Where did people tap their ash before the smoking ban?

BetterThanThou

Now, I'm quite naive on this subject, as I would've only been 7 or 8 when the ban was introduced, and never really took any notice. Obviously, in a bar or restaurant, they simply would have tapped it in an ash tray. But what about the likes of shops, where someone isn't stationary? Were people generally allowed smoke in them? Were there ash trays all over the place? Did people simply tap their ash on the floor? I'm genuinely curious about this.

kneemos

You didn't walk in anywhere with a cigarette.

Desolation Of Smug

kneemos wrote: »

You didn't walk in anywhere with a cigarette.

I did. I used to walk in everywhere with a cigarette.

DaBlackMask

On the cashiers head, I used to pretend it was Ash Wednesday

Nah they had little tin foil ashtrays

On the ground mostly.

I was about 18/19 when the ban came in and can remember how damned annoying it was to be out before. Don't know how many times I got burned and then they'd blame you for it somehow.

Just to add - the OP is young as f*ck.

Turtyturd

Nobody smoked in shops, which makes those clowns who walk around shops with their e-cigs look like even bigger clowns.

kneemos

Desolation Of Smug wrote: »

I did. I used to walk in everywhere with a cigarette.

No.

You didn't walk in anywhere with a cigarette.

myshirt

It was usually customary that you would extinguish your cigarette on your wife's arm, such were the times.

The Backwards Man

Young bastard!!!

Cold War Kid

BetterThanThou wrote: »

Now, I'm quite naive on this subject, as I would've only been 7 or 8 when the ban was introduced, and never really took any notice. Obviously, in a bar or restaurant, they simply would have tapped it in an ash tray. But what about the likes of shops, where someone isn't stationary? Were people generally allowed smoke in them? Were there ash trays all over the place? Did people simply tap their ash on the floor? I'm genuinely curious about this.

There were bans on smoking in commercial premises and public buildings long long before the ban on smoking everywhere. Although people were still doing so on the sly here and there (e.g. offices I worked in in the early 2000s) but officially it was forbidden.
There was a time (up to, I dunno... the 80s?) when people smoked in cinemas, and bank tellers could have a fag while counting your money if they wished. Seems so bizarre now.

Does anyone remember the biggest side-effect of the smoking ban in pubs and clubs?

You could actually smell the places, once the smell of smoke was gone. And they stank to high heavens. The smell of sweat, of the toilets, of farts, and of incredibly bad B.O. The first few weeks were horrible.

volchitsa

Deleted User wrote: »

On the ground mostly.

I was about 18/19 when the ban came in and can remember how damned annoying it was to be out before. Don't know how many times I got burned and then they'd blame you for it somehow.

Yeah, I remember (as a non smoker) when we used to regularly find little burn marks on clothes after a night out - you'd just either brushed against one, or been brushed against without noticing. Really annoying as it was usually something new or good, since you were wearing it out somewhere.

I don't remember getting burned myself, tbh. TF!

PandaPoo

I often wondered that myself! I have no recollection of people smoking inside, seems so strange now.

My husband remembers it and said you couldn't even see the other side of the pub sometimes!

Dozer Dave

kneemos wrote: »

No.

You didn't walk in anywhere with a cigarette.

Not now but before the ban it was not an issue, mass was my only exception unless I stayed in the porch.

volchitsa

Deleted User wrote: »

Does anyone remember the biggest side-effect of the smoking ban in pubs and clubs?

You could actually smell the places, once the smell of smoke was gone. And they stank to high heavens. The smell of sweat, of the toilets, of farts, and of incredibly bad B.O. The first few weeks were horrible.

Ah yeah, that too. And the smell of alcohol when you walked in - that was such a shock! Bars had never smelled of actual alcohol before!

Turtyturd

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Does anyone remember the biggest side-effect of the smoking ban in pubs and clubs?

Broken noses/jaws due to rows outside pubs....at least according to the Herald. Think they reported 30 million on the first weekend.

One eyed Jack

Desolation Of Smug wrote: »

I did. I used to walk in everywhere with a cigarette.

The one good thing about the smoking ban though (and I say this while I'm actually puffing away on a cigarette here) is that people weren't allowed smoke in restaurants any more. I remember I used go into Bewleys for the breakfast and was almost teary eyed with the smoke coming from the "smoking section".

I do miss actually being able to smoke when I was in a bar so in that respect the smoking ban has made me feel sometimes like I couldn't be bothered going for a drink. It's still hard to get used to since, when was it introduced, 2004?

We also used be able to smoke in the workplace I worked in at the time, and that was outdoors and indoors in a large hangar/workshop type place, where we used just stub the cigarettes out on the floor with our foot.

