Smoking and hiking…

[mark henley]

"Yeah, I have a Ph.D. so I can confirm that sucking in the cigarette smoke from someone else is offensive."

Oh Spare me …….

Where's the IGNORE button on this forum, anyway?

[Michael Reagan]

I'm late to this discussion, but I'll weigh in anyway. I have quit smoking cigarettes and it was precisely because of hiking and backpacking. I am feeling much better and getting in more mileage all the time. Nice to have the camel off my back.

I suppose if an ultralight backpacker brought along a cigar on a trip it would have to be a good, "cuben" wouldn't you say? :-)

Michael

[Jesse H.]

i just got back from pt reyes, IM A SMOKER, i did 28 miles in two days, and two packs of smokes, (and a pint of single malt;) im not saying you guys are wrong about the health risks… its obvious smoking is bad for you… but it is what it is… HYOH!… and man was it funny walking back to the trail head today passing other backpackers shlubing along while i blaze by smoking a cig… "IF I WANT TO SMELL THAT I WOULD GO TO A BAR OR BUS STOP" LOL… man up, my god man, your in the woods.

[Brendt Jacobsen]

"IF I WANT TO SMELL THAT I WOULD GO TO A BAR OR BUS STOP"
Got to agree with Jesse, man up! I mean you can't even enjoy a camp fire?????? That maybe one of the silliest things I have ever read on the internet. I prefer to think of my cigar smoke as idiot repellant.

[Timothy Sexton]

The only experience I have with smoking and hiking I have is when I was prescribed medical marijuana. I would walk for two hours then I would smoke a blunt, then I would walk for another two hours and smoke a blunt, and on and on. This is very enjoyable, and who says pot smokers are lazy I was averaging 22 miles a day. I walked the Lost Coast in one day, and then I was walking the PCT southbound in the Mojave area. The fire danger was very high so I droped my ashes inside a can. I went through about one ounce of pot and an ounce of hash over one month of backpacking. If you have never tried smoking and hiking it is loads of fun. However this was years ago and I have now been sober, clean, for over one and a half years.
Hash is also considered a narcotic.

[Angela Zukowski]

Smoking is a personal choice, but I do find it very inconsiderate for someone to smoke while I'm running a trail or hiking. If you want to do it in the privacy of your campsite, great and more power to you. But the smell detracts from the smells that I want to enjoy… fresh air, dirt, leaves and water. Plus when I'm working really hard to inhale enough oxygen/keep my heart rate down as I run… it's an awful feeling to be sucking in cigarette smoke instead.

So if the smokers who hike could keep that in mind, it'd be appreciated!

While you're lighting up at a trailhead and I'm winding down from an 8 mile run over a mountain… that smell is basically going to make me sick.

[Dustin Fritterling]

Some people LOVE to be offended. That's why those people NEED smokers, otherwise there wouldn't be anybody worth judging. I smoked for 8 years, and finally quit last year. I will admit that secondhand smoke is now very unpleasant to me, but that doesn't mean I have to act like a sissy deuschbag everytime I find myself in the company of a smoker. You do realize that there are worse things in our air than just a smidgen of secondhand cigarrette smoke. Things you can't see or smell. Things that will make you crazy! I'm feeling it right now! Hahahahahhaha!!!

[Jim MacDiarmid]

I didn't smoke, then I started dating someone who smoked, and who had friends that smoked, and when you could smoke in the bars, it was easy to just take a cigarette and start smoking. So I socially smoked for 3 years, but then quit after moving to CA and getting serious about hiking/backpacking when it hit me that I was hurting my ability to hike. As if the cancer thing wasn't incentive enough.

I hate telling other people what they should/shouldn't do. Well no, I don't hate it, I just realize it is wrong to do so.

The one thing about I smoking anywhere I keep coming back to is this; It takes up more than your alloted personal space and invades other people space. It's like listening to music too loud, or having a really loud conversation on your cell phone in a public place. Nobody else wants to hear it, and we all hate when somebody else does it.

I really don't want to say that people shouldn't smoke in the backcountry. So I won't. After all, fire smells too, but that's a camping acceptable/expected odor. And if I wasn't worried about odors and bears, I'd probably bring a tobacco pipe on a trip or two. But imagine if the campers next to you lugged a boom box out there, and were listening loudly to whatever style of music you hate? Or 1,000 times worse, what if they had a drum circle? You'd want them to turn it down. Cigarette/cigar smoke invades other people's space in the same way. I suppose the solution is to be far enough away that it's not an issue. Or for everybody to realize we don't get to makes all the rules and just deal.

[Mary D]

I hate to see people smoking because my mother died of lung cancer in her 50's. On the other hand, it's their choice! And I know how hard it is to quit! I quit at age 22 after smoking only 4 years and haven't touched a cigarette since, but every once in a great while I still have a minor craving.

The big problem with smoking and hiking is the fire danger! At least in western US national forests, it's illegal to smoke while hiking, and with very good reason. Smokers should stop and do their smoking on a spot with no vegetation and pure dirt (no organic matter mixed in) where they can control where the ashes go. Make sure that butt is completely out–so you can easily touch it with your hands. And please pack those butts out with you! The tobacco and paper disintegrate pretty fast, but the filters last forever.

