Any "older" members still recall the time when smoking was acceptable indoors?

[AngelicTomPetty]

If everyone was smoking for years, lets say in a pool hall or something - doesnt that just make the environment in there disgusting? Tar buildup around lights, stale smoke smell? Was that just apart of the scenery to people?

Ive gone into the homes of people who smoke indoors for work, usually retired people, and the living environment in their just sucks. Everything that should be coloured white is beige, and the smell of stale smoke everywhere, etc. I had to clean a blower motor once for a guys furnace, and it was caked in horribly nasty cigarette grime.

 

[mcol]

Everyone back then also wasn't allergic to everything under the sun,
and kids weren't sick all the time. And doctors didn't blame everything
from headaches to an ingrown toenail on smoking, go figure.

 

[choochoogranny]

My 50 yr. old child's first pediatrition smoked right in the examination room with us in Atlanta 1966. Everywhere I worked I smoked.... large companies and small. Never asked if I smoked not even for ins. purposes. No restaurant had a "smoking section", you could smoke anywhere. I never heard about stinking up the place from non smokers. Dated plenty. Second husband is a non smoker.

Perhaps everyone just got use to the smell since near 50% of the adult population did smoke? I do know smokers and non smokers ate together, drank together, played, worked and lived together and there was never a word of complaint by the non smokers. Maybe people were just "heartier" then PLUS people were free to leave at any time and not frequent venues they found uncomfortable.

 

[mcol]

My 50 yr. old child's first pediatrition smoked right in the examination room with us in Atlanta 1966. Everywhere I worked I smoked.... large companies and small. Never asked if I smoked not even for ins. purposes. No restaurant had a "smoking section", you could smoke anywhere. I never heard about stinking up the place from non smokers. Dated plenty. Second husband is a non smoker.

Perhaps everyone just got use to the smell since near 50% of the adult population did smoke? I do know smokers and non smokers ate together, drank together, played, worked and lived together and there was never a word of complaint by the non smokers. Maybe people were just "heartier" then PLUS people were free to leave at any time and not frequent venues they found uncomfortable.

Exactly.,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Kivrin]

I used to LOVE cigarette vending machines when I was a small child in the 70's. My parents were always dragging me to fancy restaurants and I would go play with the cigarette vending machines. They usually had two rows with a big shiny brass knobs under each brand. You could pull on the knobs and pretend to buy packs. I had all the brands memorized and used to tell people which brand I was going to smoke when I grew up and they would all just laugh.

 

[CMD-Ky]

Cigarette used to be given to service members. Little four packs were distributed as samples without cost. Physicians smoked in hospitals. There was no public discrimination against smokers in the late forties, the fifties and sixties. I have no personal experience before the late forties. Pregnant women had no advisories about smoking. And, this will slay you, alcohol was used IV to slow deliveries whether to stop per-mature deliveries or to to slow contractions allowing the doc time to get to the hospital. Restrictions on smoking began toward the late seventies and were full bore in the eighties.

I was born in 1990 so I have never seen anyone smoking indoors, but I have been watching some movies from the 80s and it seems like everyone was lighting up anywhere without even a bat of the eye.

Is it true that people would smoke casually in banks, airplanes, restaurants, etc - without any uproar? It blows my mind that this period in time existed. Like didnt anyone complain about the smell? About kids being around? Second hand?

Do any members who lived in that time have any stories to offer, I find this stuff kind of interesting.

 

[CMD-Ky]

AngelicTomPetty;15390736]If everyone was smoking for years, lets say in a pool hall or something - doesnt that just make the environment in there disgusting? Tar buildup around lights, stale smoke smell? Was that just apart of the scenery to people?

** In a word, "Yes".

Ive gone into the homes of people who smoke indoors for work, usually retired people, and the living environment in their just sucks. Everything that should be coloured white is beige, and the smell of stale smoke everywhere, etc. I had to clean a blower motor once for a guys furnace, and it was caked in horribly nasty cigarette grime.

** Just like his lungs.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Maybe it is just because people back then didn't have it drilled into them that smoking was so demonic even the aroma from it is unbearable?

 

[dhock50]

I remember when I was young my mom would send me into the store to buy her cigarettes! It was no big deal then. I grew up with cigarette machines everywhere and at my first job after college, we smoked at our desks, and that was in the 90s when things were changing in regards to smoking. I started smoking at 15 and am now in my 50s. A year and a half smoke free thanks to vaping!