MRnotlob606

You had to hide under your tongue and say five hail mary's

Desolation Of Smug

kneemos wrote: »

No.

You didn't walk in anywhere with a cigarette.

Oh yeah I did. I have one lit all day every day. I still do.

MarkAnthony

The Blanchardstown centre didn't ban smoking until very late on, might have been all the way up to the smoking ban. Always thought that was a bit odd. Then again it's D15 we're talking about...

Kinda on the OP's subject, why do smokers think their litter isn't litter?

MarkAnthony

MarkAnthony wrote: »

The Blanchardstown centre didn't ban smoking until very late on, might have been all the way up to the smoking ban. Always thought that was a bit odd. Then again it's D15 we're talking about...

Kinda on the OP's subject, why do smokers think their litter isn't litter?

The Eyre Square Centre in Galway was the same. Remember that the main eating area was so inefficiently divided up between smoker and non-smoker.

Rational Male

As an ex smoker I remember putting out fags anywhere in nightclubs.. Tapping the ash on the floor..fairly disgraceful when you think about it.

Simon2015

MarkAnthony wrote: »

The Blanchardstown centre didn't ban smoking until very late on, might have been all the way up to the smoking ban. Always thought that was a bit odd. Then again it's D15 we're talking about...

Kinda on the OP's subject, why do smokers think their litter isn't litter?

It was the same in the Square in Tallaght. Once the ban came in they kept telling people over the intercom it was now illgeal to smoke in the shopping centre.

porsche959

Cold War Kid wrote: »

There was a time (up to, I dunno... the 80s?) when people smoked in cinemas, and bank tellers could have a fag while counting your money if they wished. Seems so bizarre now.

Yep. And on the top floors on buses (and before that, presumably, though I'm not old enough to remember) anywhere in the bus.

WoollyRedHat

Angela's.

porsche959

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Kinda on the OP's subject, why do smokers think their litter isn't litter?

Prioritisation?

http://img.timeinc.net/time/2007/polluted_places/linfen.jpg

ArseBurger

Turtyturd wrote: »

Nobody smoked in shops, which makes those clowns who walk around shops with their e-cigs look like even bigger clowns.

Of course they did. In the 80s and 90s shop keepers would smoke behind the counter.
In 1990 smoking was banned in public buildings. Prior to that, for example, college students and lecturers used to smoke in lecture halls.

I'm not saying any of this was 'right'. It's just what used to be.

hopgog

One eyed Jack wrote: »

The one good thing about the smoking ban though (and I say this while I'm actually puffing away on a cigarette here) is that people weren't allowed smoke in restaurants any more. I remember I used go into Bewleys for the breakfast and was almost teary eyed with the smoke coming from the "smoking section".

I do miss actually being able to smoke when I was in a bar so in that respect the smoking ban has made me feel sometimes like I couldn't be bothered going for a drink. It's still hard to get used to since, when was it introduced, 2004?

We also used be able to smoke in the workplace I worked in at the time, and that was outdoors and indoors in a large hangar/workshop type place, where we used just stub the cigarettes out on the floor with our foot.

Smoking ban killed going to the pub when I was in college at the time, started more of the stay in the house then going to the college bar

sligojoek

I remember going in to the credit union in Nenagh one day with a fag in my hand. Before I got got the counter I realised I should have put it out before I went in. I turned for the door and the woman behind the counter said ' Come back in. I love the smell of cigarettes.'

Smoking on planes. Remember being on some flight beside a chain smoking businesswoman on a flight and that was only in 1990 or 91.

The past is a different country.

SuperS54

I remember taking a Spanish airline to Malaga when most airlines had already banned smoking, maybe Futura, and being delighted that they had a smoking section, signed up to that. What a mistake! The ability to smoke at will was great however the pall of smoke cutting the eyes from your head was horrific in the enclosed cabin, had a massive headache midway through the flight as well. The smoking "area" was defined by moveable signs on the side wall depending on how many smokers there were, there was no physical barrier with the rest of the plane. I was near the front of the "area" and the flight must have been pure hell for those sitting at the back of the non smoking area. Of course the intelligent smokers booked seats up front and then came back to stand in the smoking "area" to have their cigarette before exiting smoghell/cancerville and returning to their seats. I was up front for the return flight and actually didn't smoke at all.

bmwguy

Watch reeling in the years. People smoked everywhere. Newsreaders, guests on Today Tonight having a serious political debate, intercounty GAA players when they were subs in dugouts.

