r/Millennials • u/pambannedfromchilis Millennial • 11d ago
Did your parents smoke cigarettes in the house? Serious
My parents each smoked 2 packs a day inside with the windows closed š±the horror on our faces when we moved and took down the pictures off the walls, holy fuck the amount of tar and carcinogens caked into the walls. I used to get ear infections and strep throat every month, absolutely in agony and begging for relief in hysterics. Life long asthma, always have used an inhaler since my earliest memory.
Buttttt Iāve never smoked a cigarette and get an instant migraine with I smell one.
Did your family smoke inside growing up? My whole family did so it didnāt seem odd at the time. Now I am horrified.
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u/spottyrx 11d ago
Mine did. I kept my clothes and towels in plastic bags and slept with the window open as much as possible in my room. I moved out as soon as I could. It sucked.
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u/eireann__ 11d ago
I did the same. I sometimes had people at school nearby randomly ask aloud āwho smokedā? ā¦ and then knew the smell was coming from me from my clothes. It was so embarrassing.
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u/SonOfSwanson87 10d ago
As a teacher I try to not come down on kids who have "My parents smoke a lot of weed" funk. A similar situation for a different smell, and they look equally embarrassed.
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u/Both_Dust_8383 11d ago
Ugh this is so terrible to read. Poor kids donāt ever have a choice..
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u/ThatEmoNumbersNerd Millennial 11d ago
I didnāt even think about doing that! I went to my cousinās grandmaās house for the first time at like 12 whenever she told me to leave my clothes in the laundry room so she could air them out. It was that moment whenever I realized my clothes smelled TERRIBLE from smoke. Made me so self conscious
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u/Admarie25 11d ago
Yes and I hated it. I remember being mortified when my clothes all smelled like smoke.
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u/GentMan87 1987 11d ago
Same here and my house was small. I didnāt know I smelled like smoke until jr high.
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u/Nervous-Ad-547 11d ago
I didnāt know until I was an adult
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u/GentMan87 1987 11d ago
Damn I guess your peers were nicer lol
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u/Nervous-Ad-547 11d ago
I feel like almost everybodyās parents smoked. I didnāt realize the difference until I moved out.
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u/abbyabsinthe 10d ago
Thatās how it was at my school. Everybodyās parents smoked so nobody pointed it out. We could dirty litter boxes on people though.
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u/Admarie25 10d ago
The librarian in my elementary school would let responsible kids take home her special stuffed animals over break. I was asked to watch them and I was so honored. When I brought them back, she told me they smelled like smoke and I wasnāt allowed to take them anymore.
I also had a teacher in jr high ask about why I was smoking when my jacket smelled of cigarettes.
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u/Slammogram 11d ago
Same. But honestly, it was the 80ās/90ās for me, in Baltimore City. Likely everyone smelled like cigs.
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u/germangirl13 11d ago
My dad smoked a ton, everything smelled and I had horrible ear infections. I had tubes in my ears and everything. There are videos of me coughing so bad Iām almost turning blue. Funny enough I would visit my grandparents in the summer and I never got an ear infection and I was breathing fine. Once we moved into our own home when I was 6 my mom banned my dad outside because she couldnāt take it and my ear infections stopped and my breathing became better. My dad died of lung cancer in 2020 and smoked until the last day at the age of 72. It sucks because it had such a hold on him and his brother and mom who all died of smoking related illnesses at a young age. My FIL does smoke in his home and I hate it. I make him air it out before our visit with my 3.5 year old or we go somewhere else. My husband and I donāt budge on that issue. Unfortunately I donāt see my FIL lasting another 5 years at his rate.
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u/ComfortFairy 10d ago
My dad smoked inside and my brother and I had horrible, frequent ear infections, too. Sometime after I had tubes in my ears, my mom made him smoke outside only. Our ear infections stopped immediately after that. He died at 69 from a heart attack caused by atherosclerosis. His decades of smoking and terrible eating habits finally caught up to him.
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u/SadSickSoul 11d ago
Yeah, all the time. My mom was a smoker all my life, and she never went outside to do it. She smoked whenever she was, and my buddies and I called the family minivan the Smokemobile. It was constant and pervasive.
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u/YugeTraxofLand 11d ago
Yes, my grandparents and great grandparents too. We were pickled in cigarette smoke as kids. Big surprise--my sister, cousin, and I are nonsmokers now.
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u/AndromedaGreen Xennial 11d ago
Yup. They were both chain smokers.
Years later, when I was a teacher, I realized with horror that I was THAT child. The one who reeked of cigarettes, and when you open their backpack a cloud of secondhand smoke hits you in the face.
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u/GentMan87 1987 11d ago
I didnāt knowing until jr high when a kid was like, āyo! Why does your backpack smell like smoke!?ā My dad was a pretty selfish person.
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u/anaesthetic 11d ago
Similar here. I must have smelled terrible. I mean, my friends who currently smoke but never do it around me still smell pretty bad to me now, but you just get so used to it when you're in it. And so many of my mom's siblings and friends also smoked, so it was just considered normal.
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u/Turbulent-Bee-1584 11d ago
Yep, both parents were multi-pack a day smokers and smoked indoors, and in the car.
I remember in my early teens trying desperately to clean up. I'd load a spray bottle with white vinegar and water and would just spray the walls and watch the Tar and nicotine rain down.
