Smoking in Southern California

[sowhat]

I've always thought smoking in front of a playing band is kind of like saying: "Hey, guys, you s#ck! I don't give you respect". Cause a) people on stage can also be smokers, feel nervous & want to take a whiff, or they may be allergic to smoke, or simply not like its "odour"; b) the show goes on for a couple of hours or so - why not wait until it's over?
Smoking while holding a guitar was always a no-no for me - i mean, some people do that and even put a lit cig under the strings on the headstock, but it always seemed strange to me, to say the least (and i cannot say proudly i belong to the non-smokers league - unfortunately. But then again, i wouldn't mind if somebody farts in my presence).

[jingle_jangle]

I occasionally enjoy a good cigar, and have for over 35 years. I've never been a ciggie smoker, although once, for a movie shoot (I briefly had an acting career) I had to smoke pack after pack of 25-year-old NOS Luckies for a group of scenes that supposedly took place in 1965. After two days of this, I could hardly speak, and my throat felt like raw liver...

There are two houses on my steep hillside lot. The house below's patio is right under my deck, separated by a railing and some bamboo. It's about 50 feet from my windows.

Every evening the woman living below sits on her patio and chain smokes. If I leave my windows open, my own house smells like a Motel 6.

[atomic_punk]

Damn, I'm gonna have to hook myself up with the Patch for the weekend...

[shamustwin]

I almost do a double take when I see someone smoking...it's seems the exception now...I've heard recently that California has the lowest rate per capita of smokers in the country.

[rickaddict]

Paul-

If I were you I think I'd have to rig up some sort of tube that carries all the urine from my house and deposits it near her patio.

Then I'd start buying LaBatt Blue by the truckload.

[jingle_jangle]

Jerry, you'd never know it in SF. I feel like I'm in Paris around here.

Jeff, great idea. But I think it's time for:

Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority!

Steve, I didn't know they made Fart Patches...

[sowhat]

No way to talk her into stopping that? I mean kind of a general rule of living in society: you can do whatever you feel doing like unless it troubles the others (especially if it may trouble young kids)?
I dunno. Maybe it's her kind of therapy ("cheaper than the doctor"), but if it troubles the others... hey, didn't i say that in the previous paragraph?

[jingle_jangle]

In California, it's "live and let live", unfortunately, when it comes to neighbors.

I do understand that she should be able to smoke in her own home.

[johnallg]

Sometimes you just have to bite it and take it with neighbors. In the winter, we liked to have a window open at night, but the neighbor to the east (chimney 25 feet from out bedroom window) has a wood burning stove he uses all winter with green wood he gets in late fall. Unfortunately most of the winter the wind comes out of the east. We did say his smoke is permeating our house but it didn't stop him. Oh well....

[jingle_jangle]

...and I got home today after another 14-hour day, and I unlock the front door, and--bang! the smell hits me. I walk to the window and look down. There's nobody on her patio, but three burning butts are in the ashtray on the patio table...

Well, I have these little glass vials that smell like skunk/rotten egg when they are broken open. We used to put them in a "friend's" pickup truck, right in the seat rails, so that when he moved the seat back...

Only problem is that I'd have to keep my own windows closed for a coupla days, so I guess I'll start firing up a cigar when I get home, and fight fumes with fumes!

[jnbass]

"morning breeze"?

[sowhat]

In California, it's "live and let live", unfortunately, when it comes to neighbors.

That's right but... in this case, i'd say she doesn't "let live". I mean, what if she was "chain smoking" the weed (btw, how many "arms" does this "chain" have? three? five? more?! and hey, leaving burning butts is somehow beyond my understanding - let's face it, snubbing out takes a few seconds)? Or making p##p collection in her backyard?
My Aunt gave up smoking a few years ago and is now sort of allergic to smoke, and neighbours started smokin' right next to her apartment's door; moreover, those were cheapest RU cigs. She said she was suffocating. "Live and let live", right, but she talked them into stopping that & finding the other place (they don't smoke in their own apartment, BTW, because they have a young kid).

[aceonbass]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm restrictive of the way others live their lives just because I don't want to smell cigarette smoke. When our next door neighbor smokes, we have to close the windows,and if it's a warm day, turn on the A/C. Now if she were to just fart for 30 minutes or so, we probably couldn't smell it. Joey's right, most smokers also don't care where they drop their butts either. It's the most common form of litter on beaches out here. Ya, I love walking in someone elses ashtray. And don't even get me started on people in traffic who throw their butts out of their car windows. Besides, I'm a Democrat, I leave it to Republicans to tell other people how to live their lives. Okay, rant over.....

[jnbass]

"Besides, I'm a Democrat, I leave it to Republicans to tell other people how to live their lives..."

huh?

[johnallg]

Paul - use the hose! It will get you relief and get your point across. She is no doubt unaware her smoke travels uphill.