Avoid inhaling cigarette smoke?

Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 17:19
Last edited 07/07/2014 - 10:49

Hey guys,

Any tips on avoiding cigarette smoke in public?

New to Australia, realizing that smoking in public is allowed. Especially down here in Sydney, where I'm visiting the missus for a bit.

It's impossible to walk anywhere without having anyone nearby lighting up a cig. I get that it might provide some relief to the chilly weather. However, inhaling even a bit of it gives me a headache, which tends to get worse with every whiff.

A face mask, perhaps (and have the general public mock me!) ? Burying my face in a handkerchief?

EDIT: For the incredulous few who wonder where I'm from :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans#Smoking_ba…
http://www.epha.org/a/1941

General Discussion

Comments

  • Food on 03/07/2014 - 17:35
    +10

    If you're wearing a jumper/sweater/long sleeve, just put the sleeve over your nose

    • grumpyhermit on 03/07/2014 - 17:41
      +5

      whilst pretending to cough to avoid awkwardness

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:19

      That's a good point, easy enough to put into action during winter!

  • zolinger on 03/07/2014 - 17:44
    +10

    Suffocate

    • Save Medicare on 05/07/2014 - 17:08
      +10

      ciggie butt brain

    • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2014 - 17:30

      Straight to the point. I like that

  • Schezwon on 03/07/2014 - 17:45
    +8

    Cross the street or make a detour in advance, just hold your breath or carry a oxygen tank or a super soaker. Just some silly ideas…or not. Sucks that you get headaches from 2nd smoke, we have bush fires here in summer.

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:21
      +4

      Thanks!
      It's just the cig smoke, normal smoke is tolerable :)

        • Rorschach on 07/07/2014 - 10:20
          +5

          Quite remarkable that your allergies can differentiate between cig smoke and "normal" smoke.

          Really? I must be quite gifted :)

    • rmamila on 03/07/2014 - 22:58
      +11

      I normally walk literally run past and overtake if any one walk the same direction while smoking in front.

  • c64 on 03/07/2014 - 18:12
    +37

    return a favour, walk up to a smoker and let loose with a wicked fart

    if it's any colsolation to you, they will probably die a horrible death from cancer later on in their lives

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:22
      +3

      LOL!
      That ain't a consolation, though! They're probably taking us with them!

      • scrimshaw on 04/07/2014 - 21:51
        +8

        Insult them from a distance. Fart in their general direction and tell em' their mother smelt of hamsters and father of elderberries.

        • Tihocan on 04/07/2014 - 22:05

          Iunderstoodthatreference.gif

  • scrimshaw on 03/07/2014 - 18:18
    +19

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Israeli-Civilian-Gas-Mask-w-Nato-…

    eBay seller description will convince you of how great this mask is.

  • sparkles on 03/07/2014 - 18:19
    +7

    Feel your pain. Ciggie smoke, especially in enclosed spaces, makes my eyes burn.

  • samfisher5986 on 03/07/2014 - 18:34
    +4

    This should suit what you want.

    http://www.amazon.com/First-Defense-Nasal-Screens-7-Sets/dp/…

    • WhyAmICommenting on 05/07/2014 - 00:35
      +2

      "Greatly reduces inhalation"

      Not sure that's a good thing…

      • samfisher5986 on 05/07/2014 - 01:42
        +1

        I don't know but they are meant to work.

        It seems like I'm the only one who posted a serious reply which is strange.

        • Rorschach on 07/07/2014 - 10:26

          Thanks, man!
          Though they do look hideous up close, these might just work!

  • GiggidyGoo on 03/07/2014 - 18:36
    +1

    Solar powered fan hat..

    http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Powered-Panel-Front-White/dp/B00…

    I can't gaurantee this product will work as I just googled to see if it existed..and it does!

    • scrimshaw on 03/07/2014 - 18:45

      That's actually going to blow the surrounding smoke into your face.

      • vocadata on 04/07/2014 - 08:17
        +4

        You could try reversing the battery polarity.

  • subywagon on 03/07/2014 - 18:44
    +22

    I'm so sick of public smoking…. Just ban it already.

