I used to smoke.

I smoked for fifteen years.

I am not a "reformed smoker" who believes all tobacco is bad and smokers should be dispersed with fire hoses like looters during a riot. I smoked for long enough, found snus (by way of dip) and if people want to smoke and not switch to snus, that leaves more snus for me!

I quit for health reasons. I have two young children and was having trouble keeping up with them. I was not an overly active person but I changed my lifestyle to be healthier for my kids. I also refused to smoke around them and that left me smoking at work and feinding at home. I did not want to quit for me, but I have no regret of quitting.

So why am I irritated by smokers?

It is the disregard for other people whom smokers are smoking around that bothers me. I work with some smokers and 98% of them will smoke within a five foot radius of me without warning. After lunch outside, they'll light up at the table without warning. They follow me when I move away from them. They get pissed when I tell them why I am moving.

I don't spit snus in their eye so why must they blow smoke in my face?

I never realized how many cigarette butts just get thrown on the ground.

There IS a designated smoking area.....go!

Why are you smoking around my kids???

Back up, you smell like burning death.


Why does this bother me so much?

Because for fifteen years this also described me.

I had no compunction for smoking in the presence of anyone. Didn't matter. I couldn't see it bothering others because it didn't bother me and that is the problem with smoking.

Of course, this does not describe all smokers. Some smokers are courteous of their fellow humans, non humans and rock we all inhabit and I applaud those smokers for I, was not one.

That is why the antis get their panties up in a bunch. They are bothered by irresponsible smokers and that makes all tobacco bad in their minds. The worst anti tobacco zealots are the reformed smokers. They feel they are better than everyone for quitting smoking. Better than smokers. Even better than people who never smoked.

The anti tobacco zealots are like those anti smut and anti porn people. They saw only the most graphic porn ever with midgets, clowns, trannys, baseball bats, rope bondage, donkeys and a pony girl all in the same scene (that is a good one) and think that all porn is like that and should be banned. They never got to enjoy one of the classics or some light soft-core to get in the mood. That, or they were in that scene and liked it too much and think, now that they have become a better person, it is bad for everyone.

I am glad I found snus. It allows me to directly be an ass to those that deserve it rather than inadvertently to everyone around me.

Maybe I need to hit up the confessional.........naaah.