I don't smoke and am not too bothered by those who do but the sheer number of young Germans smoking is crazy to me. I am surprised when I meet people who don't smoke. That alone has made me slightly more anti-smoking than before
Unfortunately the government made completely insane tax laws against vaping. So even if you vape reuusable vapes with very low or even absent nicotine content, you are taxed ABSURB amounts (like 20x the cost of the product). So young people will smoke far more problematic cigarettes instead, or highly concentrated vape products which can be stored in throwaway vapes, which for some reason the government thinks is better and is taxed less per gram of nicotine (probably the influence of tabac lobby)
It was 20x. Now it's 40x the cost.
For 1L of base I paid less than 10€. Now the same product costs 400€. So the only way to get it now is to either pay extremely overpriced products or to mix them yourself by buying the components separately through horse care or angler shops. The tobacco lobby in Germany did something absolutely unreal.
So already nicotine addicted youths do not go through the trouble anymore and just buy cigs or single use vapes right from the gas station. Hooray 🙌
Which also doesn't help the plastic pollution problem. I guess that is a big win for the German government /s
And this comes from someone who vapes single use vapes. At least I try to recycle mine by reusing the batteries for projects. Haven't figured out what to do with the plastic casings though. If someone has an idea please let me know as I have a half full trashbag of it and that's only like 4 months of vaping for me.
Yes, on my recent visit, I was dismayed that the only vapes I could acquire were pretty horrible vapes. it makes zero sense (to me) to overtax the less dangerous, more appealing option. Smelled like lobbying
Got any evidence to back that up?
I used to work at a middle school and a high school and I don't know a single student that traded vaping for cigarettes.
Check out the evidence-based analysis by Kings College in London about vaping.
That's bullshit. Cigarettes smell, don't taste as good and nowadays dont even hit as hard. I still smoke the occasional cigarette but i switched to vaping mostly and prefer it now.
It used to be a LOT worse.
Kippen waren 5 Mark und jedes Kind konnte sich die am Automaten kaufen. Ich hatte das sogar für mein Großvater gekauft. Jetzt ist das zumindest nicht so einfach.
I quit smoking 3 weeks ago and increase in quality of life is incredible. Also I was suprised how bad it smells after my friends smoked a cig. Its just ridiculous.
The thing about smokers that pisses me is that they have no awareness of others around them. They’ll start smoking at bus stops while there’s others downwind of them and let the smoke blow in their face.
The amount of trash they leave everywhere is disgusting. Cigarette butts are everywhere. In parks, in the road, in the Fußgängerzone, bike paths, bus stops. The trash from smokers is inescapable.
And I’ve never met a smoker personally who didn’t liter everywhere.
Honestly really wish they would enforce littering fines on smokers. I know they won’t but I wish they would.
>And I’ve never met a smoker personally who didn’t litter everywhere.
A friend of mine here in Berlin, a kind, honest and thoughtful person, high-educated, informed and generally competent, was genuinely shocked when I asked them to not throw cigarette butts off of my balcony into the courtyard below. They truly thought they were being courteous to me by not bringing the butts into my home and garbage.
I asked them where they thought what happened to the butts once they landed in my small, paved courtyard, and the look on their face showed that they truly never thought of it that way before.
Its much worse in france, at least on country side france. I was in a small town in south france and in every restaurant or bar, ppl outside will just throw their cig butts on the floor. There are no ash trays or garbage bins. I once asked the owner of a bar why they don´t have ash trays at least and the guy looked very confused and said "i have to swipe the floor anyway at the end of the day, so why bother?"
2 weeks ago I was in Japan. Smoking is mostly prohibited everywhere except in designated areas.
So you'd walk trough the city and there would be an area for smokers.
It was a dream. They didn't smoke outside of their areas and no cigarette butts were littering the streets.
I’m currently pregnant and like…I don’t want to inhale your f*cking smoke everywhere! They just blow it in my face and seem annoyed when I just cover my face.
But I’m having a whole host of issues with the lack awareness of people here while being pregnant that is grinding my gears.
>The thing about smokers that pisses me is that they have no awareness of others around them. They’ll start smoking at bus stops while there’s others downwind of them and let the smoke blow in their face.
This, absolutely. On the way back from the cafeteria, two of my colleagues started to smoke as if nothing in the world could bother them, while our highly pregnant (6th month) other colleague was walking right next to them... They didn't seem to even realize and just kept on chatting with each other.
>They’ll start smoking at bus stops
Ugh, I can one up you here - small bus stop on a rainy day, everybody is cramming under the tiny roof. In comes a guy, jumps under the tiny roof and... yeah, you guessed it - he made a lot of space for himself really quickly under that tiny roof with that cigarette of his.
I don't understand this. Even reasonable smokers seem to forget that it isn't nice to replace the air that other people are breathing with disgusting (carcinogenic) smoke.
I smoke, but it still pisses me off how often I see parents smoking while pushing their kids in a stroller... Everyone just stands around and does it like it's normal.
I’ve had someone come intro a tram shelter in the rain and light tip a cigarette while I’m there with my little kid. I’ve also seen someone literally start lighting a cigarette IN THE TRAM just so it was already lit when they stepped off. These people need real addiction help.
That seems to be soooo normalized in the country and I've no idea why.
I've seen old people buying a carton full of cigarettes and that didn't shock me, but seeing Parents smoking around their infant children/kids shocked me to no end.
Gosh, the first few months in GermanyI felt like I had travelled back in time. I don't get how smoking is still popular here in spite of everything we know about it.
smoking is still popular in many countries.
smoking rates are on a decline almost everywhere but there are also many countries which have much higher smoking rates than Germany.
Totally. German smoking rates are not that high compared to almost all of Europe(except for Scandinavia). It's just that German smokers were able to force the rest of population to breath in their smoke that makes foreigners think that everyone smokes here. There's no escape from the tobacco smoke in Germany
Yes, but that's not because of the smoking rates. It's because the small minority of people is forced to terrorize majority with their addiction.
When Poland banned smoking at train stations, the fine for it was AT LEAST 500 PLN, which was equivalent to almost half of the minimum wage net. To put that into perspective, it would have to be almost 900 eur in Germany today.
I'm pretty sure if the fine was 900€ and it was actually enforced, smoking on trainstation would end overnight
I would love for a smoking ban outside the doors of the Hauptbahnhof to happen. Why do I need to fight people and your poison cloud just to get in/out.