    • Aneurism on 04/07/2014 - 22:24
      +3

      I'm sick of drink drivers. They should just ban alcohol already. Unfortunately blanket bans won't solve problems.

    • twig on 06/07/2014 - 00:16
      +2

      Unfortunately, the government make too much money from the taxes to stop it.

    • deal seeking missile on 06/07/2014 - 02:34

      i though it was already banned in certain public spaces
      http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-15-smokefree-en…

    • abh_gup on 09/07/2014 - 09:20

      The government of Australia is too weak. They are far too crippled to say no to smokers money, with an insatiable budget appetite coupled with predatory taxation on smokers' delights. They don't have it in them to just 'go cold turkey' and ban it all (if it 'were' illegal, lol)…

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:24
      +2

      Ah, not sure of the etiquette around here.
      Where else should have I posted such a trivial matter?

    • Tal_Shiar on 04/07/2014 - 18:57
      +2

      a bushfire is a life and death situation, someone blowing smoke in the face or into the air a non smoker is going to inhale from is just being rude and inconsiderate!

      • alittlelewd on 04/07/2014 - 20:22
        -2

        "someone blowing smoke … into the air a non smoker is going to inhale from is just being rude and inconsiderate!

        It would really depend on the situation. If someone is having a cigarette and I walk past them as they smoke then I wouldn't consider the smoker inconsiderate.

        I don't consider the truck drivers inconsiderate when I try to go for a run around the park but their fumes are billowing out on the road as I run past.

        It's just life.

        • Tal_Shiar on 04/07/2014 - 20:39

          It would really depend on the situation. If someone is having a cigarette and I walk past them as they smoke then I wouldn't consider the smoker inconsiderate.

          it's more the reverse situation that annoys me, if i interact or walk past a smoker that's my problem, them walking past me is theirs lol

        • Baghern on 05/07/2014 - 22:24
          -4

          Car fumes don't actually have the same dense effect as cigarette smoke…

          That is car fumes go straight up.

          That's why you in peak hour in the city 1000s of people are walking calmly next to the non stop cars

          But when a smoker lights up, it stays/floats in the air as far back as 20-30meters, thats when you hear the coughing.

        • SirFlibbled on 06/07/2014 - 11:44
          +7

          Reminds me of when I was a smoker. I'd always be considerate and go smoke away from general traffic. But you'd often get idiots who's indignation would override their common sense.

          For example, I was be at a park and for a smoke I'd walk 20-25 metres away from anyone and sat at bench and lit up. A minute or so later a woman approached and sat at the same table. She then starts to obviously fake cough and turns around and says "excuse me can you go smoke that filthy thing somewhere else. I'm trying to sit here".

          I just looked at her, said "Nope I was here first, maybe you should have considered that before you sat down" and finished my smoke. Now I would have just walked away at this point but I was annoyed by her. So I lit another and made sure the smoke went in her direction.

    • twinbag on 05/07/2014 - 08:52
      +1

      a passing whiff of 2nd hand smoke in open air is not going to cause a headache/give you terminal cancer or take your first born.

      Car exhaust fumes will do far more damage to a non smokers health than cigarettes.

  • modsec802 on 03/07/2014 - 18:53
    +22

    The one thing where QLD is in front is public smoking. No in all restaurants, cafés, bars. Banned in places like malls and beaches. Excellent and progressive.

    I hate travelling to Sydney and Melbourne when sitting eating at a cafe and someone lights up. Seems so wrong.

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:25

      Amen bro!
      I'm based in Brisbane, much better down there. Though they do have smoking joints just around the bus stops!

    • [Deactivated] on 04/07/2014 - 08:44
      +1

      The ACT also has this rule - heaven!

    • thereyougo on 04/07/2014 - 08:52
      +2

      I'm in surfers at the moment, plenty of filth smoking in caville ave and on the beach, don't get me started about the world's. Ban smoking all together or just die!

      • massafiri on 04/07/2014 - 18:54
        +9

        I'm not a smoker, and I hate ciggerettes, but if we want our own freedoms, we need to give freedom.
        Banning smoking just gives more power to governments which is the opposite of what a democracy represents.

