This post about smoking indoors will take people of a certain age right back to the unhealthy smells of their youth
It must seem incredible to anyone under the age of 30 today, but time was – not too long ago either – that people smoked everywhere indoors. In pubs, restaurants, cars, planes, one another’s homes – anywhere and everywhere.
All of that has changed for the better, but people of a certain age will have vivid memories of being around cigarette smoke for a lot of their young lives.
One account on Twitter/X recently shared an old image of people smoking indoors, commenting how it was so normal that you’d put out ashtrays for your guests.
Indoor smoking is one of the biggest things that has been memory holed.
Before a certain date, it was totally normal and did NOT have any type of low class implications.
Some non-smokers would put out ashtrays for guests. pic.twitter.com/d4YbNmJWQn
— VB Knives (@Empty_America) December 20, 2024
Twitter/X user @SaysSimonson then caused the image to go viral when he reposted it asking, ‘Did everyone’s house just smell all the time?’
did everyone’s house just smell all the time https://t.co/64rcvdml6J
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) December 20, 2024
That’s when other people started sharing their smokey memories.
1.
This is the thing I always wonder about. The stench of cigarettes stands out so much now, like if someone walks in who just smoked one. Just must’ve been the default smell of everything.
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) December 20, 2024
2.
lol Yes. The answer is yes. And everything was stained. When my grandma sold her apartment, my mom made the horrible mistake of trying to clean a spot on the yellow wall. Turns out the wall was white. Had to fully wash every wall after. We always thought it was yellow paint. https://t.co/vPhQZa9n0e
— Kristopher MacGregor (@krismacgregor) December 21, 2024
3.
IYKYK pic.twitter.com/7mm2Da7Y1q
— Anna K. Gorisch (@AnnaGorisch) December 21, 2024
4.
Remember when there were smoking and non smoking sections at restaurants and being in non smoking just meant the cigarette smoke would waft over but you weren’t actively surrounded by smokers? Crazy that was in my lifetime! https://t.co/SJMNAfKjni
— BB-k8 (@k8andbake) December 20, 2024
5.
I was at a family friend’s house once and they showed us pictures of the bathroom before they had the place reno’d – walls were yellow and ceiling filter was BLACK. The whole thing was white before the previous owners had bought it. Take from that what you will. https://t.co/fYKRdFk4U2
— William S Dawson (@WilliamSDa41490) December 21, 2024
6.
My grandfather smoked a pipe, and you could pick up the smell at least 15 feet from the door. Unlike cigarettes, I loved that smell, and his books, which I inherited, still retain a faint odor of it. Powerfully nostalgic.
— Grand Admiral Nemo (@GrandAdmNemo) December 20, 2024
7.
Yes but so did *everywhere else*. You could smoke in restaurants, and if they even had a nonsmoking section it wouldn’t be physically separated. Every office was full of smoke; *doctors* would smoke in their offices. You didn’t notice it because it was everywhere. https://t.co/wt70Vc5gYa
— Nick Simmonds (@Diacritic) December 21, 2024
8.
My dad used to smoke in bed watching sports and there was a yellow/brown stain that developed on the ceiling above his spot
my mother keeps an incredibly clean house and I can’t believe she tolerated it for years https://t.co/pabXZzD5VT
— Garrick Dion (@GareRick) December 21, 2024
9.
Everything smelled like an ashtray all the time up until the early 90’s.
— Dan Peters (@TheDanPeters) December 20, 2024
10.
the best is that shag carpenting was also big, which was great for retaining the horrible smelll and for starting house fires
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) December 20, 2024
11.
Yes. As a child I’d sit by Mom on the couch watching shows while she chain smoked in a room without good ventilation. Smoking in cars with the windows rolled up was everywhere. The stink was so common you didn’t really notice. Desensitized unless you just came in from outside.
— Sam Lowen (@samlowen5105) December 20, 2024
12.
I remember my friends house always smelled like cigarettes, and I would come home every single time smelling like cigarettes.
But other than the aftersmell, I always found the scent kinda comforting. 🙂
— Jon Strong (@jonstronglives) December 20, 2024
13.
I’m old enough to remember. Yes, houses smelled like smoke. You wouldn’t dream of entertaining and not provide ash trays. I remember ash trays in doctor’s offices. Heck, you could smoke in hospital rooms as long as there weren’t oxygen tanks in use. People simply smoked…
— Swennes (@Swennes17) December 20, 2024
14.
My dad is the youngest of 7 and was born in the early 1960s. He claims that every house he lived in until the age of about 25, had yellow ceilings. https://t.co/Ky9ZDs5xWI
— Robyn Alice (@roalsovi) December 20, 2024
15.
It smelled like adulthood. https://t.co/EcUnZW0kPF
— James Abbott The Jade Sphinx (@thejadesphinx) December 21, 2024
16.
Every smoker’s house, & your hair & clothes stunk whenever you went out to restaurants or clubs.
The OR lounge where I worked got so smoky in the AM when the 19-room staff congregated before the first case that you couldn’t see across the room. https://t.co/2T5vbegE3u
— Mary (@MHPoison1) December 20, 2024
17.
Yes! As children, my brother and I would beg our parents to roll down a window when we were in the car. Every piece of clothing, furniture, sheet rock smelled of stale smoke.
— Michelle Smitherman (@MRSmitherman07) December 21, 2024
18.
This could be me and I wouldn’t have had it any other way https://t.co/auinHmwIFN pic.twitter.com/eys5pFXlRL
— feck me running (@feck_me_running) December 21, 2024
19.
Yes.
And cars too.
And restaurants and stores.
And sidewalks.
And offices.
It was just everywhere-
ah, the soothing smell of childhood— Unbridled Unbound (@unbridldUnbound) December 21, 2024
Source: Twitter/X/sayssimonson