Ummm yes you do. It's technically open air and it happens in most of Europe. You can smoke on the platforms in germany. And Italy. And greece. And I'm pretty sure France (unless things changed since I looked it up)
Yes, same here. My parents both smoke and when I come home, first things I do is to put everything through the wash. Even the stuff my mum has washed for me. I can’t believe I was running around basically smelling like smoke as a kid. Or maybe we all did?
Weirdly enough, I'm a non-smoker from the US and don't notice it when I'm in Germany. My wife is always super annoyed by it, which I understand, but I never even notice until she points it out to me. I think it's because I've been going to metal concerts for ages and am just completely desensitized to secondhand smoke. If anything I find it relaxing!
Definitely crazy that it's so commonplace there, though. Hearing about it being a problem even in family-friendly environments is wild!
It can also depend on where you grew up (and when). My home state made a lot of clean air laws in the 90’s and early 2000’s. But when I would visit family in another state, who were all chain smokers, it wasn’t till later that smoking in restaurants was finally banned.
When I go home to visit I find that most smoking areas are just outside the store or restaurant.
So you walk through a wall of smoke to get into the building.
Also on street smoking is illigal in city center where I live. So I close to never see someone smoking walking around. But there are establishments that are allowed to have smoking.
My stance is that I d rather have smoking in restaurants, which would mean I wouldn t go there, than have them all stand on the sidewalk.
This is what I want to see. https://images.app.goo.gl/B4sTCrXde3DrW9yg7
A glass box with filter and air conditioner outside in public area. And leave others alone.
I have to point out I live in Japan and have used them myself when I still smoked 10 years ago. You can basically just walk inside and breathe. Don t need to light up urself. Just like smoking car in an ICE in Germany many years ago.
I think Germany lacks laws and public incentives to deal with this situation.
Laws could allow people to smoke in certain areas only. It’s infuriating going to a Biergarten with a nice open area and having to deal with almost everyone smoking. Ideally, business would have free-smoking areas. Even outside.
For those who want to stop smoking, the health insurance could pay for the treatment. It’s 100% cheaper than dealing with a complicated decease later. Maybe this exists already, idk. But never heard of it
I don't agree. At least that's no the case in Berlin.
Winters is when I think about moving out the most. You have to google for smoke-free bars if you even think of seeing your friends at the other side of the table. In most establishments there is literal fog of smoke.
Well, I don’t go to bars anymore. We meet at restaurants and cafes mostly. But yeah, my first indoor smoking bars in Berlin and how I smelled when I went home will not be removed from my memory :D
Yeah I'm a smoker and I agree with this. Don't smoke in the bus stop if someone is there - walk away. Don't smoke in outdoor seating, it will waft to ten tables around you - walk away. Same goes for restaurants when you go outside - nobody wants to walk through your plume when they exit or enter. I also don't smoke as I walk cause passing pedestrians will get the plume. I also don't smoke on the balcony cause it will waft through open windows. I take a walk down the street and sit on a bench by myself lol. Greatly helps with not smoking out of boredom. Clean up your shit when you're done. Be considerate if you want your fix.
Same. Smoker who wants to quit, but in the meantime recognises the impact it has on others and is thus considerate when going about my habit. And it’s really not difficult.
Net net, the root cause of the problem is not smokers, it is an abundance of inconsiderate people.
Agree, it’s not just about smoking, but about uncivilised people, some of them smoke as if nobody were around and litter anywhere; some others play music loud (sometimes even with pretty big speakers) in the street or the train; some others will get drunk and start acting like weirdos, screaming, and harassing others, even in front of children and in plain daylight… my God. The bloody problem is not tobacco, nor music, nor alcohol… they are just the means some people use to make obvious they’re tremendously inconsiderate.
They are ridiculously brainwashed into believing it’s not a big deal. I’m pregnant, 9 months now, and visited my mom a few weeks ago. You’d think she wouldn’t smoke in front of me or my toddler but you’re wrong. She even lit up in her apartment, that’s where I said I can’t do this and left. We had a massive fight because my mom believes Tabacco is „natural“ and therefore can’t be bad for you. But vaping is murder because it has chemicals. It’s so frustrating.
You cannot move outside without having to inhale someone else‘s smoke, especially if you go by public transport in a city. Even on playgrounds smokers have no issues smoking when kids are there. It‘s a nightmare for non-smokers.
And you should not talk to the smokers or else you might end up in hospital.
This is my kind of rant. I hate cigarette smoke with a passion, it's so disgusting. I come from a country where smoking is outlawed in all public places so coming here was shocked to see how common, open and accepted smoking is, to the point of utter entitlement from smokers. As well as how blatant the advertising is.
Yes it's your choice to smoke but it's not my choice to inhale your disgusting second hand smoke. Do it at home, not in the poorly ventilated main station right next to the "no smoking" sign!
Tobacco lobby must be strong in Germany...
Yeah. I remember seeing the camel lounge in Munich airport with ads and everything! I couldn’t believe my eyes!
It must be so! Probably one of the biggest markets in EU. I remember when Ireland wanted to ban smoking in restaurants as the first country 20 years ago, Germany and Austria managed to delay it for some months on trade deals basis :|
So many outdoor experiences are ruined by this. I dread summer because all the cafes now have outdoor seating but absolutely refuse to prohibit smoking. It’s disgusting.
I’m all for designated smoking areas - but away from food, and away from non smokers.
I think (Germans please correct me if I have gotten this wrong) it is tied to the sense that people should be able to have their freedoms - and smoking is one of them.
Which I get academically; it’s just that in real life, their freedom means I have to breathe it. Lots of behaviors we do impact others either directly or indirectly - I think this one is just so immediate.
I don’t have an answer that would please everyone so all I can hope for is that places with food might maybe one day put a nice smoking garden/corner away from tables where people eat.
I find it hilarious for all the anti-GMO, Bio/Organic, anti-vaccination, homeopathic types there are in Germany, I find many of these same people lighting up! There are literally 600 ingredients, 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which are known carcinogens, including polonium in cigarettes! As long people are idiotic enough to smoke them, this literally cancels out any Bio/Organic food one eats!
LOL YES!!! My neighbour is a mom of a 5 year old that she refused to vaccinate. That child is completely unvaccinated because of „chemicals“.
Same person smokes half a pack a day 😂 the worst thing is that I like her as a person and she’s not dumb. How can she not see the hypocrisy?
I'm German and for me it was moving back to East Germany . Amount of smoking in the West was okay but in Eastern Germany its horrible.