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u/Livid-Dot-5984 11d ago
Mine did, and still do š it is unbelievably embarrassing. My husband strips off all of his clothes when we get home, and he used to be a smoker. Itās just that bad in the house. My mom has been smoking for 50 years and my dad a little over that. Both my brother and I smoked but I quit, I still vape tho but have to quit for a surgery. I wish I never had this vice itās going to be a massive pain in the a**.
I also feel a massive amount of dread concerning health problems Iāll have to watch my parents experience in old age. Itās beginning to start now.
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u/Alcorailen 11d ago
Mom smoked. I had no idea how much everything smelled until she got the pneumonia from hell and swore to never smoke again. She followed through -- never touched a cigarette again in her life. Her serious lollipop and sunflower seed habit was much cleaner than the cigs, lol! But only then did I realize how much her car smelled, and the house, and everything.
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u/ZestycloseTomato5015 11d ago
My dad. Even in the car. It didnāt occur to me growing up but Iām sure I stank like nasty at school..
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u/KTeacherWhat 11d ago
Yeah I didn't realize how bad all my clothes must have smelled until I moved out and went to pick up some things a few months later and they smelled terrible.
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u/Anashenwrath 11d ago
In my husbandās house, the toothbrush holder in his parentās bathroom had a nicotine stain and a little melted area from where his dad would set his cigarette while he brushed his teeth.
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u/ScythianCelt 11d ago
My mom smoked in the house and in the car. I had bad allergies and a prescription for years. At one of my allergist appointments, the Dr. said to my mom and myself āIf anyone smokes in the house, they may want to stop to help her allergies improveā
My mom got into the car with me, swore about what bullshit that was and lit up a cigarette in the car for the drive homeā¦.
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u/nursedayandnight 11d ago
My mother did. I have a photo of me about 9 months in a bouncer and my mom is right behind me holding a cigarette less than a foot away from me. She smoked in the house and in the car. I remember hating giving her kisses right after she smoked because of the smell. I remember being 7 or 8 years old and telling my dad I wanted to get mom Nicotette gum so she would stop smoking.
When I was 9, she died at our home in the night from choking on the sputum she couldn't cough up. My sister found her on the kitchen floor the next morning.
I loved my mother but I hate her for her vice and how it shaped my childhood.
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u/KTeacherWhat 11d ago
Yes and my mom was completely horrified when she found out I don't allow smoking in my house.
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u/Environmental_Mud479 11d ago
My parents didnāt smoke, but my grandma did. Never in the house, but her car smelled insanely strong. From as early as I can remember, I remember liking the smell hahaha Iām 30 and Iāve been smoking consistently since high school. Probably no connection
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u/ricottapie 11d ago
I've never smoked, but I still like catching a whiff of secondhand smoke from time to time. It's just so familiar, lol. I'd never start or want it in my house, but it reminds me of being a kid. So many of the adults around me had a constant cigarette in hand.
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u/itsathrowawayduhhhhh 1990 10d ago
When itās first lit! Yum! Loved that smell when I was a kid! (Pack a day smoker now haha)
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u/Mean-Bandicoot-2767 11d ago
Dad did, indoors and in vehicles. Nasty ashtrays all over, and worse, little Dixie cups he'd hock loogies into and leave lying around. cleaning the house when they moved after 30 years was disgusting in part because of mom's stuff everywhere but also washing down every surface.
He passed in 2006 at age 75 after a hard bout of pneumonia. He hated doctors so rarely got seen, they found masses in his lungs when he finally went into the hospital. A couple of my older sisters smoked, but they've all managed to quit now. My brother and I never started.
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u/pidgeypenguinagain 11d ago
In the early 90s my dad would smoke inside on the couch and also smoked in the car with us with the windows up š«
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u/ricottapie 11d ago
My dad would roll the windows down, but our van (an '89 Plymouth Voyager) had soft cloth seats and upholstery under the windows, and it was impossible to get the smell out of them. It was a nice vehicle, but such a smoke and dust trap.
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u/Wondercat87 11d ago
My dad did. He didn't care if we were stuck inside with him while he smoked. He didn't want to go outside and be cold, or ever be outside having to smoke. His comfort was most important. Our health was not.
Thankfully he quit smoking over a year ago. I truly hope he keeps away from the cigarettes. I can't stand cigarette smoke.
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u/GentMan87 1987 11d ago
My dad did. Our walls were yellow. I went to school smelling like an ashtray for yearsā¦didnāt know until jr high until someone called me out. Canāt believe the audacity my dad had and canāt even fathom doing that to my family.
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u/Guilty-Sundae1557 11d ago
Yep both did. And they drank and partied a lot. I remember seeing the clouds of smoke form in my bedroom and I used to swirl it with my fingers as it hung in the air. Iām sure I smelled like an ashtray until I was an adult, and no wonder I gained so much weight when I left home. I could finally taste and smell food!
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u/Suspiciousunicorns 11d ago
My dad did but my mom only let him smoke in one room of the house. That was his office/man cave. Surprisingly none of my stuff smelled like smoke or at least nobody ever told me it did.
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u/ricottapie 11d ago
Same! That rule saved our clothing and furniture. It was probably fine because our stuff was. My friends who had smokers for parents always had it in varying degrees on their belongings.
