this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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I know why this is: it's because my mom, the only family member that I was close with, smoked a whole bunch, and so I have positive childhood associations.

Whether it be the active smell of somebody who's smoking nearby or the lingering scent that's left or that sticks around in place where people smoke frequently, such as bars or hallways or similar, I like it a lot.

Yet even so, I was actually stunned when I found that there are very few people who agree, and many are the folks who think that it smells bad.

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[–] flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yep. This is an unpopular opinion. Well done.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's unpopular, for sure. Is it really an opinion though?

OP didn't actually say much about cigarette smell, other than their personal preference about it. If you say that something is good, bad or in between, that would be an opinion. If you say you like or dislike something, that's a personal preference.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago
[–] EtnaAtsume@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I can see where you're coming from with this ("I, the individual, like the smell of cigarette smoke" is a fact, compared to the statement "the smell of cigarette smoke is pleasant" which is an opinion), but this level of pedantry is really something else!

I'm impressed!

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 months ago

That’s explains the downvotes, LOL.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 22 points 2 months ago

Same here. I quit smoking before a lot of Lemmy people were born, and have no interest or temptation to start again. I still like it. It's good friends and hanging out late at night, it's taking a break up on the roof. I don't want throat cancer but the smell is still nice.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I get it. I also get how some people like the smell of gasoline or diesel fumes. That's why I like that public places are shifting towards a default of preventing smells. Some people like things, but allowing some will annoy others

[–] Spiderwort@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My real estate agent calls it "depersonalizing" the space. Remove all signs that it is occupied by humans with personalities. Make it like a furniture store.

Ideally we'll do that to the whole world. Everything clean, grey, odorless.

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[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

My parents owned and operated a restaurant for 35 years so I grew up hanging at the bar and huffing second hand smoke while watching TGIF. For me, smelling smoke and stale beer is super comforting. Even typing that I realize is incredibly fucked up but it is what it is. I learned a ton of social skills and relating to all ages and walks of life and it has served me well but its a pretty messed up childhood.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait......which era of TGIF? Because that block ran for like 12 years. Started when I was a kid, and I was college aged when it finished.

Dinosaurs was a solid show.

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Mid to late 90s, Boy meets girl, step by step, family matters, etc. Would just hang there most of the night while both my parents ran the restaurant and if I got too tired I'd pass out in a booth and my parents would wake me when it was time to go home.

[–] Amanduh@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Greek, Italian and American fare. How'd you guess?

[–] Amanduh@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

You made me think of a friend who had a similar upbringing and his family owned an Italian restaurant

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Not a fan of tobacco smoke but enjoy the smell of unlit tobacco.

[–] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've been hospitalized due to secondhand smoke, so I definitely hate the smell. It is physically painful for me.

[–] SparrowRanjitScaur@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is it an asthma trigger for you?

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[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 8 points 2 months ago

I am the same and I’ve never smoked a cigarette. I like the initial smell that comes off after it’s been freshly lit. But once it hits the middle, that shit starts to stink lol.

I grew up in a time when adults smoked around kids so I guess it’s the familiarity with my childhood too.

[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's really fascinating how scents are tied to memory, like if that scent didn't bring good memories of your mom, would you still like it? It's an unanswerable question, just interesting to me.

A lot of people in my family smoke/smoked and I smoked for a lot of years, but I also haven't smoked for a lot of years now. There are different types of cigarette odors. Some of them don't bother me and I actually like, but some of them make me nauseous.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yeah scent memory is wild. I can smell something and have it bring me back to some perfume my middle school crush wore... Shit is insane.

[–] ALERT@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago

do you also like the smell of lung cancer?

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Pulled up my canoe to a friendly guy fishing our local swamp. Had a nice chat. Damn, when he lit up, my brain screamed, "NICE".

But I don't really want a cig, just loved the smell, old memories.

For that matter, a woman who's a little smoky with liquor on her breath, I get SPRUNG. Old memories, "a smell of wine and cheap perfume..."

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah. Same here. Smoked for 30 years. Quit 5 years ago but I do like hanging around the smoke for a few minutes.

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah. Perfume and smoke does it for me as well. Sweet liquor on the breath. Smells like trouble.