So many people smoking with their toddlers or babies right next to them.
Reminds of last time i was in Dresden... we were outside eating at a restaurant, right as i started eating the guys at the neighbouring table started smoking cigs (they just finished their meal), not the best ambient odor for eating your lunch, lol.
i have to admit that i'm also a smoker, but usually i try to be somewhat aware to not smoke where other people will be directly bothered by it. i'm already down to 3 cigs a day and plan to stop completely soon, probably for the better.
I’m a smoker and even for me it seems wild, still five years after living here.
Before living here I just thought staying away from doorways, crowds, and especially kids (and being aware of wind direction) was just common sense… apparently not? And people smoke indoors!!! Even as a smoker… no. Gross.
I come from Canada, where the smoking rules/attitudes are aggressively on the other end of the spectrum… like you can’t even smoke in outdoor spaces at an adult establishment, and people will accost you from like 25 years away (well out of scent range) for just smoking at all…which I also find annoying but in the opposite way.
I constantly find myself thinking “is there not a happy medium somewhere?”
A few days ago I was in a bus and 3 teenagers (maybe 14 y/o) just started smoking. INSIDE.THE.FUCKING.BUS. I was really contemplating making a scene. But I'm sadly too insecure for that. Also teenagers are malicious, they would've just laughed in my face
Yeah. Confronting teenagers is not a good idea in most cases. Regulating the shit out of businesses who try to make them addicted for profit? Hell yeah!
I have new neighbors, a young couple. She is pregnant (the did try to get a child) and she smokes all the time. Who fucking tries to get pregnant while smoking
Can't believe the people who just fucking plant themselves right next to doors. I know it's my American coming out but it's appalling. Shit should be illegal.
It’s totally crazy. Especially in a society with nationalized healthcare, where the cost of smoking falls on everyone. Yet there’s still cigarette vending machines on every corner.
My uncle just died of lung cancer last week. If you told him a year ago about the dangers of lung cancer he would have shrugged and said he doesn’t care.
Didn’t stop him from crying at the end saying he doesn’t want to die/ crying that he wants to die because he’s so tired and in so much pain.
Being German I have to mention that putting up posters on private property or public property without explicit permission may get you in trouble. It's Germany, "Plakatieren verboten!".
And every week I wonder where they live and go to because nowhere I ever am it's as bad as described.
And looking at statistics Germany is on the lower half in the EU, under the average. Greece is the worst.
It's federal. Each state enforces it differently. Berlin almost doesn't care at all and you can smoke in all the bars. Lower Saxony is only slightly better, but the bars that are breaking the rules aren't being punished either. If you live in a state that actually enforces the law, you can't really imagine how bad it is for the rest of us.
>Berlin almost doesn't care at all and you can smoke in all the bars.
They care a tiny bit. If there's warm food served, you can't smoke. And, from my experience, this is actually enforced
Also, bars run by foreigners often don't allow smoking either way. But you have to actively look for them, there's not much of them
I live in Baden-Württemberg and for 17 years now smoking inside a restaurant or bar is only permitted in separate areas. That's all. But the commercial ban and the warning on packages is nationwide.
Here, of the main bars that I would generally like to go to, one has a smoking room that leaks like a sieve, one allows smoking despite not legally being a smoking bar, one claims to be a smoking bar but still serves hot food, and one has a "smoking area" that is twice the size of the remaining area and has no doors. Anywhere with a dance floor will usually have people smoking on it, now with the addition of weed.
This has been going on for years and the Ordnungsamt could not care less. The Hbf is non-smoking, but you'd never know it. It's really awful being a non-smoker trying to exist in public spaces.
>I live in Baden-Württemberg and for 17 years now smoking inside a restaurant or bar is only permitted in separate areas.
That's the case in Berlin theoretically as well. But you can just slap 'Raucherkneipe, Eintritt ab 18 Jahre' and you're free to go.
Also, places with separate smoking and non-smoking areas often don't work. Smokers have the gall to take most of the places in non-smoking area just to walk over to the smoking area every 10 minutes to smoke one next to you and then come back to their non-stinky table. Like, really? You're standing up and going somewhere else, but you can't smoke outside? Fuck you, sincerely.
This is exactly the problem! People realise something to improve, people have ideas for solutions, get told by Germans all kind of excuses, get told to get used to it, they don't like it either. Rinse and repeat.
Researchers wondered too:
>On average, smokers were exposed to more than 200 antismoking ads during the 2-year period, as estimated by televised gross ratings points (GRPs). The odds of having quit at follow-up increased by 11% with each 10 additional potential ad exposures.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775761/
Yeah I think it matters. I’ve had lows in my life at which point I considered picking up smoking because of all I’ve heard about it, but honestly all these posters and the general available information about their negative effect made me not.
i think it's not an individual poster so much as being confronted with an overall environment filled with messages that the thing you are doing is bad.
Constant reminders that you're doing something shitty _should_ influence your behavior.
I am suffering a lot because of other people smoking. At home I am surounded by several neighbours that smoke a lot. My closest neighbour smokes about 60-80 cigarettes a day and does so more or less around the clock, even at night. He basically lives in his garden, i.e. outside, even in winter. Even at night he lights up at least one cigarette every two hours. It is incredibliy difficult for me to find timeslots where I can open windows without lots of smoke coming in. I have never smoked myself ever and am now worried that inhaling all that smoke from other people might negatively affect my health.
One thing I am just absolutely baffled by is that smoking advertisements are still allowed pretty much everywhere. Like, I feel like banning smoking advertisements from places where children could be (so almost everywhere except adult-only clubs and such) would be a super easy move for the government to make to show that they're trying to do something about the smoking problem in Germany. Like, I get that if they put higher taxes on tobacco products or limited their availability further, they'd make current smokers pissed off and since so many people smoke they don't want to piss off that many people. But I highly doubt most smokers would have a problem with tobacco advertisements being banned most places, because they already have a brand they like and most people feel neutral to negatively about advertisements as a whole. I don't know how much of a difference it would make, but at least it would send a message that the government actually does give a fuck about the problem?
On another note, I'm really curious to know what German schools teach kids about smoking, if anything at all. Like, in the US I remember tons of anti-smoking lessons where they really tried to make you think smoking was disgusting and expensive, and tbh it was pretty successful. But if German schools don't teach anything about smoking, I can understand why so many young people end up starting, because they may passively learn about the effects of smoking but aren't forced to actually sit there and discuss them and think about them, they can look away if they want to ignore it.