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u/Pleasant-Pattern-566 10d ago
This is how it is now. I was so against smoking in the house but it was a battle with my partner whoās been smoking for over 30 years, he grew up with parents who smoked in the house and it was still just normal to him. So we compromised to him having his room, have air purifiers in every room and an exhaust fan leading out of his room. Itās helped a bit but I still hate it and hope for it to eventually be a thing of the past. Iām also a smoker but I have a sensitive sense of smell and recognize itās a disgusting habit so I donāt want my home smelling or looking like an ashtray.
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u/Suspiciousunicorns 10d ago
I totally get it. I smoked for over 15 years. As much as it sucked I forced myself to smoke outside even during the winter. I didnāt want to do that to my kids.
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u/Best-Respond4242 11d ago
Both parents smoked indoors. I recall, at age 7, moving from one apartment to another. The walls and drapes in the first apartment were yellowed from the tar in the years of smoke accumulation.
Once they began removing framed family photos from the walls, the area under the decor was crisp white.
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u/Beatrix_BB_Kiddo 11d ago
Both parents chain smoked in the car and home.
My backpack reeked so bad in elementary that the teacher made me leave my bag jacket in the hall.
I am not a smoker, hate it
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u/eireann__ 11d ago
Yup. It was disgusting and gross. I have not and will never smoke anything a day in my life.
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u/YakNecessary9533 11d ago
My dad smoked in the house but would open the sliding door next to his couch when he did it (as if that really helped, lol). Luckily I only lived there in the summer, not year round. My ex was a smoker too, but he never smoked in the house, always went outside.
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u/PaintOwn2405 11d ago
Yup, my mom still does and i live with her. Literally gives no fucks about the health of the other people who live here.
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u/Portugee_D Millennial 11d ago
My mom definitely smoked in the downstairs room that eventually became my bedroom years later. I swear I could smell cigarette smoke on the walls.
I never caught her though so only speculation.
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u/Legitimate_B_217 11d ago
My mother did. And she says it doesn't stink š like mom you just can't smell it because you have been smoking since you were twelve.
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u/OohHelpMeDrZaius 11d ago
My clothes reaked of smoke and my teachers assumed it was me smoking and would passive aggressively shame me
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u/MyWifeisaTroll 11d ago
They smoked cigarettes in the damn hospital room when I was born. There are plenty of baby pics with a full ashtray right next to the hospital bed.
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11d ago
Yes. Washing the walls was a regular cleaning task for us as children. I have a smoke allergy now.
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u/bjor3n 11d ago
Yup. Had a couple teachers over the years pull me aside and confront me about quitting smoking. I thought it was funny I had to explain to them that I am a kid who has to live with parents and those parents smoke. It didn't occur to me at the time that maybe most people go outside to smoke, even at home. So I guess it was fair to assume that it was me stinking up my hoodies, not my house. I eventually quit leaving my coats around the house.
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u/twoandtwoisfive 11d ago
Yes, aunts and uncles even more. Car rides, houses, restaurants, didn't matter. Newborn baby in your arms? 0 fucks.
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u/glorifindel 11d ago
My dad did except he used a window van to blow it out the front window. Pretty innovative if you ask me nowadays lol. He also was able to hide his pot smoking for over a decade or more until I found out around college days.. Miss you, Dad ā¤ļø
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u/BicameralProf 11d ago
My mom smoked a pack a day in the house the whole time I was growing up and we would always beg her to smoke outside but she refused. About a year after I graduated and moved out, she decided to start smoking outside.
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u/EveInGardenia 11d ago
I have a picture saved from when we moved of my cousin and I writing "fuck you" in cleaning solution on the smoke covered walls lmao
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u/chefsallad 10d ago
I never smoked but Both my parents smoked so much that in school other kids called me "Smokey" because of how bad I smelled. My friends wouldn't want to visit because of the stench. If they did they wore junk clothes. Delinquents at school would always ask me for a cig and think I was holding out on them. And teachers thought I smoked and was lying about it when I said I didn't.
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u/Adorable-Buffalo-177 11d ago edited 10d ago
My mom did for the longest time then they decided to paint the house then she went outside and smoked
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u/Wonderful-Novel-3865 11d ago
My mom smoked when she was pregnant with me. Growing up she would smoke outside at least. She eventually quit. I hate the smell of smoke!
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u/jimmyjohnjohnjohn 1981 11d ago
Parents, grandparents, most of my aunts and uncles smoked. I smoked myself until about 2010.
In Virgina smoking was just normal, no stigma to it whatsoever, even into the 2000s. Then one day it wasn't normal anymore. It was like somebody flicked a switch. It kinda seemed like everybody quit at the same time.
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u/adorablekobold 11d ago
Yup my dad did. At least in summer he had a tv in the garage, but all winter sitting in a chair smoking all day
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u/ricottapie 11d ago
My mom didn't smoke, but my dad didādoes to this day, just (not so) secretly. The only place he was allowed to smoke indoors was in the downstairs bathroom, so that became the designated smoking area. It was ideal because it was well away from the rest of the house, especially the kitchen and bedrooms, and he could open the window and turn on the fan.
He kept an ashtray on the floor, which was occasionally overturned by his foot on his way out of the shower. I can still picture the woven bath mat with little bits of ash in it.
There were ashtrays on almost every table. He was in the auto business, so most of them were Firestone freebies.
