Lately, of course, smoking has become less and less socially accepted.  No matter what your stance on the so-called second hand smoke studies, the public’s perception of smoking has been souring for some time.  Everyone knows it’s tremendously unhealthy for the smoker, and also for the people around them.  So, society has been cracking down on smoking in many ways.

Personally, I’ve always considered myself a considerate smoker.  I’ve not smoked in a restaurant in years, even in places that allow smoking.  When I go outside to smoke at work, I won’t hang around the back door forcing people to walk through my cloud.  Instead I walk well away from the door and any pedestrian traffic.  I don’t discard cigarette butts on the ground:  If there’s no ashtray around, I extinguish my butt and place it in a trash can.  If there’s no trash can around, the butt goes in my back pocket until I come across a suitable receptacle.  If I’m in a public place, like the bowling alley, and am around friends who don’t smoke, I’ll move well away from them when I do smoke.

When I bought my house, and was expecting my first child, my girlfriend and I decided I would not smoke in the house.  She didn’t want the nasty smell, and we both knew it would be unhealthy for the baby.  So I’ve been going outside to smoke at home for the past 2 years.  Of course, I smoke outside at work.  The only places I smoke indoors are the bowling alley (away from my teammates) and at bars.

Now, our small city is considering a smoking ban.  No smoking in any public businesses, including bars.  Actually, the city already passed the ban, but a group of business owners got a petition signed to put the issue to a public vote.  It’s been a nasty fight on both sides, and the vote is next Tuesday.  Needless to say, it’s been the hot topic in this little town of  26,000.

Plus, the prices of cigarettes keep going up.  The new Federal cigarette tax just went into effect today.  A 62¢ per pack hike.  As it is, I’ve been trying to cut down on my consumption mostly for the goal of saving money.  At my peak, I was smoking a carton (10 packs) every week (7 days).  Just over a pack a day.  Lately, I’ve cut that down to just over a half a pack a day on the average. (10-12 cigarettes)

So, I thought I’d start this blog, sharing my experiences with smoking and the issues surrounding it.  I’ve got ideas about the taxes, and the bans.  I’ve got ideas on my own smoking.  It could be interesting.  At the very least, it gives me something to do besides smoke.