 

[horton]

I also remember physicians smoking in the exam and consultation rooms of their offices. Can clearly remember one doc who smoked unfiltered Camels.....wow, that brings back some dusty old memories.....lol. Smoking was OK everywhere when I was a kid -- I honestly can't think of anywhere where it was forbidden, well OK, probably in OR's or highly flammable areas.
Things sure have changed.... I'm now taking a nice casual walk down memory lane.....

 

[retired1]

We used to get a small pack of smokes in our C-Rations when I first joined the military. We couldn't smoke inside the barracks during basic, but the DIs would make sure we got plenty of smoke breaks while outside.

Smokes back then were about 2 bucks a carton in the Commissary making it a cheap habit to maintain, even on E-1 pay.

It wasn't until the mid-80s when they started to crack down on where you could smoke. Eventually, entire buildings were designated "No Smoking" and we started to have to stand outside to feed our habits.

 

[tj99959]

Why did you have to remind me of C-rations ........................ WHY

 

[djsvapour]

I'm enjoying this thread

I remember smoking in pool halls (snooker), cinemas, planes, shops, elevators; the only restriction was up to the conscience of smokers.

You could even wait for the doctor by passing the time with a cigarette.

It's a miracle I never ended up on 40 a day. I was educated at a time when the dangers were constantly repeated to young people.... all the good it did.

 

[Just Me]

Maybe it is just because people back then didn't have it drilled into them that smoking was so demonic even the aroma from it is unbearable?

Honestly, I don't remember cigarette smoke smelling as horrible back then as it does now. It's just my theory, but I think they must have made some "changes" to them over the years. I do know after they changed the paper on cigarettes some years back, my brand never tasted the same again.

I'm 63, so I do remember the days when people smoked in grocery stores, movie theaters, dentists' offices, doctors' offices, hospitals and everywhere else. At the moment, I can't think of one place where smoking wasn't allowed back then. My geometry teacher in high school probably took at least two smoke breaks per one hour class every day. She was was in the lounge more than the class! LOL

Some of the old game shows like To Tell the Truth, What's My Line, I've Got a Secret, You Bet Your Life and others gave out cartons of cigarettes (sponsors of the show) to their contestants every week.

 

[Nermal]

Since I started in the mid '50s, I remember being able to smoke anywhere, except theaters, and that was due to fire regulations. I had a funny experience in Tulsa in the '70s. Took the wife to a dinner theater. Could smoke before and after eating, but before the play began we were advised that the place was now a legitimate theater so smoking was not allowed. I was somewhat disgruntled.

 

[snork]

What's entertaining to me about this thread is how completely incomprehensible this all is to AngelicTomPetty.

 

[Bikenstein]

We used to get a small pack of smokes in our C-Rations when I first joined the military. We couldn't smoke inside the barracks during basic, but the DIs would make sure we got plenty of smoke breaks while outside.

Smokes back then were about 2 bucks a carton in the Commissary making it a cheap habit to maintain, even on E-1 pay.

It wasn't until the mid-80s when they started to crack down on where you could smoke. Eventually, entire buildings were designated "No Smoking" and we started to have to stand outside to feed our habits.

After marching in formation every 15 min. Halt! At ease! Smoke em if ya got em! ................But then later you would be "policing" cigarette butts

 

[kfolse107]

I remember people smoking inside shopping malls...not in the stores themselves but in the general area

I was born in 1959. I remember smoking in the mall, in almost all stores including clothing stores, grocery stores, restaurants, almost everywhere.

 

[retired1]

Why did you have to remind me of C-rations ........................ WHY

Oh man. I LOVED the beans and wieners! Stew wasn't too bad, either! I still carry a P-38 on my key ring, too!

 

[AngelicTomPetty]

What's entertaining to me about this thread is how completely incomprehensible this all is to AngelicTomPetty.

I admit, after I stopped smoking I kind of turned into a crazy annoying health nut. People have told me to shut up as less than a year ago I was a smoking beer drinking tradesguy. I still NEVER smoked indoors and chewed gum religiously. I was still in tune to the fact that this habit was offensive to the senses, especially others though.