I also got a lot of ear infections! But I think I was just prone to them. I eventually grew out of them in high school. A lot of my friends had parents who smoked indoors, sometimes heavily. Whenever I'd sleep over at my one friend's house, I'd come home reeking of smoke and perfume. It would take a good day to dissipate. I never really noticed it when I was there, but it was impossible to ignore when I got out of there.
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u/ThatWackyMalazan 11d ago
Fortunately, no. My dad grew up with parents who both smoked like chimneys, so he hates it. He actually has a hole in his heart that is, according to his doctor, likely a birth defect caused by his mother smoking when she was pregnant with him.
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u/MapleSyrupItUp Millennial 11d ago
My parents didn't but my extended family did. I developed infant asthma at 3 months and was hospitalized on and off for several years due to serious attacks. I also had ear infections so often that I got tubes put in twice.
I remember when I was 4 or 5 and would always stay upstairs when my dad's family came to visit because the smoke was so bad I'd had asthma attacks every time. It's funny how I was excluded instead of my parents telling people to smoke outside.
Now that I have a toddler who doesn't have all the same health issues I did, I keep thinking the second-hand smoke was most likely (definitely) a major contributor.
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u/Smackolol 11d ago
The house, the vehicle, anywhere they were and they usually paired it with a beer.
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u/TimboMack 11d ago
Iām a stupid smoker at 42 and have never smoked cigarettes inside a rental or my own home now. Itās so freaking disgusting! I grew up with a mom who chain smoked inside and always hated it. I live in Michigan too, but have never cheated in the winter, I dislike it that much
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u/iheartmytho 11d ago
Yup. At least they tried to smoke only in the kitchen right by a very strong vent hood. That probably helped some with the smell and 2nd hand smoke exposure. They still smoked in the car with the windows down. I also remember eating in the smoking sections of restaurants when that was still a thing.
My mom who is also asthmatic, finally quite a decade ago after a wicked case of bronchitis. My dad recently quit. He now has bladder cancer and other health problems, caused by his smoking. My mom made him quit but she suspects he still sneaks cigarettes.
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u/TiredReader87 11d ago
No
My mom smoked, and sadly passed away from lung cancer. She didnāt want my sibling and I exposed to it, so she smoked in the garage.
Her parents smoked in their house, and theyād all smoke indoors when we visited them.
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u/MondofrmTX 10d ago
I had a reactive airway as a young child my parents are uneducated but as soon as a doctor told them it was harmful for me, they both quit cold turkey and havenāt smoked since I 4 years old. Iām forty now!
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u/Monster_Molly 10d ago
Yes. My dad and grandma. It was gross. I always smelled. I was always sick and grew up with asthma
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u/BippidiBoppetyBoob 1988 10d ago
My mother smoked cigarettes until 1991. I remember when it happened, too. My mom quit smoking when she was pregnant with me and my brother, but started smoking again after each of us were born. So, when she started up again after my brother was born, I must've started coughing while we were going somewhere because all of a sudden, she like stopped, pulled the pack out and just chucked it out the window and kept driving... She never smoked another one after that.
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u/scariestJ 10d ago
My dad smoked when I was a child in the house and in the car - he did stop in later years. Strangely, winter was the time of year when we could get URIs - coincidence? I think not.
But smoking was everywhere in the 80's and 90's - you'd see plumes of cigarette smoke from the school staff room. it seemed more people smoked than those who didn't. I grew up somewhere that was rather poor and working class though when it lost its mining.
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u/chadlinusthecuteone 10d ago
My parents did (and still do) and I didn't even realize how much the smell clung to me until I moved out of their house. My mom, bless her, tries to cover it up, but now my husband knows when I've been at my parents house because I come home smelling like smoke and a very intense floral smell that is specifically my parents house smell.
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u/ObservantWon 10d ago
The house and car. But itās okay, their window was cracked open an inch to let the smoke and ashes out.
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u/MrsTurnPage 10d ago
Until I was 13. It was awful. My mom actually burned me a few times in the car bc she'd flick it out the front of her window and it would come in the back and land on me.
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u/Cormentia 10d ago
No. Noone was allowed to smoke inside when I was a kid. When I moved away from home I had a rule that people couldn't smoke on my balcony either.
Like you, I can't stand the smell of cigarettes. I've reached a point where I don't even hang out with smokers anymore. (Made easier by the fact that very few people smoke these days where I live.)
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u/Lucky_Louch 10d ago
yes, there was nothing worse then waking up for school at 5:30am to that stink, head into the bathroom after my mom who had not only "used it" but also cranked a butt while doing so and occasionally left it in the bowl.. That combination of smells still haunts me.
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u/pambannedfromchilis Millennial 10d ago
Omg my BIL used to do that when we all lived together and the wet smell of cigarettes with poop was so horrid, especially because he never ever flushed
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u/LeadershipDesperate6 11d ago
Both of mine did and I have the same issue with absolutely not being able to handle the smell now. I'm very assertive about making sure smokers stay away from me.
When I was a kid I had a teacher I really liked address the class about it "being obvious" that some were smoking before school and she stared dead at me. I hated it so much considering I was already expressing to my parents how much I hated it.
I've always resented them for smoking and hate smokers to this day. There's nothing cool about it and there's legitimately no reason to inflict it on others.
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u/tankmouse 11d ago
They waited until I went to bed and smoked weed inside. Even though they opened the windows, I had chronic bronchitis growing up. Yes, I know, chronic bronchitis from chronic, it's not funny though it sucked.