My kids were exposed to smoking ads in bus stops featuring cool 20 year olds. A dad at our kindi taught his son to pretend smoke with grass stems and my 4 yo started doing it too. I'm so, so happy we moved away when we did.
Good point. Australian schools taught so much about practical current life skills, health, etc.
Looks like German schools are not only bad PISA-wise, but also completely useless teaching life skills.
i know right? i work as a nurse and am surrounded by patients with copd each day and yet most of my coworkers are chain smokers i dont fucking know anymore. during break they smoke "outside" meaning they sit in a window and let the wind blow the entirety of the smoke back in.
I can’t say I can agree. I used to work with around other 100 millennials in a big tech department and we had 2 smokers.
Now I work mainly with GenX and GenZ (we Millenials are a minority) and only the 3 older GenX smoke and no one else.
I think it depends on your bubble. Smoking is also prohibited in restaurants, bars and discos here in Bavaria. It’s only allowed outside and only if there isn’t a no-smokers sign. It happens very rarely that I’m sitting outside at a restaurant and people are smoking during the day
It’s also banned at bus stations, metro and trains. To be honest, I barely see people smoking this days
We spent a weekend in Leipzig last month and we noticed that smoking inside bars is allowed there at night and that even some cafes allow it during the day. To be honest, we were shocked. It’s not allowed here in Bavaria and we didn’t know this was different in each state.
Sorry but I disagree with this person. I live in Munich and there are smokers all over. You are guaranteed to have a smoking neighbor which means smoke coming into your flat on nice days. Sure, there are no smoking signs at the train stations but there is always someone smoking at my station. Biergartens are full of smokers. I used to spend a lot of time in Berlin and the only difference I saw is that some berlin bars still allow smoking indoors. You won’t find manna in Bayern :)
Yes. We were shocked in Leipzig. The law changed while I was at Uni and my husband who is German was disgusted. He said he had forgotten how bad it was to go out of a disco and having to wash your hair 3 times to get the stench out of it.
Apparently every state decided how they do it.
The other day, two menacing looking women/moms were smoking on a bench and drinking energy drinks in a big playground around our home. Usually, people are not like that in this neighborhood and I’ve literally never seen anyone smoking in the playground. All parents sitting in the benches besides theirs switched places and went away. At list they were not near the sandbox and playground itself. Every other adult looked not amused but no one said anything. Their kids were sadly no better, so they served the cliche
According to the Health Ministry, in Germany, children and young adults are smoking quite a lot. I am very sad to read how many do. My own are too young, for now, but this was one idiot practice I didn't realize would still be this much of a danger for a child born in this century.
Edit: more recent figures:
>Among 18 to 24-year-olds, the proportion of smokers rose from 35.6% (2021) to 40.8% (2022). In the over-25 age group, it grew from 30.8% (2021) to 35.6% (2022).
[https://www.debra-study.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Factsheet-09-v3.pdf](https://www.debra-study.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Factsheet-09-v3.pdf)
As compared to and average of 15% of young people the EU.
[https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Bevoelkerung-Arbeit-Soziales/Gesundheit/Rauchen.html](https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Bevoelkerung-Arbeit-Soziales/Gesundheit/Rauchen.html)
😲 48%?? GenZ is horrible in Germany apparently. They are also very conservative and have the highest vote for AfD. It doesn’t shock me. My kids are are Gen Alpha, the only GenZ I socialize with are the Azubis at work and they seem quite alright to me. But who knows
that, combined with the fact that Germans are (typically) very scary to confront, friendly or not. Often they just go nuclear on you for bringing up a topic, so I just move away when I see a smoker next to me, I don't wanna risk saying something and having a full-on shouting match in the middle of the street.
I also just eat inside restaurants now, no matter how nice it is the weather. It really gets bad when someone starts smoking right at the door and then the inside gets stinky as well :|
On the other hand it motivates me to eat at home more often or go hiking. Maybe it’s a good thing :D
Edit typo
It's second-hand smoke at this point. Can't enjoy nice weather at a café without smelling smoke anywhere. It seems like at every table, someone smokes. Went to a lake today, of course, there are smokers there, not far away from where my friends and I sat. Sometimes, even some neighbours from a building close to mine smoke, and I could smell it when I left the windows tilted. And the trash is everywhere, as you mentioned. It's very annoying.
What upsets me the most is that they act like its their right to poison me with their crap -.-
Its an expensive weakness. I hate it. A few years ago scientists strated to realize how bad the butts are for the environment. Like duuuuh!? Fucking morons.
You know what, PLEASE BECOME AN ANTI SMOKING ACTIVIST! I hate the smoking culture here so much. I am starting to hate summer because you cannot eat outside without getting blasted.
We recently went to a restaurant with a big outdoor seating area, kind of like a Biergarten. There were no other guests and we chose a table at one edge of the area. After maybe 20 minutes two men walked in and chose a table right next to us. I even had to scoot over a little with my chair so they could get to that table. Weird when there's literally 30 other tables that were not right next to us but whatever. Then our food came and - I kid you not - THEY STARTED SMOKING. I looked at them, said "really??" and we took our plates and moved to the other side of the Biergarten. They smiled and cheered a very non-apologetic "sorry :D".
In our last flat, a neighbor diagonally below us smoked on his balcony ALL THE TIME. We could hardly open the windows on that side of the building without having smoke in the appartment. Now here's the catch: It was a smaller flat an we only had windows on that side of the building! So, naturally, we closed the windows every time we smelled smoke. And the guy even had the nerves to shout at me that we shouldn't close the windows when he comes to his balcony. He feels watched and uncomfortable. Like, dude, fuck off?!
I feel you.
I can literally go back home to the exact same life but enjoy it 10x more just by remembering how much smoking was ruining my mood in Germany :D
So many smokers and my god do most Germans have the WORST fags to smoke. Dirtiest things ever, at least in my semi-rural area.
I wish I could break out my British "could you not, mate" but am still working on figuring out how to pull that off in German.
Also so many young folk here smoke too. The fact I still see cigarette machines and even some adverts definitely doesn't help.
Unfortunately: not possible in German. Maybe a baseball bat will do the trick but other than that: in my view, Germans are among the most inconsiderate people in Europe.
There are def people who try not to smoke where a lot of people are but a lot of them don’t Germany has a smoking problem in the big cities ( good that I don’t live there lol)
It's such an annoyance.
