I live across the street from a bank of mailboxes and my yard if full of cigarette butts. I guess people throw them out to read their mail while turning around in my driveway. Its pretty disgusting since I have to clean them up...

My father smoked all his life, and when I was ten years old, he passed away from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). I'm 18 now, and every day I wished he didn't smoke. Thats what makes picking up cigarette butts all the more fun.

 

I can attest to quitting being the most difficult thing that one will ever attempt. I've tried countless times. The patch makes me twitchy, being without makes me grouchy, and I have read that the pills cause ceizures and congestive heart failure. So, I will join those who have tried with the pill soon. I quit drinking in April. I want to quit smoking too. But after 12 years of doing it, everytime I try it feels like I am losing a best friend.

For those that don't smoke, never start... For those of us that still do, say a little prayer that we have the strength to quit. Truly, it is hell. We smell awful, cough a lot, and hate to hear about our habit.

I too, throw them out the window if I am on the highway (nothing to burn down in the desert). If I am in a neighborhood, I tap out the cherry and stick it in my pocket. I don't use the ashtray in my truck except for change.

 

In my first car I used the ashtray, but it was usually overflowing and reeked up the whole car. When I got my truck I kept any empty coke can in the 2nd bev holder with the tab turned 180* for butts. I would throw the can in the garbage when I emptied another can.

I quit smoking 3 yrs ago.

 

I did it when I was younger like a lot of inconsiderate things kids do and grow out of. My car probably gets hit 3 times a week driving in to work on highway. I just keep my windows rolled up. I think most of the people that do it are adults though which is maddening. Goes along with the current trend of people being more and more inconsiderate toward fellow humans.

 

.....Yep, that really sucks when that happens....flies down the jacket and starts burning.....not fun.

 

ashtrays for change. i usually use an empty coke bottle and very rarely toss out the window. on my previous truck i used the ashtray and occasionaly dumped it on the ground( in my driveway) to lazy to walk to the trash can

 

I bought a cup ash tray for the door and dump it on the streets or just chuck the butts out the window. either way I'm lazy.

 

I don't want to start a flame war but this is a very big pet peeve for me,

let me ask you another question, I have asthma, and work in a shop, and three people in my shop are chain smokers, and when they all light up, around my stall, my lungs start to close up instantly. No what they are doing is directly affecting me, so are you saying I should just let them enjoy there life, and keep my mouth shut.

Or how about this one, My five year old son has had what the doctor and I think is a asthma attack, and I caught my in laws smoking around him one time, and about went nuts, should I have said nothing about that and let them enjoy there life?????

Let me finish off with this statement,

If I eat too many cheeseburgers, no one else is in harms way, if I want to sit on my couch, that's not hurting anyone else, if I want to drink myself into a coma that's not physically hurting anyone else, unless of course I drive.

But evertime someone lights up, that is hurting the people they are next to,in one of the worsts ways, some more than others, that smoke is very damaging to someone who struggles to breath in the first place, some people call me a ***** or whatever, and my response is let me hit you in the stomach as hard as you can, and when you are on the ground saying that you can't breath because you dont' have any air, I'm gonna do it again. Because that's what it feels like.

Some of you smokers don't even realize how far that smoke actually travels, I can't enjoy driving in my car with the fresh air hitting me if a guy decides to light up two cars ahead at a signal, or if I'm in a resturant trying to eat at the river, or what.

I can tell you that's the complaint that non smokers have, it's not a judgement thing, it's if you want to do it fine, but if it directly affects the people who choose not to, that are around you, IT IS their business. Their health or there right to breath is there business.

This statement was not to argue, but was to try to shed some light on the smokers from a non smoking point of view, why some of us, complain about it, it's not to enfringe on your rights or judge you, it's just where we are coming from.

Hoss

 

Hoss,

I'm with YOU! I've been asthmatic since birth...I'm now almost 44.
Believe it or not - I smoked for the first six years I was in the Air Force. (YES...I know it was EXTREMELY stupid to smoke being an asthmatic).
Have been an EX-smoker for 18.5 years now...SO glad I quit

I take a handful of asthma meds daily and as long as I do, I can run on my treadmill or do just about anything I want, physically.

But, like you, when someone is nearby with a lit cigarette, my lungs want to close up.

Some smokers understand...some don't (just like with anything).

I personally think litterbugs are low-lifes, but that's just my opinion. I think it's a HUGE waste of our tax dollars, paying people to police the sides of highways for trash, just because the low-lifes are too lazy to put trash (including butts) in the proper place to begin with.

I'm not trying to offend...but stating an opinion is just like throwing a rock into a pack of dogs...the one you hit is usually the one that hollers

Just my .02

 

I keep one of those snuffer cups in the cupholder of my truck. I try to empty it every couple of days. It seems, to me at least, to keep the smell down a little better than the ashtray too.