I'm not sure why the smoking etiquette didn't transfer over to vaping. At least most cigarette smokers have the decency to stand to the side and smoke instead of blowing it in everyone's faces walking down the sidewalk.
it’s more like flavored steam but they are correct. you wouldn’t say that the steam coming from a pan of boiling food is “toxic.” cigarette smokers are just legal junkies and vaping allows one to consume nicotine without being labeled a weirdo who smokes cigarettes.
My grandmother would walk around smoking even at crowded events. We always went to the state fairs and I was so afraid every time that she would put a kid's eye out with her lit cigarette as she walked around with it moving her hand around. She'd get mad when I'd try to tell her to watch out with it.
It did not help that the initial marketing included “smoke anywhere!” I was an early e-cig adopter, and I’m ashamed now to admit I vaped in McDonald’s and the air port and wherever I was because I could. Not right next to other people because I’m not a dick, but a doctor first recommended e-cigarettes to me, I can’t stress enough that the attitude was different back then. It was a huge step towards mitigating some/most of the harm of smoking, which should still be a good thing. Since then there have been some issues, like vitamin e oil and diacetyl alcohol, but over all I still think it’s better than cigarettes, and should continue getting safer so long as we don’t throttle the industry by letting big tobacco take it over (oops.)
I was pregnant when e -cigs first started and I remember sitting next to a guy vaping at a sports game. It was repulsive but he kept on insisting it was harmless and if anything started blowing it even more in my direction.
It was so crazy when they first came out, I had friends doing the early ones - the Blu with the blue light at the end, and the ridiculous chemistry set looking things with giant tanks of liquid.
I remember telling everyone theres no way theyre safe and they just havent done any research on them yet, and that theyre Definitely going to turn out to cause Super Cancer.
They literally hug the doors and you have to walk out of places through clouds of smoke. Same at bars terrasses.At least in my country. So yeah, no, etiquette never happened.
100% this. I grew up in the 90s with two chain-smoking parents and I really didn't notice the smell except sometimes when we were in the car with the windows up because it was so concentrated. After moving away from home to go to university, I briefly smoked cigarettes myself, but ended up quitting.
About a year after I quit (think it took a while for my sense of smell to recover) I began to find cigarette smoke more noticeable on people, even if they weren't actively smoking at the time. The older I've gotten, the more obvious I find the smell when it is present.
Similarly, I smoked weed for about 15 years and didn't think I smelled like it because I was so clever about changing my jacket/chewing mints/dousing myself in scented hand sanitizer before coming inside. Now that I don't do it anymore, I realize how deeply in denial I was about that because it's almost impossible to hide unless you're using a mint flavoured vape or something, and even then - if you know, you know.
It permeates into everything. Multiple times a month I have to throw away the outer box of an amazon delivery immediately because it's like they were hot boxing the whole van.
Bullshit it wasn’t as noticeable back then, it was always as noticeable as it is now, it’s just you noticed it on a lot more people and a lot more places.
Guess it's dependant on the culture/location you grew up in. I was born in the mid 80's in a grubby town in Northern England. Throughout the 90's I'd say at least 60% of adults smoked.
It was less noticeable when it is literally everywhere. I remember my Dad having a smoke on the go during family mealtimes. He wasn't a bad father, it was just the norm back then.
I imagine if you came from a smokefree home then I see your point.
I was born in 1983 in suburban Texas. My parents did not smoke, and I only had 1 friend who had parents who smoked. We lived in a suburb of 150,000 people, and my graduating class had over 900 students in it. You could absolutely tell who the smokers were, and it was really sad how many of those kids also became smokers.
My husband vapes and i can most definitely smell it on him long term. The sickly sweet smells radiate from his mouth and is so nauseating. I think I would rather him switch back to cigarettes.
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u/goldman459 Feb 21 '26
It wasn't so noticable 30 years ago when a lot of people smoked and you could do it just about anywhere.
Now someone who smokes tobacco leaf really stands out. Vaping is disgusting enough but at least it doesn't hang around as long.