        • alittlelewd on 04/07/2014 - 19:34
          +1

          Exactly.

          What's it with people wanting to live in a nanny state? If you don't want to have smokers in the bar you want to go to, go to a different bar!

          Freedom =! taking away other peoples freedom, it doesn't work like that.

        • thereyougo on 04/07/2014 - 22:57

          It's not about governments, it's about people's health and people dieing from cancer. Get over the politics, it's not cool to smoke, you just die.

        • massafiri on 05/07/2014 - 13:06
          +3

          @thereyougo:
          Banning smoking is politics.

        • Baghern on 05/07/2014 - 22:25
          +4

          smoking infringes on the rights of others. Its not all about you.

        • SirFlibbled on 06/07/2014 - 11:46
          +6

          Those sort of people are perfectly fine with a nanny state until we start banning things they like.

        • Thaal Sinestro on 08/07/2014 - 00:02
          +1

          Generally taking away freedoms is a bad thing. The state should serve the people, as opposed to the people serving the state. But for society to function it is necessary to take away freedoms that allow people to injure other people. No arson, murder, muggings, rapings, robbery, slavery, air & water pollution, terrorist attacks, drunk driving, etc. Cigarette smoking is carcinogenic, and because it is "aerialized" it harms anything that respires. I would not have issues with cigarette smokers if they harmed just themselves, but it sickens others as well.

          The prescription drug Vioxx (an aspirin like drug) got pulled because it slightly increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes (it made the blood a little 'stickier', more likely to clot). I took it for a year but of course am still alive and well. Cigarette smoking is far more harmful than Vioxx ever was (atherosclerogenic, carcinogenic, and so on) yet it is freely available. Why the double standards?

          Just like I dislike air pollution (eg coal dust), I dislike haiving to breath cigarette smoke every time I am outside in a public place. City centres are the worst for this. You cannot walk 25 metres within passing a smoker.

  • Cheeper on 03/07/2014 - 22:20
    +3

    LOL… " However, inhaling even a bit of it gives me a headache,"

    Do not join the fire brigade…

    • Rorschach on 03/07/2014 - 22:26

      Never!
      Out here to study IT, anything to do with fire is faaaaar away from my thoughts!

  • ihbh on 03/07/2014 - 23:40
    +7

    Hold your breath as you walk past. Same applies to polluted vehicles.

  • juventino on 04/07/2014 - 00:03
    +1

    tell them smokers you have infectious disease, you'll see them starting thread on 'how to identify people with aforementioned disease' :)

  • WT on 04/07/2014 - 12:01
    +1

    get one of those bubbles, just tell everyone you have no immune system

  • Third_Gear on 04/07/2014 - 17:15
    +2

    Buy a hat. Tie a fish to it. Wear hat.

    Smokers will stay away from you! Problem solved.

  • h4zey on 04/07/2014 - 18:09
    +1

    where do you come from again?

    • No ONE on 04/07/2014 - 18:22
      +4

      Why, does it matter?

      • delusioned on 06/07/2014 - 12:41

        I'm particularly interested to know as well - OP says where he comes from there's no public smoking? Is this enforced?

        • SirFlibbled on 06/07/2014 - 19:42

          Not to mention Australia is pretty good compared to most other countries with limits on where you can smoke, high price of cigarettes and low numbers of smokers.

        • Rorschach on 07/07/2014 - 10:32
          +1

          Ah, didn't realize this question would be of concern. Quite some countries have laws that ban it, including Australia :)
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans#Smoking_ba…

          It is enforced back at my place, but mainly so that the fines are pocketed by the enforcers themselves :P

        • SirFlibbled on 07/07/2014 - 16:55
          +1

          Australia doesn't ban smoking in ALL public places. Just select ones.

  • Twodogs on 04/07/2014 - 18:53
    +6

    The pollution in sydney will kiil you quicker :-) , go for a walk in the country side , and despite them saying passive smoking is bad , i for one dont think so especially outdors . Indoors maybe different as the smoke would get trapped in.

