Article: Smoking in RV Campgrounds

“I’m sure a lot of people like to go camping to get closer to nature and immerse themselves in the sensory side of it. The smell of cigar smoke drifting through the campsite doesn’t fit in that scene...”

from this article

Why would people who want to get closer to nature rent a spot in a packed RV campground?

Having said that, I don’t smoke and I am biased against smokers for a few reasons:

  • I have little respect for addicts:  drug, alcohol, nicotine or otherwise.

  • they stink, sometimes nauseatingly bad.  Chainsmokers don’t just have the smell on them, they have a rotted, cancer-is-eating-my-body stench emanating from their very pores.  I work with one of these and it is horrible.

  • tossed cigarette butts are a fire hazard and source of litter.   The litter part probably bothers me so bad because I had to pick up smokers’ butts when policing areas of responsibility in the army.

  • 80% of the price of your insurance premium is due to the cost of treating chronic lifestyle-related health problems due to smoking, obesity, diabetes, etc.

  • In work environments, smoke breaks cost employers a little over $3000/yr, increased sick days $500/yr, and reduced productivity from withdrawal over $450/yr.  I was working in a call center once.  I popped up over my cubicle to ask a question and I was the only person in the 20-station center on the phone.  Everyone else was outside on a “smoke break”.

In economic terms, smokers are prolific sources of negative externalities; they transfer or share the downsides of their activity to others.

Vaping

I encourage all smokers to try vaping instead.  You can get your fix while smelling like cherries or banana bread, and some places will let you vape at your desk.  You can tune your nicotine to exact levels or taper off over time.  And you can save an epic crap-ton of money if you make your own juice.  It’s easy.

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