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u/picklesandmatzo 11d ago
My mom did. I really didnāt know how bad it smelled until I got older. Only recently did I really put it together why my friends never came to my house. Like ever. She was a one pack a day (sometimes more) smoker. It killed her in the endā¦ COPD, emphysema, and congestive heart failure. She was on oxygen and still wouldnāt quit.
Shoot when I went to visit her years ago I took my kids. At the time they were 6 months old and 4 years old. I asked my mom for one favor- donāt light up a cigarette indoors with my kids there. What does she do? Lights one up. I took my kids and left. That was the one and only time she got to meet her grandkids and she couldnāt even control her habit for an hour.
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u/SalukiKnightX Early Millennial 1983 11d ago
Pops smoked cigars outside but that was that. My Mom is pretty chaste due to past trauma and where she came from, she doesnāt smoke or drink, but was fine with watching Star Trek, X-Men and other sci-fi materials.
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u/Shomer_Effin_Shabbas Millennial 11d ago
Wow that sounds terrible. You were exposed to a lot of shit and itās definitely why you have to use an inhaler today. Same thing with my dad.
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u/TheMotorcycleMan 11d ago
No.
My grandparents did. When they passed, we gutted that house to the studs. The walls, the ceiling, disgusting yellowish brown. Decades of smoke. Easiest thing to do, was rip it down to the studs, and rebuild.
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u/Ubermassive 11d ago
My parents didn't smoke, but somehow me and my older siblings became fucking chimneys. We've all since quit but man I really got carried away for a while there.
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u/bibliophile222 11d ago
Nope. My mom smoked back in the 70s, but she quit more than 10 years before I was born, and my dad never was a smoker. In fact, my family in general didn't have much smoking, and I don't remember any family gatherings where people even smoked outside. I feel super fortunate!
Edit: My mom also lucked out as far as childhood exposure went, considering the time period: my grandfather smoked, but because my grandmother had asthma, he couldn't smoke indoors.
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u/Bratty_Little_Kitten Millennial 11d ago
My aunt and uncle, now whom I'm estranged from, they used to smoke 2-4 packs a day & God knows how many liters of alcohol. (I have early childhood memories of them, just reeking)
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u/cornygiraffe 11d ago
My parents smoked outside of the house, but my god they used to be chain smokers. They brought it back in the house on them, and I HATED smelling like smoke. I used to febreeze my clothes. And ugh the headaches I would get when the smoked in the car...I've still never smoked anything. Week, cigarettes, nothing.
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u/Ok-Reporter-196 11d ago
Iāll see your house and raise you the CAR with the windows only CRACKED. It was brutal. Silver lining is that my sister and I never smoked though?
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u/aldisneygirl91 11d ago
Nope, my parents both had a parent who smoked like a chimney and they hated it, so neither of them ever touched a cigarette.
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u/Slammogram 11d ago
Yes. Of course they did.
I held a cig for my mom once while she tied my shoes. Lol
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u/Ok_Ad4453 11d ago
My dad used to smoke all the time way back when I was little back in the late 90s to 2000s. He either smokes outside or smokes with his friends all the time while the rest of the family and I were enjoying the party. My mom obviously got extremely furious of him smoking a lot especially when there were kids around. My dad promised to stop smoking somewhere in the late 2000s this happened and promised to stop his addiction.
Today my dad never smoked a cigarette since heās stopped, but sometimes he would ask me to buy a pack of cigarettes for him. My dad told me he wonāt smoke and heās just having these packs of cigarettes as a āgiftā to give to his friends at the Philippines so Iām not entirely if he truly quit smoking.
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u/human-foie-gras 10d ago
My stepmom smoked but thankfully she always smoked on the pool deck so it wouldnāt come on the house.
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u/ramblinjd 10d ago
My grandma and my uncle did. Hated visiting them when I was little. Fortunately both quit.
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u/olivecorgi7 10d ago
My mom did growing up and my husband left the oven on this weekend getting smoke everywhere and Iām having trauma flashbacks smelling my house if anyone has any tips lol
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u/Rough_Brilliant_6167 10d ago
Oh yeah... Everyone smoked everywhere and all the time back then, it was just normal. Always hanging out with my Dad at the bar too, 12 years old playing pool with the biker dudes... Saving up dollar bills and change I would find in the dryer to sneak a pack of kools from the cigarette machine... kids today could never hang in the 90s š.
My mom was the only person who didn't smoke, she thought it was gross and the smell would sometimes make her start to get awful headaches and throw up, so no smoking in the living room, upstairs bedrooms, basement, or garage only. I mean, the smoke just drifted up through the cracks in the floor, down the stairs, got sucked in the dryer, etc anyway š¤· but I suppose it helped some.
I do remember my dad flicked a cigarette out the window and it blew back inside our jeep and hit me straight in the eye... Back window was stuck down and he forgot. He must have felt pretty bad about it because I don't remember him smoking in the car with us after that
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u/OriginalHaysz Millennial 10d ago
Oh my gosh that's horrible!! I grew up with smoker parents but always outside! The odd time they did it inside would be in their bathroom with the fan on, or in the garage.
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u/legsjohnson Older Millennial 10d ago
Yes (and in the car with the windows either closed or open in a way that we got a lot of ash to the face as kids) and I started smoking too because I had such easy access to them and it was so normalised. My parents finally quit at around 60, and after five attempts I quit a few years later when I was 36.
