Reply #140: My mom died from smoking related health issues 4 months ago

[Caoimhe]

She chain smoked from the age of about 13 to her dying day at age 60, on Sept. 1, 2007. As kids we tried EVERYTHING to get her to stop. We'd bring home literature on the evils of smoking from health class and stash them in various drawers in the kitchen so she'd find them. It just pissed her off. My brothers put those little snap things in her cigarettes.. that REALLY pissed her off. She would smoke in the car with us, with the windows rolled up... because she didn't want to waste the car heater. All three of us were plagued by chronic ear, nose, throat infections through our childhood. My mom once told me, without much thought of how I'd react.. that she was smoking a cigarette in the delivery room when she pushed me into the world. I was disgusted.. she shrugged and said times were different. All of us kids had a ritual garbage disposal sendoff of her last unfinished carton. Yes, I'm bitter. I wish I could have known her without that CONSTANT stupid piece of crap hanging out of her mouth. I wish I didn't have kids at school always call me ashtray because my clothes and backpack were so imbibed with smoke. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for the 36 years I knew her, I loved her so much and I know she'd have done anything for us kids... except quit smoking. It's that powerful.

On a much lighter note.. how about the FUME BOOTH as a solution? Put people in a box, let them imbibe their smoke, they can then FLUSH the crappy pollution out into a scrubber/filtration system, and everyone's happy. Maybe even those old style scuba helmets... attach cigarette to small one way valve that sucks all smoke directly into helmet. If not, why not?

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Fume_20Booth