Ghost Buster

BetterThanThou wrote: »

Now, I'm quite naive on this subject, as I would've only been 7 or 8 when the ban was introduced, and never really took any notice. Obviously, in a bar or restaurant, they simply would have tapped it in an ash tray. But what about the likes of shops, where someone isn't stationary? Were people generally allowed smoke in them? Were there ash trays all over the place? Did people simply tap their ash on the floor? I'm genuinely curious about this.

Many smokers dont equate their detritus with litter. They tapped the ash wherevever they liked.

volchitsa

SuperS54 wrote: »

I remember taking a Spanish airline to Malaga when most airlines had already banned smoking, maybe Futura, and being delighted that they had a smoking section, signed up to that. What a mistake! The ability to smoke at will was great however the pall of smoke cutting the eyes from your head was horrific in the enclosed cabin, had a massive headache midway through the flight as well. The smoking "area" was defined by moveable signs on the side wall depending on how many smokers there were, there was no physical barrier with the rest of the plane. I was near the front of the "area" and the flight must have been pure hell for those sitting at the back of the non smoking area. Of course the intelligent smokers booked seats up front and then came back to stand in the smoking "area" to have their cigarette before exiting smoghell/cancerville and returning to their seats. I was up front for the return flight and actually didn't smoke at all.

There never was a physical barrier between smoking and no-smoking zones in any airline I ever flew on.

As long as you actually didn't smoke at all I can forgive you! But for a non smoker the absolute worst thing about it was the smokers you mention, who took up places in the non smoking zone, leaving anyone who hadn't booked months in advance to have to take a seat in the smoking zone, and suffer not only the smoke of the smokers sitting around us, but also that of the others who would leave their carefully-chosen seats in the no-smoking area to come and smoke into our faces. I fking hated those gits.

MarkY91

My childhood memory of pubs is a cloud of smoke that was too much for me for a long period of time. I was like 13 when the ban came so I never got to experience clubs with smoking here. I did experience it in Cyprus and while dancing, i got a burn to the arm which was annoying. I'm glad the ban had been introduced

Menas

volchitsa wrote: »

There never was a physical barrier between smoking and no-smoking zones in any airline I ever flew on.
.

Most commonly it was the back 5 rows were smoking seats. No physical barrier that I ever saw except one TWA flight.
But any smokers who were not in those seats could just walk down and stand bye those seats and smoke.
If you were a non-smoker in a seat 6 rows back it was pretty bad. Especially with nervous flyers who would just chain smoke the entire flight.

biko

When I was in Egypt many years ago I could smoke inside a bank.
It was the weirdest thing.

5starpool

I was on one return flight where smoking was allowed. It was my first time on a plane (1996) on a charter to Spain when it was very rare even then to allow smoking on a flight. The back 5/6 rows was the smoking area and I wasn't that close to it, but it still stank. Thankfully it's not anything I'll ever experience again. I very vaguely remember smoking in cinemas in the early 80's too, but a cinema visit was a rarity back then.

As for clubs/pubs, the smell of the old carpets in pubs the first few weeks after the ban was vile. Years of stinky smoke and spilled beer on top of the farts/BO that was seemingly very evident then was awful. I think most places that had carpets saw the error of their ways and got rid of them fairly sharpish.

volchitsa

biko wrote: »

When I was in Egypt many years ago I could smoke inside a bank.
It was the weirdest thing.

x
What's even odder, IMO, is that someone can say this - how quickly something becomes the norm and people feel it's always been that way. When I was growing up (ok, it's some years ago now, but not that many!!) people smoked in banks in Ireland, and no-one batted an eyelid. I remember being in shops and banks with my father, when he and others just smoked away.

In the car too. It was like wiping your nose - people did it whenever they felt the need, no matter where they were. So your "many years ago" in Egypt can't have been that long after it became unacceptable in Ireland, yet long enough for you to find it strange.

jenny rennie

My mother smoked in the antenatal wards after giving birth to me & my brother, I'm 30, by the time she had my sister who's 25 they had to use a smoking room downstairs.

jenny rennie

My mother smoked in the antenatal wards after giving birth to me & my brother, I'm 30, by the time she had my sister who's 25 they had to use a smoking room downstairs.

ThisRegard

Deleted User wrote: »

Does anyone remember the biggest side-effect of the smoking ban in pubs and clubs?

You could actually smell the places, once the smell of smoke was gone. And they stank to high heavens. The smell of sweat, of the toilets, of farts, and of incredibly bad B.O. The first few weeks were horrible.

That was greatly exaggerated, unless you went to kips.

MarkAnthony wrote: »

The Blanchardstown centre didn't ban smoking until very late on, might have been all the way up to the smoking ban. Always thought that was a bit odd.

