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Comment by paule89 | Hacker News Reader

I kinda understand what it must feel like to have the urge to just smoke a cigarette. And also the social circle which together takes a 10 minute break can be creative.

But for me as a non smoker it is so often annoying. Going to University and often is somebody walking in front of me smoking and I walking directly into it, with no way to avoid it. Waiting for the train and the smoke blows into my direction. I am glad that vaping is getting more and more established. No annoying smell for me. And yes I may be downvoted into Oblivion. But for non smokers the smell is just disgusting.

So I am still greatful for smoking areas. Because it contains the smoke to certain parts of the building which I can avoid.

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It is simply not true that the smell is disgusting for nonsmokers in general. I know too many nonsmokers who like the smell of a cigarette outdoors, and will try to get closer if they see someone smoking as they walk by to enjoy the smell. And I'm not a smoker, so it's not selection bias.

Some people are genuinely sensitive to the smell, and will be inevitably replused by it. This isn't that different from people who are especially sensitive to fragrances and get a headache when someone wearing perfume walks by. But I suspect that many more people have simply been conditioned to find the smell disgusting.

It's like beer. Most people don't like beer the first time they try it. Some don't find it disgusting, even at first, but no one likes beer at first taste in the way that people who like beer like beer. But imagine if you were told that beer is disgusting, that it will kill you, and imagine if you were constantly shown pictures of the organs of people dying from beer drinking. Imagine if the people you saw drinking beer were largely delinquents. It would be entirely different, and you would be much less likely to come to appreciate the flavor of beer.

In Japan they still allow smoking in restaurants, and it's really common to complain about the smoke stench that ends up on clothes or your bag afterwards.

I can admit to mostly liking cigarette smell, but I'm not a fan of carrying around the smoke on my body afterwards. Especially in smaller restaurants where there's just no escape.

It's like people listening to music without headphones. I might like the beats, but other people might not. The easiest thing to do is ask people to think of others

Yes, agreed, indoor smoking is annoying. It also may have health consequences for people who are constantly excited to it, like restaurant staff. It's reasonable and in my opinion desirable for indoor venues to prohibit smoking. I like the shell of fresh smoke, not stale.

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