhere that smoking increases your calorie needs, thus not good for thru hikers as calories are at a premium.
More addictive than cocaine said Attorney General years ago. Those looking to quit should consider brands that do not add amonia (causes 50 fold increase in addictive qualities); try rolled ciggaretts as they need no bud and general have no amonia. Good luck with that drug; some drugs are too good, ciggarettes and heroin are good examples. Best to enjoy lifes up and downs, not spoil it.
I quit smoking in October of 2000. I was smoking two packs a day. Started when I was 13. I used the patch to quit smoking and it worked incredibly well for me. I never even thought of a cig while I was wearing the patch. Took a week and a half and I haven't smoked a cig since.
i quit smoking in febuary 1985.i was a 3 pack a day smoker,when started coughing up blood at the age of 26,i fiqured it was time to quit:cool: neo
I'm an ex-smoker -- +20 years of a pack a day. I quit quite a while ago and haven't had a puff since. That said, I don't mind if others smoke around me. I don't act like smokers have contagious Ebola or as if they have violated some fundamental right that I have or that I will immediately fall over dead from lung cancer should second-hand smoke drift my way. I'm sure that I do certain things to irritate others and only hope that the habitually offended grant me the small courtesy to ignore whatever rule of etiquette I've broken.
i quit smoking about 25 years ago!
i had developed a love of those small (cigarette size) cigars & was smoking them as a cigarette...
needless to say...i developed a "hacking cough' after a few months...
i quit & never went back!
I occassionaly enjoy a decent cigar.
hope to meet a few of ya'll out there:
APR 28-May 20 Hot Springs, NC-Pearisburg, VA
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.
...opinionated fit?
I'm an ex-smoker -- +20 years of a pack a day. I quit quite a while ago and haven't had a puff since. That said, I don't mind if others smoke around me. I don't act like smokers have contagious Ebola or as if they have violated some fundamental right that I have or that I will immediately fall over dead from lung cancer should second-hand smoke drift my way. I'm sure that I do certain things to irritate others and only hope that the habitually offended grant me the small courtesy to ignore whatever rule of etiquette I've broken.
'the habitually offended' LOLOL great definition of some folks. LOLOL I gotta remember that one.
I quit smoking in October of 2000. I was smoking two packs a day. Started when I was 13. I used the patch to quit smoking and it worked incredibly well for me. I never even thought of a cig while I was wearing the patch. Took a week and a half and I haven't smoked a cig since.
I never was a "heavy" smoker. I started with cigarets -- like every one. Graduated to a pipe and cigars. Then 30 years ago a friend developed throat caner -- and insisted on smoking to and from chemo therapy. He died. But I thought I would quit, just to see if it was possible.
It is. But for me it was three years of agony.
How truly tragic and silly it is for young people to deliberately addict themselves to a product made by some of the largest and richest companies in the world, knowing that the product has a great chance of prematuring killing them.
Weary
When I was about six years old my non-smoking father and former-smoker mother had a neighbor over for dinner. He was no friend of my parents. A bitter racist with a foul mouth. I was suprised to hear that my father had asked him over at all.
Our guest was a chain-smoker. He was in his late 40's and at that point had throat cancer and had recently had a trachiotomy tube installed.
I will never forget him telling us in gulps of air through the tube that smoking was no good and that it was killing him.
None of us ever smoked.
As for others, I am always amazed when someone that would never throw a paper cup or other trash on the ground flicks a cigarette butt without a thought.
I regret that my days of going to bars for live music ended just before NY banned smoking. I used to come home and shower and throw my smoky clothes into the wash immediately.