Ah, what I have always wanted--to be able to knock back a brew with my friends without compromising my lungs with someone else's carcinogen of choice.
I was living in California when they went smoke free years and years ago. I got so used to being able to just enjoy the smell of people sweating off alcohol and not smoking, that when we moved back to the midwest, smoke-filled bars in Chicago would make me ill.
I gradually acclimated to spending small amounts of time in smoky bars just to be somewhat social, but I never reached the point of being able to ignore it like I did when I went to college in Ohio.
What about the smokers though? They are human too. This addiction is no fun, and perniciously hard to overcome. Some will be motivated to quit, especially in the winter. But the hard core addicts will still be out there in the cold, practicing for the day when they are smoking through little tubes in their neck and trying to remember that they shouldn't light up when the oxygen tank is on. It is really sad to see.
Patches can help. Therapy can help. Sucking on candy can help. Getting tired of looking like a pathetic loser in the cold rain and snow can help, and also deter youngsters from thinking this behavior is somehow cool and grown up.
Tobacco growers also want you to remember smokeless tobacco products. On the plus side, smokeless tobacco products can deliver nicotine efficiently and without endangering people around you. Cancer deaths for people who use smokeless tobacco products exclusively are significantly lower, but still higher than the folks who quit altogether. In Sweden, the use of snus, little attractive packets of wet snuff, have become socially acceptable and significantly lowered tobacco related cancer deaths in that population. However, Sweden is not a country known for smiling too much. (See www.tobaccoharmreduction.org for exciting information and studies regarding smokeless tobacco, funded by smokeless tobacco companies.)
Hipsters will probably not be embracing this smokeless tobacco option any time soon. It is the exact opposite of why one begins to smoke in the first place--sexiness. There is nothing sexy about spitting juice or black gums--it doesn't matter how thoughtful you look or how much eye contact you put out when you do it.
Perhaps the tobacco industry should put more energy into figuring out how to make a palatable liquid tobacco product. Tobacco shooters! Then once again, the hipster world can be the tobacco industry's oyster.
In the mean time, I am going to go meet with my friends, and enjoy a beer without further compromising my lung function.
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