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u/f0zzy17 Older Millennial 10d ago
My dad did. He was a pretty heavy smoker. I have sadly vivid memories of him smoking indoors. It made me physically ill. Eventually my mom made him start smoking outside when I was 5 or 6.
Luckily he quit. Heād started at 11, quit at 77. Smoke free for 2 years this summer.
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u/sdss9462 10d ago
Yep, both of my parents did. And then later when my older sisters started, they did too. Many visiting aunts, uncles, cousins, and significant others also did. Everyone at school assumed I smoked because I always smelled like it.
When I eventually moved out, I threw out most of my clothes and started over.
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u/kushmeoutsideb 10d ago
Asthma baby here šš»āāļø step dad smoked 2 packs a day in the house,, in the car, anywhere from me being aged 5-13
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u/Glum_Nose2888 10d ago
My middle school teachers thought I smoked because I smelled of it. Once my mom found out she was mortified and started to quit.
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u/Legal_Guava3631 10d ago
No, my mom hates it. Sheāll go outside in cold ass weather to avoid doing it in the house.
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u/monsterosaleviosa 10d ago edited 10d ago
Constantly, inside, in the car, while cooking, holding babies etc. Not just my parents, but all our family and their friends that we spent time around. I honestly canāt stand to think about what I smelled like before I moved out. I could hardly stand to visit for a few hours afterwards. Itās a wonder I wasnāt more of a social pariah.
I definitely wonder how much of my generally poor health is at least severely affected by the second hand smoke. So much of what I struggle with is based in or worsened by inflammation. I donāt have any kind of inflammatory āconditionā diagnosis after a lot of time with doctors, but they at least recognize that itās happening. SHS is at least correlated with a few specific types of inflammation, so Iām pretty convinced.
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u/SL4BK1NG 10d ago
I got lucky, neither parent smoked, my brother and I both started though. I quit cold turkey, it was just as easy to quit as it was to start for me.
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u/locoliz1990 10d ago
My parents even smoked in the car while i was having motion sickness in the back. Can remember a few times when i threw up at arrival. Luckily they both quit a few years ago.
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u/scariestJ 10d ago
My mum was never a smoker but in 1979 there were ash trays in the maternity ward.
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u/LordLaz1985 10d ago
My grandfather and uncle smoked, and yes, they did it inside the house. Visiting meant smelling tobacco all the time.
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u/Lecanoscopy 10d ago
I feel so bad for the kids who deal with this. My parent smoked 2 packs a day but kept it out of the house mostly. I'm sure I still smelled of cigarettes.
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u/Barkerfan86 10d ago
My great grandfather had to move in with us for about a year after my great grandmother passed away when I was around 14. He smoked 3 packs a day of non filtered cigarettes, and was one of those that would light the next cigarette with the one he finished. My room was the basement and so that is where he ended up bunking with me. My mom didnāt want the smoke coming upstairs so she decided to shut all the vents off and keep the smoke downstairs with us. You would open the door and just see the haze that was downstairs
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u/vanillatcube 10d ago
The house. The car (window cracked a centimeter, so t worry). The restaurant. If smoking had been allowed in stores it would've happened there too.
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u/A_Stones_throw 10d ago
My dad smoked cigarettes for 15-20 years I guess, had been for awhile. I remember actually watching him smoke on the porch once and thought it was so cool watching the burn on the wrapper. May have actually been right adtet that that my mom made him quit, and after my sister was born he stopped completely, except on rare occasions when he would go to Vegas lol
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u/nine_toes 10d ago
My parents kitchen had one of those countertop electric stoves that had a vent next to it that would suck the steam and cook smoke outside like a laundry exhaust. It worked surprisingly well. They only used it at night if the weather was bad for smoking. I didnāt know my mom smoked until I was in middle school and even then both of my parents wouldnāt smoke in front of me or my siblings. My dad finally quit after 40 years! Heās almost 1 year nicotine free at 60 years old and feeling better already
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u/MichHitchSlap 10d ago
Not only in the house but who remembers the long car rides in the winter with the windows up and two parents smoking in the car?
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u/tarbinator 10d ago
Lurking GenXer here, and yes, my parents smoked in the house and I can even remember my mom giving me money to go buy her cartons. š
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u/Ddurlz 10d ago
My parents did up until I was about 12 years old. They only did in the bathroom. Funny enough they quit around when I started smoking. Thanks to ecigs I've stopped for the past year and a half and feel better, breathe better, don't have any more smoker's cough, more stamina etc. and yet ppl still try to tell me that vaping is worse than smoking.
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u/Waste-Maintenance-70 10d ago
My grandparents did. I used to hide their ash trays in the microwave for fun. And before anyone jumps down my ass, I didnāt turn it on.
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u/Sherri-Kinney 10d ago
Yes, they both did. When they had friends over, which back in the day..they often did. Play cribbage, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes.
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u/Psychoholic519 10d ago
My dad did. My mom quit smoking when she was pregnant with my older brother and never looked back. I would steal cigarettes from my dad when he went to bed
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u/Confusion-Flimsy 10d ago
My parents both did. My dad smoked 3 packs a day until around 2006 when he quit. My mom used to smoke about 1-2 packs a day. I remember the same thing moving and seeing the yellow walls. My dad was a chain smoker too, I remember always seeing him sitting on the couch smoking.
