There are plenty of jerks in the world and it sounds as if you ran into one of those! I have had such a positive response from smokers that I have approached. In fact, I shanghaied a drug rep at the hospital today and opened up with "you ought to try one of these." I feel l like a semi-evangelist at times LOL I never push, just offer info. More sharing than preaching (God knows that those of us who smoked know how maddeningly frustrated it is to deal with "preaching." I think we're more likely overall to get a positive response (or at least not a straight out negative one). Many smokers, after all, want to not want to smoke and this is a good option for such a smoker!
vape on!