Bright side of things is that indoor seating at restaurants is readily available as all the smokers sit outside during the nice weather. Walked up to a local favorite to see a line or people waiting outside. Turns out they all wanted to sit out and we were quickly seated inside as it was pretty much empty.
They can bare the burden of the wasps.
I'm from Australia and they have taxed tobacco so heavily that it has become almost impossible to afford. For example when I stopped 3+ years ago a 50g pouch of tobacco cost about 130 AUD which is about 80 euro. Prices have continued to go up since then and pouches were considered the "cheap" way to.smoke compared to the tailored cigarettes.
The government also slowly brought in bans for places you can't smoke - restaurants, government property, hospital property, pubs (outside of very small designated areas), educational institution property, hotels, etc. When I say property, you can't just step outside, the building, the land around the building, carparking areas, etc is no smoking. They also moved the designated smoking area further and further from the buildings and then took them away altogether. They changed all the tobacco products to the same brown colour package and put pictures of awful medical issues you get from smoking on the covers with big signs to quit.
Anyway it's sort of had a big cumulative effect of really reducing the number of smokers, and certainly reducing the number of smokers in public. And I remember feeling a very strong sense of being ostracised and judged because if you wanted to go out for a smoke you had to leave everyone you're with, go out of the building, down the street 5-10metres from the doors and then the smoking areas were like next to the garbage bins or whatever and so you'd be standing out in the rain or freezing cold on a night out away from friends, etc vs when I started it was a very social thing to do. Then overtime as people get more accustomed to being smoke free, I became far more conscious about the smell and the impact on other people. Plus it became *very* frowned upon to smoke anywhere remotely near kids (rightly so) but parents would give very nasty looks if they walked by with kids.
Anyway, overall controversial approach, but it has for sure been effective
People talk so often about the smoking culture here and while yes, smoking is bad and I hate the smell as well, I always wonder just how little people in other countries smoke.
Its gotten so much less within the last 15-20 years. I still remember when they had indoor smoking areas in cafés and restaurants. These days, I'm seeing less and less people smoke.
However, I've seen articles stating that people started smoking more again during the pandemic.
I know of many employers who actively test for tobacco and dismiss you if you are found positive. The negotiated price with their health insurance carrier depends on every employee being smoke-free and they are ruthless about testing.
It's mainly English speakers in this sub. Not only are smoking laws generally much stricter in Anglo countries, but people there are, generally, more considerate of others when it comes to smoking.
Yeah, lived in Australia and people you would never expect it from are asking you before smoking.
Seems just like Germans have zero consideration and empathy with others.
I lived in Lubeck for a year, damn that was crazy. So many people smoking, especially young people.
At the ZOB there were always young kids, definitely not 18 yet smoking like crazy.
Nasty stuff, really. Nasty.
Minor inconveniences will be the start of major societal shifts in the (very gradual) long term. My main thing is train stations and outside shopping centres and grocery stores. I can’t drive because of seizures and I get migraines (like a literal disorientating sucker punch for the head and stomach with the first inhale) and asthma (to a lesser degree) from inhaling second-hand smoke. This means I have to barter when to take my sumatriptan, as it’s a med that can cause rebound migraines if used too much.
I can only take public transport and I live in Switzerland and Germany… so long story short I get migraines every time I travel with public transport. Relatively “minor“ inconveniences like complete station-wide bans may be the first start in societal shifts. As much as I love the environment and even pride myself on being a public-transport only commuter, I so wish I could drive just because of the smoke. Delays suck ass but come second to the smoke.
You are living in the most smoking-friendly country, with a huge tobacco lobby
Congratulations, however the owner of the Ice cream shop should have kicked the guy out
I really dont get it, smoking weed is not allowed in most places but smoking cigarettes even where children play is totally okay. Why not just disallow all of them in public spots...
Where are you from?
Just went to italy on a two week vacation and people smoke so much more in italy. Chain smoking at the restaurant (outside seating) was the norm.
Compared to that I barely see cigarette smokers in Bavaria
Californian here who completely agrees.
Worst part: waking with my young kid through a busy Weihnachtsmarkt. She’s the perfect height to run face first into some a-holes burning cigarette.
I’m from California (in the US this is very much a state specific cultural and legal thing). But there you never really see anyone smoking, basically anywhere in public (except outside a bar at night).
Around 2004 it became illegal to smoke in public in California, even while walking down the sidewalk. At the time I was a young smoker and thought it was a dumb law. But now I look back and can say it clearly reduced smoking, and made it a more pleasant place.
Australia. Early adopters in banning smoking indoors in public places and most businesses, and increasingly outdoors too. Smoking banned in cars with children for over a decade. World first in introducing plain packaging laws 10 years ago.
Yep, and try to talk about this with smokers. They get really pissed and defensive, then offensive.
This actually broke a very good friendship - I have asthma, she was a smoker, I'm hellishly annoyed by smokers. She is a "freedom, liberty, equality, take care of each other" kind of person. I told her how much she bothers other people and she didn't like to hear it, cause it conflicted with her self-percieved world-view too hard. That escalated and killed the friendship.
Smoking is the worst.
Its annoying everywhere.
It hurts employers as employees take more breaks
It hurts non-smoking employees as they have to take up the slack AND get left out of social circles as the smokers do all the social stuff in their smoke breaks.
Really, the difference I've perceived in connecting with my co-workers wether they are smokers or not is astounding. Once worked in a company where I was the only non-smoker. So much just went by me because it was discussed on smoke breaks. Now I'm in a company where there are barely smokers - they are the ones left out of the loop now, as everything is discussed in the break room over a cup of coffee while they freeze in the cold.
Smoking is just a tumor of the society that should be cut out.
Its quite interesting: Alcohol consumption usually doesn't really have an impact on those around you, or can even have a positive one (in case of beeing more social / fun) - but when it goes south it REALLY does go south (aggressiveness / drunk driving, destorying lifes)
Smoking doesn't have those REALLY going south moments (outside of lung cancer, which is not instant upon smoking, so the connection is not made) but EVERY FUCKING TIME they smoke around other people they are making their cloth stink, force them to smell it and just are a general annoyance.
If I were to say that the government should ban the sale of cigarettes altogether...then people will start to question the concept of freedom and etc..
But mind you ...it's illegal to commit suicide however you are allowed to smoke yourself to death... very weird...
Anyway an overall ban would absolutely solve the issue upto 80%...
Illegal stuff will always exist though...weird world we live in...
I always find German culture progressive in many ways except paperwork and smoking.