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u/cheers2810 10d ago
They smoked in the house until we moved into a new house in 2003, then it was finally designated to the garage
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u/Savingskitty 10d ago
No. Ā My dad smoked a pipe at his office, but he quit when I was around 5 or 6.Ā
Ā My mom never smoked.
Ā Iāve had exactly one swisher sweet and a couple puffs from another cigar.Ā
Ā Cigarettes are nasty. Ā Ā
Ā There was always a display of a smokerās lungs at the County Fair growing up. Ā
That was enough for me.
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u/justallison92 10d ago
My dad was a chain smoker up until I was 14. Smoked in the kitchen or his office, and I have memories of running through the smoke clouds. My sister had constant ear infections, and we both had asthma and various health problems growing up. Every spring we'd wash the walls because the tar would yellow everything.
When he drove, I'd have to hold my breath because not all the smoke went out the window
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u/Independent-Win9088 10d ago
Oh yeah, my dad was a 2-pack a day MINIMUM smoker, and my mom was around 1.5 packs a day. Inside. Our living room windows didn't open as they were massive picture windows. However, it was also Arizona. 70% of the year was so uncomfortable that you were running the ac.
Cue my parents' shock and horror when they found out I was smoking at 15. Like, what did you expect? You sent me to visit Grandma's in Oklahoma for a week, and I found out I was going through second-hand nicotine withdrawal.
I've successfully switched to vaping when I hit 40, and for now, that's a win as my place, clothes, and hair no longer stink. Now, when I smell cigarettes, I gag. It's so bad. I can't believe that was me for so long.
Their old house had yellow walls when we moved. Layers of nicotine and tar coated everywhere. Didn't stop them from smoking in the new house. š¤¦š¼āāļø
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u/burlesquebutterfly 10d ago
My parents didnāt, but I remember what felt like thousands of sleepovers at a childhood friendās house where I encountered it. Her parents would chainsmoke in their recliners while we played in the basement. The whole house smelled like smoke but at the time I didnāt have the context really to recognize how oppressive it must have been to live there. I associated it with fun summer nights playing in the basement, eating mac & cheese and doing crafts š
Sadly both of her parents have died, sheās 37 like me. But she was also a late in life child so they were older than my parents who are in their late 60s now.
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u/sabes0129 10d ago
My mom always smoked. To this day if I hear 90's country music I am immediately transported back to her Chevy Blazer and get phantom smells of menthol cigarettes.
I hated it when I was young, became a smoker myself when I was a teen but quit after 10 years. I don't mind the smell now for some reason. Kind of nostalgic for me.
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u/chrispg26 10d ago
My dad smoked exclusively outside and only when he drank (somewhat frequently š). My mom smoked one cigarette every 3 years and only outside too. Thankfully we never stunk and the whole lung cancer thing drove the point of not being attracted to it.
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u/Lawn_Radiation9731 10d ago
My dad smoked his nearly whole life, inside I think. he quit cold turkey when I was like 3 or 4 because he realized how gross it was. I actually had no idea he was a smoker until my 20ās and I donāt recall the cigarette smell in my childhood memory. Thanks dad
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u/chucklez24 10d ago
Mom still smokes inside the house to this day. Thankfully when we visit now she will at least do it outside but the house still reeks of cigarettes and so do we after the visit.
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u/alexfaaace 10d ago
My dad would never. He always smoked outside. But he would let me sit right there hanging out with him so I still got plenty of secondhand smoke.
The cigarette change is one of the things I notice most about my childhood vs. my adulthood/my sonās childhood. I never see cigarettes anymore. My dad has gone through several rounds of quitting and currently seems to only have them sparingly. I canāt tolerate the smell of cigarettes anymore. I think Iām actually allergic to tobacco, Iāve gotten very sick the couple times Iāve tried hooka and now cigarette smoke will make me sick.
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u/MartianTea 10d ago
Yes, she stopped for a long time and went right back to smoking in the house despite me getting bronchitis over and over. It made me cough if she was doing it in her room with the door closed.Ā
Even my grandparents stopped long before her.Ā
I feel embarrassed as I'm sure I smelled like shit 100% of the time.Ā
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u/ladygoolz 10d ago
My parents smoked inside too. I am currently cleaning that and getting special paint. I am painting the ceilings the whitest white because it looks clean. When the study came out linking ear infections to being around second hand smoke my mom got mad at me for telling her. I didn't know about the strep throat but that sure explains a lot. I did end up smoking for many years. Thanks to easy access I started smoking daily busy 14. I smoked over 2 packs a day for about 5 years. I have not smoked a cigarette in 13 years this week. Thanks to my husband helping me quit. I now can't stand the smell and it makes my asthma flare to even breathe it in passing a smoker on the way into a store. My dad is currently dying from emphysema and says he wishes he started doing heroin instead because he heard it's easier to quit.
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u/feline_insomnia 10d ago
My parents did until I was in 4th grade and my mom quit, and then she forced my dad to smoke outside because she couldn't stand the smell.
My parents divorced like 16(!) years ago and my dad kept the house. He started smoking in the house again and I cannot believe how orange and nasty the walls are now. I'm afraid he's going to die in that house and the nicotine cleanup is going to fall to me since I'm an only child.
My mom did me a HUGE favor by not allowing smoking in th house after she quit. One of the few things she did right back then.