And it is simple courtesy to do your smoking downwind of non-smokers!

I generally don't say anything to smokers, unless they're smoking while hiking along the trail in the dry season. Most of these are obvious "tourons" on the lower parts of Columbia River Gorge trails. Then I politely mention the fire danger. I've gotten some dirty looks but noticed that the cigarettes were put out.

[Jesse H.]

I knew I wasn't the only one :) to second another poster, I too am a medical marijuana patient, and its lucid side effects are very nice on the trail…

I also can dig what another person said about music or drum circles… (although I'd be checkin' out that circle, LOL) but if i was that bothered, well id pack up and keep movin :) thats the beauty of backpacking isn't it?

[Laurie Ann March]

I guess I am pretty anti-smoking. I didn't read the rest of the posts but I will after I write this.

I come from a whole family of smokers. I am now watching my Mom's failing health because of smoking. She eventually quit at age 75 when her breathing was so bad that she couldn't puff on a cigarette anymore. The fact she quit is astounding but now I watch my little boy with her and how worried he is about his Grandma. She gasps for air as she sits. Walking the 20 feet to the bathroom is like a marathon for her. She can barely talk to her grandson on the phone.

Then there are my two remaining siblings, Margaret and Dan. Both have had heart attacks and the doctors have told them both that if they don't stop smoking they will have another. Do they stop? No.

I had bronchitis most of my childhood because of being in car with smokers.

I've never tried it (not even once) but I think it's a selfish habit that should be made illegal. I don't mean to offend but I am heartbroken when I hear my little boy say "I think Grandma won't be here next time Mom". Smoking makes me angry.

Smoking is inconsiderate in ways that people don't consider. Aside from second hand smoke being disgusting and harmful… what about your loved ones? Don't you think they'd like to have you around a little longer and with better health?

Anyway enough of the lecture – it's merely my point of view and I don't mean to be offensive – it's just that watching my mother dying from this preventable thing is upsetting.

[Rick Cheehy]

Me and the Mrs. both quit about a year ago. I used the patch for the first 2 days while at work (I work at a busy coffee house at 4am and I didn't want any soccer mom blood on my hands) my wife quit 2 weeks later while on the trail. The first 3 days are the worst from a physical withdrawal standpoint, mental stimulus and physical exertion help with withdrawal so hiking helps. Being a non-smoker rocks 95% of the time but every once in a while on man I wanna sick a cuben in that primus stove or pull a hooka or a pack of winstons out of my pack and smoke up! But I don't I'm a good boy. But I will say I'm pretty sure I'll never get glaucoma if you know what I mean…

[Anonymous]

"Smoking is inconsiderate in ways that people don't consider. Aside from second hand smoke being disgusting and harmful… what about your loved ones? Don't you think they'd like to have you around a little longer and with better health?"

So true, Laurie. My Dad smoked all his life and ended up dying from the complications of emphysema. It was a long, slow, miserable process that exacted a terrible toll on my Mom, and on my brother and me when we were home. He came to realize this toward the end but, by then, it was far too late. My sympathy to you and yours.

[Jesse Glover]

Man there are so many things to worry about other than what other people do. If someone is getting on your nerves then keep hiking.

[Sharon Bingham]

I've been smoking lightly for 3 years now. I was in denial about that for a long time – considered myself a social smoker…

But I wanted to stop altogether for my 30th birthday. It's the alcohol that gets me – if I have a few beers, the cigarettes call…

It doesn't help that my bf smokes. In fact – I probably would have quit already – I can go all week without smoking, and then we get together on the weekend, and he smokes around me and I'm done.

BUT, back to the OP question. My bf has been smoking for 13 years (since he was 17). He's tried to quite several times. Tried a pill, patches, gum, you-name-it. Nothing has worked. He's done his research – apparently, ifyou can make it the first 48, the craving for it is much easier to handle after that…

We are both enrolled in the WT1-SBP course for late this summer. No tobacco products are allowed.

And walking to the top of a small hill really winds me when it never did before.

He wants to quit, and I want to quit. And backpacking/hiking is definitely providing and incentive. Whether or not it will be enough of one to have sticking power is another matter. I think it will be for me. I don't know if it will be for him.

[Nick Gatel]

"Man there are so many things to worry about other than what other people do. If someone is getting on your nerves then keep hiking."

So simple, and so eloquent.

BTW, we should encourage smokers. I recently read an article that with longer life spans, smokers live 10 years less than non-smokers, and the net effect is that smokers cost us less money in net health care.

[Rog Tallbloke]

> BTW, we should encourage smokers. I recently read an article that with longer life spans, smokers live 10 years less than non-smokers, and the net effect is that smokers cost us less money in net health care.

Added to which the tax they pay on tobacco more than covers their treatment for lung diseases – in the UK at least 9 billion in tax and only 3 billion in healthcare for smoking related diseases.