[–] Worx 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I had a friend in university who rolled his own and they smelled so nice. No idea what he put in them, but I've never smelled another cigarette that wasn't vile

[–] Nikls94@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Self rolled ones tend to have more moisture in them, producing other flavor profiles.

Source: went from cigarettes to 2 packs a day to vaping to non smoking to smoking to smoking 2 packs a day to rolling them myself to quitting almost 4 years ago

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 3 points 2 months ago

Could've been pipe tobacco. Some brands have vanilla aroma added, which smells very pleasant

[–] Glitterbomb@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Ex smoker, hate the smell.

The only time I legitimately cherished the smell was when I stepped into a portapotty that had previously smelled like death for the entire week. That day though, some hero decided to chain smoke in that thing and you couldn't smell the shit anymore.

We've tried the trees you put on your rear view mirror, we tried cans of febreeze, only cigarettes hide the portapotty smell. Please, Cigarette smokers, be the heros we need you to be

[–] AlwaysNurture@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

I love this comment :3

[–] dan1101@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

My grandfather smoked. I like a small whiff, but still don't want to be breathing cigarette smoke for more than a few seconds.

[–] makuus@pawb.social 5 points 2 months ago

My dad smoked Camels while I was growing up, and, to this day, I still like the smell of them. Reminds me so much of him, and all the little opportunities he took to light up.

Absolutely hated how my clothes would smell after going back to my mom’s, though. Just awful…

[–] slumlordthanatos@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

It's definitely nostalgic for me, since one set of grandparents smoked when I was a kid. It never really bothered me...unless I was driving in their car, where it would give me motion sickness. I was never prone to it otherwise; only when driving on mountain roads in a car that reeked of cigarettes.

To their credit, they quit smoking when my older sister had her first kid, but the smell of cigarettes just throws me back to the summers spent helping Grandpa with whatever home improvement project he was working on.

[–] CatZoomies@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I never really think about the perspective that others like or enjoy the smell of tobacco. I’ve smelled Black and Mild before and that was tolerable enough, but still not appreciated.

I dislike the smell. But I also actively avoid tobacco and others smoking, primarily for health reasons we’re all aware of. However, tobacco, marijuana, etc. smells are migraine-triggers for me. If I’m around it too long, I could spiral into a terrible migraine that takes days to recover where I’m bed ridden and vomiting for at least a day. Migraines be no fun.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I know exactly what you mean. My room at my parents place was on the upper floor, which got very warm in the summer, so I had the window open the whole day. My mom always smoked right below my window because she didn't want to be seen from the street. Somehow this turned into a positive association.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's not "very few" people who like it, and "many" that don't.

It's you. You're the only one. Everyone else hates it.

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

So you upvoted the post, right?

[–] Amanduh@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I like the smell of freshly lit cigarettes too.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I get it; I like the smell of stale cigarettes trapped in an indoor location.

Cigars, on the other hand, can fuck right off.

[–] whyrat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

It is designed to be a desirable smell (or actually flavored in some cases). Since it's highly addictive the people selling it know they just you to try it and they'll probably have a long-term customer.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

Cig smoke is fine for me, but I LOVE the smell of weed smoke (and I don’t smoke weed)

[–] Oberyn@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Very underrated smell imo , tho I don't see myself actually smoking cigs , health risks seem not worth it for me

[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Yeah just don't if you can help it. So easy to start, extremely difficult to quit.

You're better off with nicotine gum if you're chasing the buzz

[–] CarterH739@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't know why you say it's difficult to quit. I've done it like eight times.

[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

I quit at the end of every day

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I got so lucky… I smoked for like nine months and one day I had a cig and it felt like DOGSHIT. I tried again the next day and I felt debilitated and super shitty. It was also the advent of Ecigs, so I snagged a rudimentary cigalike and used it occasionally when I would normally smoke, then stopped that too.

I will have a cig very occasionally (actually half a cig, split with my partner) but only if we’re hella drunk. If I’m sober, cigs are absolutely garbage.

[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Nice, associating them with feeling shitty is a good way to keep off them yeah

[–] Oberyn@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dœs nicotine gum smell like anything ? Just curious

[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Nah it's just gum from what I remember

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I don't like the smell of any smoke but unsmoked cigarettes smell really good.

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