  • MelC on 04/07/2014 - 19:27

    I used to be a smoker, but it never gave me relief from the chilly weather, made it worse having to go out in it to have one. I would suggest staying indoors if you suffer that badly from even a whiff of them - our government needs smokers to pay taxes so they are not going away…

    • alittlelewd on 04/07/2014 - 19:38
      +5

      Also prohibition never works - it just creates a black market and the money will go to criminals instead of paying for schools, hospitals and roads as the taxes do currently.

      • Baghern on 05/07/2014 - 22:31
        -7

        The biggest problem with smoking isn't the effect on the user, its the effect on others, who choose not to smoke..

        Smoking is such pariah habit now, you don't see groups of smokers smoking together, now you see them spread out of a large area infecting everyone with smoke.

        Less and less people smoke these days, but goto any corner traffic light and see the litter of cigarette buts there. Does freedom to smoke also mean freedom to litter?

        • alittlelewd on 06/07/2014 - 16:09
          -2

          "Does freedom to smoke also mean freedom to litter?"

          If you eat meat (something people consider to be just as bad, or worse than smoking) are you free to go next door and kill your neighbours dog to make a plate of sausages for dinner?

          The short answer to both those questions is the same.

        • MelC on 07/07/2014 - 18:18

          I don't think the issue here is littering, and I really don't see how you can compare people eating meat (or killing pets) to smoking.
          The 'short answer' to is it ok to leave children unattended in cars, is also the same but also entirely unrelated to this discussion.

        • johnno07 on 07/07/2014 - 21:52

          @alittlelewd: I'm sorry - but when did eating meat become "just as bad, or worse than smoking"?

  • leiiv on 04/07/2014 - 20:33

    I don't think a face mask or handkerchief will help much. A gas or hazmat mask is bulky and too inconvenience. A portable air breather seems perfect, but the problem is that I only see them in movies:
    http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/05/09/gadget…
    http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/rq52d66598.jpg

    Maybe this one is the closest thing you can get: http://www.spareair.com/

    • scrimshaw on 04/07/2014 - 21:49

      Why not just buy can of compressed air from Officeworks for $2.50? Take a huff of it when you can no longer stand cig smoke.

      • leiiv on 04/07/2014 - 23:28

        That is for removing dust. Are you sure it is safe to breath the air from it?

        • scrimshaw on 04/07/2014 - 23:47
          +10

          For the sake of your health and those silly enough to take my joke as a recommendation I'm going to answer this question with a big, bolded

          NO

  • voteoften on 04/07/2014 - 21:38

    At Perth airport, the smoking area was adjacent to the queue for taxis. Sometimes the wait for cabs is very long. I just can not understand how they are able to smoke within 50m of any doorway or any area where people have to wait. I think it is now not banned near the taxi area, but not promoted as a smoking area. Perth is so backward,

  • c0balt on 04/07/2014 - 21:57
    +1

    There are medical conditions that can cause headaches from second hand smoke. Particularly respiratory problems that may already put you in a higher cancer risk than a smoker who doesn't have that condition.

    It might be worth addressing that.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2014 - 00:02
    +3

    Most importantly, which country are you from? I would love to go to this utopia where I could walk around in public without having to be bothered by second hand cigarette smoke!

  • MoMoney on 05/07/2014 - 08:44
    +2

    Eat a bag of cement.

  • thanatos350 on 05/07/2014 - 15:00
    +2

    Somebody in the comments mentioned how car fumes were more of a concern than cigarette smoke. This is correct. You are going to be exposed to a lot more worrisome things than somebody briefly walking past with a smoke.

    Regardless of what you think, it is something that people like to do. However, that is not to say that smokers shouldn't exercise some degree of etiquette when smoking in the presence of non-smokers.

    Where could you possibly hail from where smoking in public is not permitted?

  • save my dollarydoos on 05/07/2014 - 16:23
    +6

    I smoke. I know a particularly non-ozbargainy thing to do. I'll stop it sooner or later.