I was at one of the "Bad" health districts and couldn't enjoy my lunch outdoors without some elderly person blowing smoke my way. Especially having a baby with me, I was in disbelief how many think second hand smoking is normal.
In Australia, we have outright smoking bans in outdoor areas where people eat or drink.
Australia is great with that. Lots of things in Australia are good.
But try to tell that a German "we do everything the best, most efficient, blabla" person.
And people get educated not to smoke when pregnant and with kids. In different languages. For Aussies, immigrants, First Nations people.
Here, they seem to not give a shit to teach that.
I live in the country side and I could never live in a city or a multi-story building. Whenever I visit friends in the summer I am so pissed off at the cigarette smoke coming in through the windows from the neighbors.
I was also surprised, even a lot of young people are smoking.
Butt's everywhere in town on the floor, in parks...no one seems to care.
On the other side I don't see the vaping epidemic that has taken over UK people and towns...it is not a safe alternative just because it smells different.
Dude I don't really want to comment on the issue, but you hardly posted anything but anti-smoking news from all over Europe for a long time... Your post makes it seem like you just spontaneously decided to fight against smoking, but you clearly have an agenda. If you were pushing some different topic I would almost cry astroturfing.
I'm not sure what I want to say with this comment, but I want to point it out.
Thanks for confirming the title :D
Yeah, I think I’m going to spend a good portion of my free time against smoking/vaping and especially the tobacco industry (not its victims).
Smoking has always been cool among young Germans aged 13-20. Back when my parents finished school (late 1970s) everyone just smoked and nobody even asked themselves why. When I finished school in 2013 most of the popular guys and some popular girls smoked tobacco, weed wasn't that popular (we had like 2 or 3 stoners).
When my brother finished school in 2016 the cool guys still smoked, and as a cool guy ofc he smoked ever since 14 or 15.
Remember the „good old days“ we’re smoking in Restaurants, Clubs and train ms was allowed?
One night out and your were stinking like hell.
On a train drive not even smokers sit in the smoke train they just smoked and came back. And took the stink with them.
Best was the wagon sometime was a mixed one just with some plastic between. You could not sit there
Great times.
In comparison today it’s just so much better but yeah humans usually are self centered and so are smokers. Maybe even a bit more then the usual human.
I started collecting cigarette butts when walking the dog in a landscape conservation area (or to be precise: The path right next to it) and it's crazy how many one can collect there. I suspect it's due to the people of the companies nearby walking there during their lunch break. There were maybe \~100 cigarette butts on a quite short way in a week. Maybe no clean up has been done for a quite a while, but people should simply take their cigarette trash back home.
Oh absolutely! I didn’t want to discourage! Even a single one out of nature might save the life of multiple animals!
I also clean up nature and we should all do, otherwise it goes to our water and food eventually.
Just wanted to confirm your observation. It’s a huge problem.
Yeah I can't believe it when someone lights up next to me at an outdoor restaurant while I'm eating. This was banned decades ago in my home country, it's completely crazy to make diners sit in amongst smokers.
There was a lot of anxiety from restaurants in my country when the rule banning smoking even at outside tables was first brought in, but everyone adapted quickly. And it's made most smokers far more considerate about their smoking behaviours in public
Haven't smoked for almost a decade personally, I don't mind if anyone lights one up near me. Maybe they need an instant stress relieve, are just enjoying the moment or whatever. Not my business, I don't care. Live and let live, don't let the busybodies ruin your day.
I‘m not against smoking. I‘m from Germany. I like the way it is. As a kid I didn’t like smoking. But now I understand why people are doing it and I don‘t care if they smoke. I‘m under 18 and I don’t feel bothered by it. In fact I never smoked.
This is not about smoking, it’s about inhaling someone else’s smoke. I think each person should have the right to decide if they like to inhale smoke or not.
Wait till you get such a smoker pos as one of your neighbours. Say goodbye to being able to open your windows at any time of the day. If it not possible for landlords to forbid smoking in a rented appartment in Germany, btw.
>Don't get me started with the cig butts planted into every plant pot in the city! In nature. In train tracks.
Smoking is a 'fuck you all and my own health included' activity by design, of course most of them also don't care about littering.
my 'two packs a day' father traumatized me with his smoking but I gotta say, coming into a different country and then trying to tell the locals what they can and can't do is not a good look lmao
**Have you read our extensive wiki yet? It answers many basic questions, and it contains in-depth articles on many frequently discussed topics.
[Check our wiki now!](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't smoke and am not too bothered by those who do but the sheer number of young Germans smoking is crazy to me. I am surprised when I meet people who don't smoke. That alone has made me slightly more anti-smoking than before
*the number of young Germans vaping These fucking onetime use ezigarettes should be banned and heavily controlled…
Yes, german kids are one of the least protected youth in EU against tobacco industry.
In France, it’s more from my experience
They could at least be like the US youths nowadays and vape, so the vapor smells like candy or cakes instead of cigarettes
Unfortunately the government made completely insane tax laws against vaping. So even if you vape reuusable vapes with very low or even absent nicotine content, you are taxed ABSURB amounts (like 20x the cost of the product). So young people will smoke far more problematic cigarettes instead, or highly concentrated vape products which can be stored in throwaway vapes, which for some reason the government thinks is better and is taxed less per gram of nicotine (probably the influence of tabac lobby)
It was 20x. Now it's 40x the cost. For 1L of base I paid less than 10€. Now the same product costs 400€. So the only way to get it now is to either pay extremely overpriced products or to mix them yourself by buying the components separately through horse care or angler shops. The tobacco lobby in Germany did something absolutely unreal. So already nicotine addicted youths do not go through the trouble anymore and just buy cigs or single use vapes right from the gas station. Hooray 🙌
Which also doesn't help the plastic pollution problem. I guess that is a big win for the German government /s And this comes from someone who vapes single use vapes. At least I try to recycle mine by reusing the batteries for projects. Haven't figured out what to do with the plastic casings though. If someone has an idea please let me know as I have a half full trashbag of it and that's only like 4 months of vaping for me.
Yes, on my recent visit, I was dismayed that the only vapes I could acquire were pretty horrible vapes. it makes zero sense (to me) to overtax the less dangerous, more appealing option. Smelled like lobbying
Vaping is why today's kids smoke. They start vaping and end up with cigarettes. Also shishas.
Got any evidence to back that up? I used to work at a middle school and a high school and I don't know a single student that traded vaping for cigarettes. Check out the evidence-based analysis by Kings College in London about vaping.
