Dovster

Are you certain that you don't mean YES? Non-smokers would be able to read this forum and learn what establishments to avoid. How will they do that without the forum?

Dovster

To find out if I am blowing smoke about her or not, I suggest that you ask and of the FTers who met her at the Venice Do or on the one Brooklyn Reality Tour that she went on.

(There are a few others who have been in her vacation home in Switzerland but she was not present at the time.)

Jaimito Cartero

From my unscientific poll, the majority of posters have expressed a positive attitude for creating the forum.

Even the adamant nonsmokers, such as myself, believe that it will help smokers travel easier. I have a number of friends who smoke, and I see no reason why they, along with other smokers, should be denied a forum on FT to discuss it rationally.

blackjack-21

With apologies to Dovster, I've been smoking for six years longer then he's admitted to in an earlier post on here. Add more then a dozen + years to that, and I'm still around to post here on FT.

Yes, I'm well aware of the often quoted health dangers, expenses, being taxed on smoking in ridiculous amounts, and more bad effects, but as dumb as it sounds, I still enjoy the bad habit.

Let's compare some habits: How many people are killed in North America by drunk drivers or those drunks killing themselves on the roads. Seems it's happening more and more from what we see on TV or read in the local papers. Smokers in their cars haven't caused so many accidents, or at least they're not too publicized of late, as are distracted cellphone drivers also, and yes, I smoke while driving. Haven't seen any loudmouthed smokers annoying other pax on flights lately, have you? Yet how many flights have you been on in recent times where someone who's "had a few too many" drinks ....! Yes, you can probably smell the tobacco smell on my clothes if you're sitting next to me on a plane, just as I can probably smell the booze on your breath when you turn to talk to me. Disclaimer here: Neither my wife nor I drink booze any more. I think my last beer was in December, 1999.

How many people (once again looking at only NA statistics) die from cancer, heart disease, stroke, or similar deadly ailments who never smoked a day in their lives. I know of four examples in my family (in-laws), all of whom never smoked a day in their lives, yet three died of some form of cancer and one died of a stroke. Can we relate those to environmental issues, genetics, second hand smoke, or what? Car and truck exhausts are polluting the atmosphere and us, do we stop all cars and trucks in the world? Oh wait ...electric cars will solve everything, except we're a long way from giving up fossil fuels to power all our transportation. No talk of an electric plane yet either.

As for today's teens, peer pressure, I would guess, would influence their decision whether to smoke or not, much more then a thread on FT, or even their parent's warning them about the dangers of the cigarette. With all the warnings all around them, and yet if they still decide to smoke, who do we blame?

Yes, add me to those who can see the need for a smokers forum (and include Mrs. blackjack-21 in the yea's, as she's also a smoker), as we're seeing our choices for hotel room options quickly disappearing. And we do follow the rules and regs of not smoking where we shouldn't, as uncomfortable at times as that may be. Do any of the major rental car brands still offer newer cars that someone can smoke in?

bj-21.

Jaimito Cartero

That's like saying a baseball thread should only talk about the Yankees.

What hotels to stay in? What restaurants allow smoking? Smoking friendly countries?

If the forum doesn't have enough posts, it will certainly go away after a bit. I believe a case has been made for opening it, and giving it a chance.

The_Bouncer

Whilst it is clear that most of the comments on this thread are positive, I do not understand why the few who are objecting are so stridently against the idea of information being provided. The proposed forum seems to be aimed at facilitating the provision of information. It is not about promoting smoking and will have no effect whatsoever on convincing anyone to smoke or otherwise. I very much doubt anyone is going to use this forum to say "Hey kids, smoking's real cool! Why don't you start?" No, it's for people like me to find out where we can have a quiet, unobtrusive cigarette, without bothering anyone. A good example would be the upstairs smoking bar in the business lounge at ZRH. Live and let live, ffs.

MichaelBaku

Strongly support

QtownDave

Please DONT spin my posts in such a way as to fit your view point. My comments were obviously in context of wanting warning statements and those opposing it based on the dangers and possibly encouraging teenagers to smoke.

As with global warming all are free to believe only those studies that they agree with in regards to casual second hand smoke.

gm1955

Support

People have the option to read or not.

The idea that it would encourage people to continue smoking is ludicrous. Similarly, if you think lots of teens hang out on FT, you should log out immediately and spend more time with your kids, as there is a remote possibility you are not attuned to their interests.

kokonutz

Wel well well. Here we are, Dovster my old friend.

So now the vote hangs in the balance. And here I sit on Lake Como (looking around for your UIG) wondering: what'll it be? Will your dream of a forum where smokers can collectively gnaw for existence in a travel world that loathes them come to pass? Or will each of you be forced to continue to make a lonely journey to the next (now closed by local ordinance) airport smoking cube?

Fruition!? Or ruin!?

Allow me to make a strong case against this forum: by making smoking while traveling even the TEENSIEST bit more convenient this forum could be the difference between a smoking traveler deciding to finally quit because it has gotten so inconvenient or figuring they can still make a go of it with the help of this forum.

Then again, FT and point bloggers encourage us to drink included (not free, included) champagne at lounges and premium class airplane seats constantly. Are we/they to blame for travelers who succumb to alcoholism?

It's a tough call.

So whaddya say, Dovster? How's about a little quid pro quo!?

BarbiJKM

This is exactly why I support creating of a new "flame-free" smokers' forum. It is difficult to estimate demand before its creation because, as Doc Savage and Dovster and others have pointed out, whenever a smoker asks a practical or logistical question about smoking facilities in a general forum, s/he gets flamed by anti-smokers who want the entire universe to be smoke-free, and this has inhibited such questions in the past.

Traveling smokers seeking advice about hotel smoking rooms or segregated smoking areas are not intending to inconvenience nonsmokers; rather, they are simply looking for information to engage in a legal activity in comfort and privacy. I predict that smokers will be coming out of the woodwork looking for advice with the creation of a hate-free forum.

Dovster

Well, I can't give quid pro quo because, as you know, I have no vote on TalkBoard.

However, if you really are sitting on Lake Como (a remarkable achievement -- there was one person from my neighborhood who was reported to have walked on water but even he did not sit on it), in exchange for your vote I will give you some help in finding the UIG.

The quickest way is to drive down to to MXP, take a direct LY flight to TLV, and upon arrival head to the north of the city. She will be in her home there until late this month.

UA1K_no_more

Okay, then you can create "hotels that allow smoking", "restaurants that allow smoking", etc. threads in TravelBuzz. Since the "lively" airport smoking thread is living its low-traffic life in TravelBuzz, the other threads should also live there.
No need for a separate forum for a topic with such few posts.

The onus is on the forum supporters to show that the topic of smoking would generate enough posts to warrant a separate forum. How many posts do you think the new forum would generate? Significantly more than the 60 posts per year in the airport smoking thread? All I've seen is "build it and they will come" without any historical data showing that there are enough posts to justify a separate forum.

SkiAdcock

I was kidding Dovster. Guess I left off the when I was on my Kindle Fire last night.

Cheers.

SkiAdcock

Heck, my liver has been in more danger from attending some of the FT Dos! Does that mean we should shut down CommunityBuzz because it might be considered contributing to drinking too much?

Cheers.