    I do my best to avoid "collateral damage" I stand where the wind wont carry the smoke into someone elses direction, I carry around a personal enclosed ashtray, I don't fling my butts onto the ground, I hold my cigerette far away from young children walking past and generally try to stick to places where I can mind my own business and not affect anyone else who isn't already smoking. And I certainly don't smoke in those areas designated smoke free.

    Etiquette goes both ways however - don't walk up to someone smoking whose been sitting on a park bench or standing in a particular spot minding their own business reading their book/drinking their coffee/whatever - and then get annoyed/huffy about the secondary smoke around you.

    Until the day comes where it will illegal to smoke anywhere at home or illegal altogether, just be thankful its no longer the age where smokers were given free reign throughout offices, planes, bars and other very public and enclosed spaces.

    As for your current issue I have one slightly d**kish suggestion albeit one that isn't as bad as some of those above.

    Provided you really haven't been around smoking from whatever country you do hail from - expose yourself to more smoke and deal with it, maybe have a couple of puffs yourself somewhere where you can sit down (don't actually take up smoking yourself!) - I had that headache issue myself a long time ago when I was much younger, you do get used to it. The headache thing does pass (this happened for me a long time before I actually took up smoking myself)

    • Baghern on 05/07/2014 - 22:33

      I thought it was already illegal to smoke in parks?

      • save my dollarydoos on 05/07/2014 - 23:07

        Some maybe. Not all.

      • [Deactivated] on 06/07/2014 - 14:19

        Not in parks I don't think, just near children's play equipment.

    • Rorschach on 07/07/2014 - 10:40

      Ah, I did try it back in college for my undergrad, where it was highly recommended to improve your concentration and was supposed to give you super powers to stay up all night. Needless to say, I slept like a baby because of the headache :D
      Almost every damn time!

  • Andrew H on 05/07/2014 - 18:27
    +2

    Ever since I've been a child as a reaction to smelling or seeing cigarette smoke (or about to smoke a cigarette) I will immediately hold my breathe and stop inhaling through my nose and move as quickly as possible from the emission. I rarely need to do it these days, except when outside major shopping centers in Canberra or in the Sydney CBD. But I suppose that's also because I don't get out much.

  • mb0005 on 05/07/2014 - 19:51

    Some people especially from asian countries wear masks in the city when they are sick so they dont cough all over other people which is polite, some also wear masks because they are used to living in denser cities with smog and dust. Its not common but it is accepted that people wear a masks when they feel the need. If people mock you for protecting your own lungs against the crap they smoke then they are no good.

    • Feeblely on 05/07/2014 - 19:56

      yup most people do. but its not cos their sick. mainly due to the pollution and yellow dust. also its to protect their skin from sunlight lol. my aunties are obsessed pale skin =.=

      • manbearpig on 06/07/2014 - 04:44

        That's probably true in China with the pollution. In Japan people usually wear them to either not get sick or to not spread their sickness.

  • sillyguy on 05/07/2014 - 21:40
    -1

    Inhaling fart is way healthier than inhaling cigarette smoke. Smoking in public is way way worse than farting.

  • Diji1 on 05/07/2014 - 23:08
    +9

    I'm not doubting you suffer the symptoms you describe and they have a negative impact upon your life but have you considered that they may be psychosomatic?

    Because really in my view the amount of byproducts you inhale from someone smoking a cigarette in an open air area would be miniscule and it makes wonder why it's only this that affects you rather than other combustion byproducts from fires, motor vehicles, electricity generation and so on. I have made the assumption that the latter things do not effect you of course.

    Psychosomatic symptoms are not uncommon and are often associated with public hysteria over health issues. An example of this is people suffering symptoms from MSG despite almost all of them showing no symptoms when they ingest in unknowingly.

    I am not trying to diminish the effects that you feel or imply that tobacco smoke is not harmful in high enough concentrations.

    • xsacha on 06/07/2014 - 04:30
      +3

      I get headaches from breathing in cigarette smoke as well. Other smoke (such as fire) doesn't cause any ill effects unless in a very high concentration. If I get a lot of cigarette smoke (eg. blown in to my face), it makes my heart race and I feel nauseous too.
      I've learnt to hold my breath (since a kid) whenever I see it or smell it and have been fine. Only issue now is if the neighbours smoke and the house fills with it.
      I wasn't brought up with cigarette smoke being a 'bad thing'. Most the adults I talked to as a kid had told me it was OK, smelled good and got upset if I had to leave the room from the smell.