Not odd, just wrong by you.

denhaagenite

They had thigh high bin things with a tray on the top of them, sometimes filled with sand. You still see them sometimes in pub/ shop doorways. Little aluminium ashtrays if there was a table or counter.

There's a smoking room in my husbands office in Germany, with cigar vending machines and leather couches. It's hilarious, like Mad Men or Boogie Nights :pac:.

Buona Fortuna

Desolation Of Smug wrote: »

I did. I used to walk in everywhere with a cigarette.

I had a Saturday job in a shop. We use to smoke whenever we wanted, serving customers, whatever.

Them were days

The Corinthian

Twenty to thirty years ago, you could smoke in lots of places.

• Top deck of a bus.
• Cinema (I think at the back).
• Pubs.
• Restaurants (there would be a section anyway)
• At work; first office I worked in everyone smoked. By about 1999, you couldn't smoke at your desk, but you'd often have a smoking room.
• Indoors in university (even in the lecture halls, but not during lectures).
• Trains and planes.

Spain was insane for smoking, twenty years ago - supermarkets had ashtrays at the end of every aisle. Even schools.

And I have no idea what planet the person who claimed no one walked with a cigarette was living on. Plenty of people did.

kylith

SuperS54 wrote: »

I remember taking a Spanish airline to Malaga when most airlines had already banned smoking, maybe Futura, and being delighted that they had a smoking section, signed up to that. What a mistake! The ability to smoke at will was great however the pall of smoke cutting the eyes from your head was horrific in the enclosed cabin, had a massive headache midway through the flight as well. The smoking "area" was defined by moveable signs on the side wall depending on how many smokers there were, there was no physical barrier with the rest of the plane. I was near the front of the "area" and the flight must have been pure hell for those sitting at the back of the non smoking area. Of course the intelligent smokers booked seats up front and then came back to stand in the smoking "area" to have their cigarette before exiting smoghell/cancerville and returning to their seats. I was up front for the return flight and actually didn't smoke at all.

Ironically the air quality in planes is worse since they banned smoking on them. When people could smoke they had to actually bring in fresh air, but these days they don't have to worry about pumping smoke around the cabin so they recirculate it.

volchitsa

kylith wrote: »

Ironically the air quality in planes is worse since they banned smoking on them. When people could smoke they had to actually bring in fresh air, but these days they don't have to worry about pumping smoke around the cabin so they recirculate it.

I heard this recently too (I hope it wasn't simply on here and we're both repeating the same single claim!) but if true it seems inevitable that viruses etc are recirculated inside the cabin, increasing the risk of falling ill after a plane journey.

I can't help thinking that if it is true though, it would be fairly easy to remedy - so why wouldn't airlines do so? Early adopters could even make a selling point out of it.

kylith

volchitsa wrote: »

I heard this recently too (I hope it wasn't simply on here and we're both repeating the same single claim!) but if true it seems inevitable that viruses etc are recirculated inside the cabin, increasing the risk of falling ill after a plane journey.

I can't help thinking that if it is true though, it would be fairly easy to remedy - so why wouldn't airlines do so? Early adopters could even make a selling point out of it.

I've definitely heard it more than once, and not on here.

It's cheaper the recirculate, AFAIK. If they're bringing in fresh air they'd presumably have to spend money heating it up a bit. It gets chilly at 35,000 feet, or so I've heard.

Pumpkinseeds

Turtyturd wrote: »

Nobody smoked in shops, which makes those clowns who walk around shops with their e-cigs look like even bigger clowns.

Or the fcukwits who use e-cigs on buses or GP's waiting rooms.

MrWalsh

My husbands GP used to smoke at his desk with patients there. It seems mad now. There was a smoking room for senior students in his secondary school.

I can remember people smoking in cinemas, on buses, on flights - it all seemed normal. My first job out of college there was a smoking room and it hadnt been too long since people had smoked at their desks.

volchitsa

Turtyturd wrote: »

Nobody smoked in shops, which makes those clowns who walk around shops with their e-cigs look like even bigger clowns.

Yes they certainly did, until the 80s at least, and I'd guess well into the 90s. People smoked in restaurants, and sometimes took it very badly if they were asked to sit in a reserved smoking section, because other people's smoke bothered them!

The only places smoking was generally banned as opposed to having smoking areas set up for them, which were not always respected) before the actual ban was public buildings such as hospitals and schools, and places where public health was involved such as restaurant kitchens.

Smokers used to just light up in other people's houses, and be quite insulted if asked not to - and when they did smoke outside (if the weather was good enough, and only when forced to) would then drop their butts wherever they were in the garden or whatever. Someone with that attitude to their smoking habit was not going to waste a perfectly good ciggie just because they wanted a quick peek in a shop!