this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2024
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Today I Learned

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If you needed yet another reason to quit smoking, here it is.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago

Some exec at RJ Reynolds in the 40's

"The damn government is making us take asbestos out of the filters. What can we put instead?"

"I know, how bout some space aged plastic!"

[–] [email protected] 40 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Aren’t microplastics from car tires more common?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I thought so too, and maybe they are using a different metric in this article, but I couldn't tell you since their source URL is a deadline.......

https://www.surfrider.org/programs/beach-cleanups

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

I also remember Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle being claimed as the highest plastic polluters as well.

[–] Imgonnatrythis 28 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Dislike smoking but realize that for addicts often public infrastructure doesn't give you a lot of options for getting rid of butts. Seems like biodegradable butts should be mandatory. On the other hand I will lean into my horn if I see someone throwing butts out of their car. That is inexcusable - get an ashtray for your vehicle.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I mean, who cares? It's the smokers' problem? If you can't dispose of your trash take it with you or stop producing it until you can. That's true for any trash.

We expect people to carry doggie bags, too. Just clean up after yourself.

I realize that's idealistic and it's never going to happen because smokers be littering, but it makes me mad regardless.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

doggy bags to take my food to go, or doggie bags to take the poo to go?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I just get all the tobacco out of the butt and put it in my back pocket until I find a trash can. It makes me stink even worse but that's better than littering.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I do the same thing, but if you thought we stunk before that…man.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Nah I know how bad we stink. I've quit twice, long enough for it to become overwhelming again. I can't smell it but I know it's there.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I can’t smell it either at this point. I don’t smoke inside though.

I’ll never forget this one.

My ex and I were both chain smokers. I didn’t want to smoke inside but she was convinced a fan in the window was enough. I never smelled it before, but her mom bitched every time she came over.

When we split, I went back trying to work it out multiple times and I couldn’t stand the smell of her clean clothes even. It was awful. Even as a smoker I couldn’t stand the smell of that place. I remember falling asleep with her on the couch and just gagging.

I would NEVER smoke inside after smelling that. I also keep a cat litter container outside for butts and a Gatorade bottle with a little water in my car.

I threw cigarette butts everywhere when I was younger, then one day I seen a program about the butts ending up in waterways and I haven’t tossed one since.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Yeah I tossed and stomped, or flicked out the car window, when I was young. Smoked inside at my first three apartments and at my mom's house.

I was callous in so many ways in my youth. Littering cigarettes ain't nothing compared to how I acted in general. I try to keep it in mind and not judge the youth of today harshly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago

Good onya for picking up after yourself & self awareness.
It was super hard for me to quit too (4 or 5 times and years on NRT) but it gets easier slowly. For me it was very worth it but we all have our own journeys.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 19 hours ago (15 children)

I live in the US and it's becoming more and more unusual in many places to see people smoking. As a result, I see fewer discarded cigarette butts than ever. Still not zero, but getting there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

It's one of those big cultural shifts that has gone on in my life slowly but steadily. I recall my school bus driver would smoke doing his rounds, people smoking almost everywhere, even grocery stores. My family had lots of smokers, 3 out of my 4 grandparents smoked, all paid the piper, the habit led to their demise. Vending machines selling cigarettes everywhere. I recall it first was restricted on airplanes, with smoking sections separated with curtains, then in restaurants. A lot of it was ineffective and mostly symbolic, but then the biggest change was when California banned almost all indoor smoking in businesses, other states followed suit over the next decade. That combined with all the legal problems the tobacco industry had in the 90s has really caused a dramatic shift.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

I love smoking. I know it's killing me. I realize it stinks to other people. I never smoke indoors. I try my best to be considerate of others and never throw my butts on the ground.

But it's getting a bit ridiculous the demonizing of smokers in the US. If I walk to the edge of a business's property where there is literally no one and smoke a cigarette, I shouldn't be harassed by cops or security to cross the street, go several blocks away, or similar.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

LE are just assholes. I vape now but have dreamed of just hand rolling cigs ahead of time. Biodegradable, smells better, tastes better

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed on first point.

But when you hand roll do you use those tubes with a filter? I doubt it since you said biodegradable. The only times I hand rolled were when I was broke. A bag of Bugler with papers was like $2.50 back in the day. Roughly 50 cigarettes the way I rolled. But damn that shit killed my lungs. I'm sure a nicer brand would be better all around but no filter smokes fuck me up.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago

I never smoked hand rolls regularly; they didn’t feel bad in the moment but we were working with cardboard standoffs, not really much of a filter in that case. It’s probably for the best I’ve moved on from that

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

just light up a joint instead. it's the greener alternative.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 hours ago

Absolutely, good for you. But if you smoke joints like I go through cigarettes you're on Snoop's level.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

It's the hardest thing about traveling to Europe for me. I love being in Europe, but after living in a part of the US with almost no smokers it is jarring to smell cigarette smoke everywhere on the streets there.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 19 hours ago (10 children)

I live in the U.S. too and I still see a ton here in Indiana, but we also apparently have a nicotine addiction epidemic here that no one talks about much.

As of 2022:

Nearly 29% of Indiana adults currently use tobacco. Combustible cigarettes are the most used tobacco product, followed by e-cigarettes.

https://www.in.gov/health/tpc/files/Indiana-Adult-Tobacco-Survey-ATS-2021_2022-Highlights_Revised_Nov22.pdf

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I thought tires were responsible for like 25% of micro plastics.

Never mind. I just read what I wrote, and realized they're two different things.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 20 hours ago (21 children)

Just ban the filter. Let them smoke raw and unfiltered.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 20 hours ago

We should go back to using natural materials for filters, like asbestos. /s

[–] [email protected] 7 points 15 hours ago

Pretty typical response these days. "jUsT BaN iT!"

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 17 hours ago

That we know of, I bet microplastics is actually worse but we can’t measure it in aggregate well.

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