      Since you mention it, I also have a reaction to MSG. I always show symptoms when I ingest it unknowingly though. One of my relatives even tested adding it to my soup once and I got a 'salt' headache afterwards. Confused me because they never use MSG but I had to ask him if he used it this time and he did (everyone else at the table started laughing because he had told them about the test beforehand).
      It has a similar effect to eating large amounts of salt in that I get a headache unless I have had plenty of water. Salt headaches feel different to other kinds of headaches so you can usually tell what it is from.
      If I get a headache after eating a snack, I usually check the packet and find it has MSG and try not to eat so much of it next time. Eating a full packet of chips with MSG will give me a pretty bad headache but if I only eat half the packet, the headache is bearable/mild. Same packets of chips have been giving me headaches since I can remember (and before I even knew what MSG was).

      I used to think I was alone but I actually know several people now who experience the exact same symptoms. One of them eats MSG all the time but only recently worked out that it was the cause of her random headaches.

    • [Deactivated] on 06/07/2014 - 14:26
      +1

      I get headaches from cigarette smoke (but not other smoke) too. I have no idea why. My sister does as well.

      I also get headaches from a random assortment of food chemicals, the packets of powdered parmesan cheese in particular (real stuff is ok). When I lived at college I used to try to avoid it and ask the cook all the time and not eat the food it was in. He thought it was psychosomatic and lied to me one day and told me it wasn't in a particular dish - and was amazed the next day when I told him I'd had an awful headache all day and couldn't work out why (to which he then confessed what he'd done).

      So no, it's not always in peoples' heads. Some people are a lot more sensitive to things than others.

      I just do my best to avoid smokers and hold my breath if near them.

  • dlakers3peat on 06/07/2014 - 12:18
    -3

    Yeah don't breathe.

  • Ordinance on 06/07/2014 - 12:40
    +9

    Reasons to ban cigarettes:

    -Unlike alcohol, MDMA, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms and most likely cannabis, there is no safe level of tobacco consumption. And unlike these drugs, the use of nicotine has very little potential for personal, social or medicinal benefit.

    -Tobacco is more addictive than any of the substances listed above.

    -Less educated people are more likely to take up smoking, contributing to greater inequality in our society - the majority of people getting hooked are those that can least afford it.

    -Unlike the alcohol industry, the tobacco industry is of little to no cultural value to Australia.

    -Second hand smoke in public has a direct, negative and often unavoidable impact on the health of others, especially children, the infirmed and the elderly. Health affects aside, most non-smokers consider second hand smoke to be an unpleasant nuisance.

    -Even accounting for tax revenue, the burden of smoking related disease (medical expenditure, sick days and diminished working life) produces a net cost to the country (http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-17-economics/17…).

    Reasons to keep tobacco legal:

    -People have the right to use tobacco because banning drugs is an affront to our person freedoms and democracy.

    Aside from the bogus tax revenue argument, this is the only real argument for keeping tobacco legal. However, smokers need to consider how tobacco use encroaches upon the freedom of others. Shouldn't a person be free to breath clean air in a public place? Shouldn't tax payers be free from paying to treat the injury that smokers cause themselves and others? Shouldn't workers be free of the need to work harder to compensate for the greater number of sick days their smoking colleagues are statistically likely to take?

    Furthermore, this argument completely fails to account for the prohibition of illegal drugs. It's rare to hear anybody claim that we live in a nanny state because cocaine is illegal, even though cocaine and tobacco have been found to cause roughly equal amounts of harm to the user.

    All of this information is from memory of peer reviewed articles on the subject I've read through. I couldn't be bothered finding them all for the sake of referencing this post but if anybody has any doubts about any of the above claims I'd be happy to cite them.

    • Ordinance on 06/07/2014 - 13:58

      Christ, have the courage and decency to engage with my argument rather than blindly neg.

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