Lots of non smokers die of lung cancer too. Is this more likely from second hand smoke or vehicle emissions? The studies done are very inconclusive, but townies suffer more than rurals, so my guess is it's the diesel trucks and cars. The particulates in diesel engine emissions are just the right size cause lung trouble.

[Allison Sayre]

Laurie wrote: "I've never tried it (not even once) but I think it's a selfish habit that should be made illegal."

Dude I've also never tried smoking -not even once- but I'm not about to tell an adult what he or she can do in the privacy of their own home. Is smoking around children child abuse? Probably. So let's deal with it in that matter instead of telling everyone what they can and can't do.

Have you ever read about prohibition? Al Capone? Hello? Bueller? It caused more crime, more deaths, more money than the alternative. The war on drugs is a huge waste of money–you and I are paying to imprison or arrest over 800,000 Americans a year whose only crime is smoking a blunt. Making more things illegal will only exacerbate the problem.

On topic: If you're smoking upwind of me while I'm trying to enjoy nature I'd be angry. I know I sound like a self-righteous douchebag but you are the same people who I bet would complain if I brought some battery-powered speakers on the trail and listened to my iPod without headphones.

[Jesse H.]

not me… im the guy with some led lepplin cruisin by…

[Eugene Smith]

"not me… im the guy with some led lepplin cruisin by…"

I'm envisioning a group of lepers covering Led Zeppelin songs, or you just misspelled the name of one of the best rock bands of all time.

Is obesity a taboo subject? What about all the millions of overweight morbidly obese Americans? Is anyone on this forum obese, if so, did you stop being obese due to hiking? Smoking seems to receive the brunt of the attacks from many individuals, but seriously, there are many other health related problems in this country and I don't understand why smoking is the go to topic for criticism. I mind horses on the trail, moving over for their large rear ends to pass by dropping sh#t all over the place, mucking up trails, blowing gas in my face. If smoking is going to be flamed, why not every other practice that might be "inconsiderate" to others. Smoking is honestly one of the last practices on the trail to raise issues with me.

[Jesse H.]

led lepplin rocks! lol!

in all honesty, im very mindful of others on the trail… if i am playing music, its at a very low volume, when smoking im very mindful of the fact that i walking around with a potential forest fire in my hands, thats my only real concern, not starting a fire… many times I've had to get on friends about smoking, ashing, extinguishing and PACKING OUT THEY'RE BUTTS!

[Laurie Ann March]

I'll bite… Eugene I was morbidly obese… not so anymore and yes hiking certainly changed that. I was over 360 pounds when I started backpacking and now I am under 200 (I'm 6 feet tall so I still have a bit to lose)

The difference is my former obesity didn't cause the same issues as second hand smoke causes other people… just saying. Look up the stats on second hand smoke related health problems.

And about what people do in their own home… well if my brother wants me to visit he knows that he isn't allowed to smoke in his house when I am there or when my son is there. If he doesn't like it then I just don't visit… period. He knows it and is respectful enough to understand. He's also on an inhaler for COPD… I can lose weight (and am) but Dan will always have COPD… and the cause… smoking.

[Anton Koliev]

From my side, I just don't care, if someone smoking on the trail or not, if this will not abuse me. This is just smoker's headache. In my country harder to find someone, who are not smoker. I was very hard smoking guy from 15y/o to 33, but then decide to leave this habit. I got one package of TABEX and more then 6 months never even have wish to try again.

[Allison Sayre]

Laurie:

There's a difference between you telling your brother you are uncomfortable with him smoking inside around you and making it illegal for EVERYONE to do so. Many people are obviously in situations where that is not a problem. And even if they were, it's not the government's place to tell adults what to do in the privacy of their own home so long as it doesn't harm others!

Also, there is conflicting evidence on how dangerous second-hand smoke is. My problem with it is that smoking smells terrible and makes my asthma flare up. But again, I'm not going to tell someone else what to do with their life. Americans today have this mentality that it is their right to protect people from themselves. For many people, smoking bans have only aggravated them and furthered their resolve to smoke. It's called the forbidden-fruit factor, feel free to look it up- it's a well documented effect.

[Nate Meinzer]

Smoking for me had become a nuisance. Not something I really enjoyed. After putting in really long days (30+ miles) my lungs would be sore from exhaustion, and I knew it was time to get change that. Plus, the shame, embarrassment, and nastiness of packing out butts just got to be too much. So I quit.

To any who are interested in quitting, my strategy was very successful.

First, switch off mainstream cigarettes to organic, additive-free cigarettes like American Spirits. While these cigarettes are not healthy, they are far less addictive, and you will go through a withdrawal from the additives when you make the switch. Resist the urge to go back to the mainstream cigarettes and stick with the new ones until you no longer have the urge to smoke the others.

Next, replace the cigarettes with nicotine replacement therapy (gum, patches, lozengers, whatever). You should notice hardly any withdrawal symptoms going from additive-free tobacco to nicotine replacement (unlike going from mainstream cigarettes to the patch.)

Finally, cut back over a period of weeks on the nicotine.

Worked for me, hope to pass along the method to any who are ready to give it up!

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