smoking on a dive boat

[Zieg]

I don't know why, but tobacco smoke *really* gets to me, too. A couple second-hand breaths, or even talking to a heavy smoker (complete with strong aroma), gives me a very sharp, piercing headache that persists for some time. Getting hit by a puff of diesel fumes certainly makes me a bit queasy, but that passes much more quickly than the tobacco smoke headache.

Now consider that if you inhaled diesel fumes the way one would a cigarette, you would run a high risk of death. You know, like running the car in the garage could easily kill you. But, you're telling me that just the aroma of a smoker gives you a piercing headache, and a puff of diesel just makes you a BIT queasy. I gotta tell ya, it IS in your head. I believe that you are just mentally making yourself sick.

 

[ClayJar]

Now consider that if you inhaled diesel fumes the way one would a cigarette, you would run a high risk of death. You know, like running the car in the garage could easily kill you.

Excuse me, but when did anyone say that you inhale diesel fumes the way a smoker inhales cigarette smoke? If you inhale diesel fumes, you inhale them more in the style of catching a whiff of a straw man being torched. (Incidentally, diving head first from the 10 meter platform into an empty pool could also easily kill you. Amazingly, it's also irrelevant to this conversation. )

But, you're telling me that just the aroma of a smoker gives you a piercing headache,

It is not the "aroma" of a smoker that gives me a piercing headache. It is a physical reaction to some compound or other in tobacco smoke. The chemicals in cigarette smoke (and I use the term "chemicals" in its scientific form, not in the enviro-nut "Ban DHMO!" manner) are adsorbed to or absorbed by the fabric, and just as you off-gas nitrogen when a pressure gradient exists, when the smoker and his clothes are in my nice non-smoking office, the chemicals are desorbed.

Now, if you want me to stick a heavy smoker in a man trap; sample the gases after a given time period; perform mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography, or other expensive tests; and apply the results to studies of exposure to the various constituents in controlled laboratory studies, I don't have the funding for that. If you want to expose me in controlled conditions to clothing that has been saturated with tobacco smoke (and clothing that has not, and possibly dirty clothes, as an additional control group), all the while measuring my heart rate and blood pressure (and, optionally, doing something like functional MRI or other expensive tests [if necessary, drawing a *little* blood is acceptable -- although I *really* hate needles, this is for science]), I will submit myself for study, provided it is not at *my* cost.

and a puff of diesel just makes you a BIT queasy.

I reject your attempt to misinterpret the word "puff". Replace it by "whiff" if it makes you feel better. Would "Catching a whiff of diesel fumes makes me a bit queasy." make you feel better?

I gotta tell ya, it IS in your head. I believe that you are just mentally making yourself sick.

By your post, I assume you are a smoker? That is indeed some of the best straw-man, misdirection, and denial I've seen in a while. Excellently done, sir, but it serves no useful purpose.

If you're really serious about showing that it *is* all in the heads of the non-smokers, I am at your disposal. I consider myself a man of science, so let's do this thing, and if it's true, I will be more than happy to go on record about that after the study. It is not necessary, of course, but might you wish to wager something as well?

 

[fisheyeview]

The standard comment of smoking during boat briefings, for the boats I dive on regularly, go something like this, "If you need to smoke we will let out the TAG line 100' and tow you behind the boat".

 

[Zieg]

No, I'm not a smoker, I've never smoked.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I tend to avoid dive boats that allow smoking ... most of the charter services in our area don't anymore, so it's not much of an issue.

On vacation trips, it can be more of an issue ... less so with me than with my usual dive partner, because she has allergic reactions to even mild doses of cigarette smoke that can result in clogged sinuses. Once, when we were both still fairly new divers, this reaction was severe enough to prevent her from diving, as her sinuses got so clogged from the smoke that she couldn't clear.

I don't want to deny anyone's right to smoke ... I do, however, want to avoid being around smokers as much as possible when I'm diving. I see that as more my responsibility than theirs, though. In cases where it's unavoidable, I've found that a little courtesy will usually result in a cooperative response.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The standard comment of smoking during boat briefings, for the boats I dive on regularly, go something like this, "If you need to smoke we will let out the TAG line 100' and tow you behind the boat".

One boat I dive on has a sign that reads something like "If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and respond accordingly." He is, however, very up-front about his boat being a no-smoking charter ... so people know this before they choose to sign up to dive on it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[GrandpaScuba]

Smoking on a dive charter boat is a bad idea. Smoking and scuba diving, in general, is a bad idea. I was amused at a local shore dive spot, this weekend, to watch a guy gearing up with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

I'm proud to say that 2 of my students quit smoking after taking up diving.

 

[STOGEY]

There is definately not any nicotine in marajuana. But you better not smoke the seeds because everbody knows that will make you sterile.

There may not be any nicotine, but it does contain carcinogens. Since there are usually no filters you're getting the full blunt of what ever you are inhaling.

 

[STOGEY]

First of all when I smoke a cigar I usually smoke out side unless it is at my cigar shop or while driving in my pickup truck. I also usually do not smoke around others if Iknow that it will bother them. I do try to be considerate of others. I actually try to be more considerate of non smokers then they do of us cigar smokers.

Yes cigar smokers are on the hihger chain of smokers. We rule the world. There are some very good athletes that smoke cigars specially after a event, such as Arnold,Geroge Forman and a few others. I do not smoke a cigar to relax, because it would become like a drug addiction. I smoke cigars because I enjoy them.

I don't force my life style on others, and I certainly will not allow others to force their life syles on me.

 

[STOGEY]

I think smokers should be considerate of non-smokers. If you really need to smoke just do it during the dive. I don't think anyone will mind then.

I've actually done that. I bring a cigar with me in a little plastic bag to keep it dry. then while I'm floating around waiting to get back on board I light up. You should see the looks I get when I walk up the ladder puffing on a nice big cigar like I'm a big movie star.