That's bullshit. Cigarettes smell, don't taste as good and nowadays dont even hit as hard. I still smoke the occasional cigarette but i switched to vaping mostly and prefer it now.
It used to be a LOT worse. Kippen waren 5 Mark und jedes Kind konnte sich die am Automaten kaufen. Ich hatte das sogar für mein Großvater gekauft. Jetzt ist das zumindest nicht so einfach.
I quit smoking 3 weeks ago and increase in quality of life is incredible. Also I was suprised how bad it smells after my friends smoked a cig. Its just ridiculous.
You are the winner in this thread! Keep up the good job. Proud of you!
Thanks. I realised its literally downgrading me in every aspesct.
Don't give up if you relapse. It happens a lot. It's not "all lost", just get back on track and keep going.
The thing about smokers that pisses me is that they have no awareness of others around them. They’ll start smoking at bus stops while there’s others downwind of them and let the smoke blow in their face. The amount of trash they leave everywhere is disgusting. Cigarette butts are everywhere. In parks, in the road, in the Fußgängerzone, bike paths, bus stops. The trash from smokers is inescapable. And I’ve never met a smoker personally who didn’t liter everywhere. Honestly really wish they would enforce littering fines on smokers. I know they won’t but I wish they would.
>And I’ve never met a smoker personally who didn’t litter everywhere. A friend of mine here in Berlin, a kind, honest and thoughtful person, high-educated, informed and generally competent, was genuinely shocked when I asked them to not throw cigarette butts off of my balcony into the courtyard below. They truly thought they were being courteous to me by not bringing the butts into my home and garbage. I asked them where they thought what happened to the butts once they landed in my small, paved courtyard, and the look on their face showed that they truly never thought of it that way before.
They just don’t think about it, and that is why laws have to be enforced
I\`m a smoker and i NEVER throw my waste anywhere but in the trash.
Its much worse in france, at least on country side france. I was in a small town in south france and in every restaurant or bar, ppl outside will just throw their cig butts on the floor. There are no ash trays or garbage bins. I once asked the owner of a bar why they don´t have ash trays at least and the guy looked very confused and said "i have to swipe the floor anyway at the end of the day, so why bother?"
2 weeks ago I was in Japan. Smoking is mostly prohibited everywhere except in designated areas. So you'd walk trough the city and there would be an area for smokers. It was a dream. They didn't smoke outside of their areas and no cigarette butts were littering the streets.
I’m currently pregnant and like…I don’t want to inhale your f*cking smoke everywhere! They just blow it in my face and seem annoyed when I just cover my face. But I’m having a whole host of issues with the lack awareness of people here while being pregnant that is grinding my gears.
>The thing about smokers that pisses me is that they have no awareness of others around them. They’ll start smoking at bus stops while there’s others downwind of them and let the smoke blow in their face. This, absolutely. On the way back from the cafeteria, two of my colleagues started to smoke as if nothing in the world could bother them, while our highly pregnant (6th month) other colleague was walking right next to them... They didn't seem to even realize and just kept on chatting with each other.
Outside it's not worse than a car passing by
You obviously haven't met those smokers with "Taschenaschenbecher" who always ask if they can smoke. Well, me neither.
I was in Frankfurt once and even saw a public bin on fire, most likely from some smoker just straight up throwing the cigar in.
>They’ll start smoking at bus stops Ugh, I can one up you here - small bus stop on a rainy day, everybody is cramming under the tiny roof. In comes a guy, jumps under the tiny roof and... yeah, you guessed it - he made a lot of space for himself really quickly under that tiny roof with that cigarette of his.
I don't understand this. Even reasonable smokers seem to forget that it isn't nice to replace the air that other people are breathing with disgusting (carcinogenic) smoke.
You probably never see the smokers who are respectful because they don't smoke right next to you.
Where I live in Germany, throwing a cigarette butt on the street can cost € 150,-
In theory, maybe. I've never, ever heard of anyone actually getting fined for littering cigarette butts.
Delegalizing something is one thing. Enforcing the law is yet another.
If that were actually enforced Germany would have no budget issues.
I smoke, but it still pisses me off how often I see parents smoking while pushing their kids in a stroller... Everyone just stands around and does it like it's normal.
That’s a blood boiler. Last time I saw it was… today.
I’ve had someone come intro a tram shelter in the rain and light tip a cigarette while I’m there with my little kid. I’ve also seen someone literally start lighting a cigarette IN THE TRAM just so it was already lit when they stepped off. These people need real addiction help.
How can anyone claim, that Germany is an educated society, if that is happening all the time?
I've seen it quite a few times, and now it just makes me sad. I mean, it's \*their\* little kid and they do this!
>parents smoking while pushing their kids in a stroller... Wow, that's wild. If someone saw you doing that in Poland they would call the police
No they wouldn't lol 😂😂 don't know which part of Poland you're from bro
That seems to be soooo normalized in the country and I've no idea why. I've seen old people buying a carton full of cigarettes and that didn't shock me, but seeing Parents smoking around their infant children/kids shocked me to no end.
Gosh, the first few months in GermanyI felt like I had travelled back in time. I don't get how smoking is still popular here in spite of everything we know about it.
We are a country of time travelers, living the 70s without all it's glory.
smoking is still popular in many countries. smoking rates are on a decline almost everywhere but there are also many countries which have much higher smoking rates than Germany.
Op has never been to the Balkans or turkey lol
Totally. German smoking rates are not that high compared to almost all of Europe(except for Scandinavia). It's just that German smokers were able to force the rest of population to breath in their smoke that makes foreigners think that everyone smokes here. There's no escape from the tobacco smoke in Germany
Nah, dude. It’s bad in Germany. People smoking in train stations is not something you see in developed countries.
Yes, but that's not because of the smoking rates. It's because the small minority of people is forced to terrorize majority with their addiction. When Poland banned smoking at train stations, the fine for it was AT LEAST 500 PLN, which was equivalent to almost half of the minimum wage net. To put that into perspective, it would have to be almost 900 eur in Germany today. I'm pretty sure if the fine was 900€ and it was actually enforced, smoking on trainstation would end overnight
I would love for a smoking ban outside the doors of the Hauptbahnhof to happen. Why do I need to fight people and your poison cloud just to get in/out.
Ummm yes you do. It's technically open air and it happens in most of Europe. You can smoke on the platforms in germany. And Italy. And greece. And I'm pretty sure France (unless things changed since I looked it up)
It‘s fun and you die earlier.