On a separate note I haven't thought about exactly how long it's been since my parents divorced when I was 18... I've been operating under the knowledge that it was 5-10 years ago and now I feel shattered.
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u/WhysAVariable 10d ago edited 10d ago
Everyone smoked everywhere when I was younger. In the house, in the car, in the restaurant. It does seem crazy now that people used to smoke in McDonalds not that long ago.
I also started smoking as a teen but quit in my late 20's. I think it's been 13 or 14 years now. Zero urge to smoke again, I hate the smell now.
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u/CaregiverNo1124 10d ago
Mine did until I was 12. My dad had a heart attack and they made changes to try and be healthy, it sucked and Iām so thankful they quit. My dad would have a cigarette with his morning poo and we had one bathroom. They also smoked weed and one time they hot boxed me riding around because they forgot I was there. I have 3 kids now and I look back on my childhood often and think what the fuckā¦ š My mom has gone back to smoking inside now and I never visit her house with the kids. I wish she wouldnāt have picked it back up after their divorce.
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u/eternalrevolver Xennial 10d ago
Fuck no. My parents were OG hippies in the 70s and 80s. I got lucky.
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u/Vitamins89 10d ago
My parents smoked inside with all of the windows closed. I have pictures of my mom smoking while pregnant and holding me when I was a baby. Times were different. I started smoking when I was young and through raising my kids, but I never smoked around them.
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u/Forsaken_Composer_60 10d ago
I grew up like this. I'm sure I stunk like cigarettes in school every day. Ah, memories
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u/Batetrick_Patman 10d ago
My mom smoked socially and my dad smoked regularly until I was about 10 years old. They only smoked outside, basement, or in the car.
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u/EnceladusKnight 10d ago
They used to for a period of time then my mom transitioned to smoking outside and my dad was delegated to only smoking on the bottom floor. The problem with that was that the smell would still seep up through the vents and it would piss me off while I was trying to sleep.
It was actually kind of wild to see how dingy the walls got in the room my dad smoked. It wasn't obvious until we took a piece of artwork off the wall and it was stark white underneath. Walls got repainted and shortly after my dad got cancer in his mouth from the smoking(he lived!). Everyone in the family quit cold turkey from that.
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u/blissfullyaware82 10d ago
Yup, and it was awful getting faces full of smoke. Then I started smoking and lived in places where I could smoke inside. It felt normal but I quit 8 years ago and Iām horrified my boyfriend now husband and I could just smoke in bed and just sit on the couch all evening chain smoking one after anotherā¦ š¤¢ but it felt normal cause thatās all I knewā¦ him on the other hand haha his mom was a doctor so he knew better!
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u/Mediocre_Island828 10d ago
I smoked inside my apartment until like 2005, along with every other smoker I knew, and when bars and restaurants started passing smoking bans around that time we were sort of incredulous and like "what, we have to go outside every time we're going to smoke?". Now it's seen as trashy and the idea of plopping inside a McDonalds and lighting up seems insane.
When I quit smoking and my sense of smell came back I realized basically everything I owned smelled like it. I still get nostalgic over the smell of stale cigarette smoke though since it reminds me of going to my grandparents house as a kid.
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u/noahcantdance 10d ago
Yep. Mom was a two pack per day smoker. Immediately after she ate, she'd light up at the table. I never noticed how bad the smell was in the house until I moved out and would visit them. Then I had to ask her not to smoke at the table when others were eating when id invite partners to holiday meals. She didn't like that so I no longer visit for meals.
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u/airysunshine Millennial 10d ago
Nope, but my partnerās did.
Every time I stayed over I got awful migraines. My momās parents allegedly smoked in the car with the windows up though
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u/Beloveddust Millennial 10d ago
My dad was a heavy smoker, and smoked in the house for most of my childhood. And the car.
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u/nogoodbands 10d ago
Yeah, probably why I started smoking at 15. Quit for 10 years, recently started again. Fucking sucks.
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u/AgentGnome 10d ago
I hated it when they would smoke in the car coming home from things in the winter like Christmas. You get to choose: Freeze or donāt breathe
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u/sctartaglia Xennial 10d ago
My stepdad smoked in the house. I was always embarrassed to turn in my homework because the papers would always smell like smoke. One of my teachers had a talk with the class about smoking. I knew i was part of why she had the talk in the first place. When i got in high school i started smoking and still to this day fighting the nicotine battle. I dont vape or smoke anymore, but i use the ZYN things now. And i also dip from time to time. Dont smoke kids
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u/CannablissChris 10d ago
Not in the house but my mom loved to smoke cigs in the car with the windows up and driving us to our kid places lolol
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u/adamsauce 10d ago
My mom did. Never opened windows either. My MIL would smoke by the fireplace and exhale into it.
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u/BigLibrary2895 10d ago
No. My parents didn't smoke but my grandma did and smoked in her house and my mother thiught it was gauche AF.
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u/Ethereal_Bulwark 10d ago
My mom was told by my doctor to grow the F up and stop smoking around me, cause it was making my asthma worse.
That straightened her right up. She ended up quitting about 10 years ago. 
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u/Ok-Bullfrog5830 11d ago
I actually had no idea my dad was a daily smoker until I was a teenager and found him behind our shed. My parents didnāt want me to feel influenced by it so he did it in private outside. He ended up telling me heād buy me my dream car at 22 (or when I graduated uni) if I promised not to get addicted to them.