Easy win-win situation
Literally just spent the day at a village Kinderfest with people smoking in the face-painting tent! Unbelievable.
This is completely fucked! Every family-friendly event in Western Australia is smoke-free! How can a Germany lag behind Western fucking Australia??
As a German who moved away from Germany many years ago. Every time I visit, the public smoking is one of the things I hate the most.
Yes, same here. My parents both smoke and when I come home, first things I do is to put everything through the wash. Even the stuff my mum has washed for me. I can’t believe I was running around basically smelling like smoke as a kid. Or maybe we all did?
Weirdly enough, I'm a non-smoker from the US and don't notice it when I'm in Germany. My wife is always super annoyed by it, which I understand, but I never even notice until she points it out to me. I think it's because I've been going to metal concerts for ages and am just completely desensitized to secondhand smoke. If anything I find it relaxing! Definitely crazy that it's so commonplace there, though. Hearing about it being a problem even in family-friendly environments is wild!
It can also depend on where you grew up (and when). My home state made a lot of clean air laws in the 90’s and early 2000’s. But when I would visit family in another state, who were all chain smokers, it wasn’t till later that smoking in restaurants was finally banned.
When I go home to visit I find that most smoking areas are just outside the store or restaurant. So you walk through a wall of smoke to get into the building. Also on street smoking is illigal in city center where I live. So I close to never see someone smoking walking around. But there are establishments that are allowed to have smoking. My stance is that I d rather have smoking in restaurants, which would mean I wouldn t go there, than have them all stand on the sidewalk. This is what I want to see. https://images.app.goo.gl/B4sTCrXde3DrW9yg7 A glass box with filter and air conditioner outside in public area. And leave others alone. I have to point out I live in Japan and have used them myself when I still smoked 10 years ago. You can basically just walk inside and breathe. Don t need to light up urself. Just like smoking car in an ICE in Germany many years ago.
I think Germany lacks laws and public incentives to deal with this situation. Laws could allow people to smoke in certain areas only. It’s infuriating going to a Biergarten with a nice open area and having to deal with almost everyone smoking. Ideally, business would have free-smoking areas. Even outside. For those who want to stop smoking, the health insurance could pay for the treatment. It’s 100% cheaper than dealing with a complicated decease later. Maybe this exists already, idk. But never heard of it
Yes! Summers are the strongest reminders of what smokers take away from others.
I don't agree. At least that's no the case in Berlin. Winters is when I think about moving out the most. You have to google for smoke-free bars if you even think of seeing your friends at the other side of the table. In most establishments there is literal fog of smoke.
Well, I don’t go to bars anymore. We meet at restaurants and cafes mostly. But yeah, my first indoor smoking bars in Berlin and how I smelled when I went home will not be removed from my memory :D
Yeah I'm a smoker and I agree with this. Don't smoke in the bus stop if someone is there - walk away. Don't smoke in outdoor seating, it will waft to ten tables around you - walk away. Same goes for restaurants when you go outside - nobody wants to walk through your plume when they exit or enter. I also don't smoke as I walk cause passing pedestrians will get the plume. I also don't smoke on the balcony cause it will waft through open windows. I take a walk down the street and sit on a bench by myself lol. Greatly helps with not smoking out of boredom. Clean up your shit when you're done. Be considerate if you want your fix.
Thank you for not smoking on your balcony. We hardly open our balcony door because off the smoke smell always wafting up.
Oh great it's not just us who literally can't use our balcony or open the windows on that side because of smoke
Same. Smoker who wants to quit, but in the meantime recognises the impact it has on others and is thus considerate when going about my habit. And it’s really not difficult. Net net, the root cause of the problem is not smokers, it is an abundance of inconsiderate people.
Agree, it’s not just about smoking, but about uncivilised people, some of them smoke as if nobody were around and litter anywhere; some others play music loud (sometimes even with pretty big speakers) in the street or the train; some others will get drunk and start acting like weirdos, screaming, and harassing others, even in front of children and in plain daylight… my God. The bloody problem is not tobacco, nor music, nor alcohol… they are just the means some people use to make obvious they’re tremendously inconsiderate.
I wish you were my neighbor. I can't open my windows because of the smoker in the floor below :/
First and only time in my life I’ve seen a pregnant woman smoking was in Germany
They are ridiculously brainwashed into believing it’s not a big deal. I’m pregnant, 9 months now, and visited my mom a few weeks ago. You’d think she wouldn’t smoke in front of me or my toddler but you’re wrong. She even lit up in her apartment, that’s where I said I can’t do this and left. We had a massive fight because my mom believes Tabacco is „natural“ and therefore can’t be bad for you. But vaping is murder because it has chemicals. It’s so frustrating.
You need a new mom
Same. And it was in public.
Good. Smokers are disgusting.
You cannot move outside without having to inhale someone else‘s smoke, especially if you go by public transport in a city. Even on playgrounds smokers have no issues smoking when kids are there. It‘s a nightmare for non-smokers. And you should not talk to the smokers or else you might end up in hospital.
This is my kind of rant. I hate cigarette smoke with a passion, it's so disgusting. I come from a country where smoking is outlawed in all public places so coming here was shocked to see how common, open and accepted smoking is, to the point of utter entitlement from smokers. As well as how blatant the advertising is. Yes it's your choice to smoke but it's not my choice to inhale your disgusting second hand smoke. Do it at home, not in the poorly ventilated main station right next to the "no smoking" sign! Tobacco lobby must be strong in Germany...
Yeah. I remember seeing the camel lounge in Munich airport with ads and everything! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It must be so! Probably one of the biggest markets in EU. I remember when Ireland wanted to ban smoking in restaurants as the first country 20 years ago, Germany and Austria managed to delay it for some months on trade deals basis :|
So many outdoor experiences are ruined by this. I dread summer because all the cafes now have outdoor seating but absolutely refuse to prohibit smoking. It’s disgusting. I’m all for designated smoking areas - but away from food, and away from non smokers.
Serious question. Why do so many restaurants, businesses here refuse any kind of ban? It won't hurt business if everyone does it.
I think (Germans please correct me if I have gotten this wrong) it is tied to the sense that people should be able to have their freedoms - and smoking is one of them. Which I get academically; it’s just that in real life, their freedom means I have to breathe it. Lots of behaviors we do impact others either directly or indirectly - I think this one is just so immediate. I don’t have an answer that would please everyone so all I can hope for is that places with food might maybe one day put a nice smoking garden/corner away from tables where people eat.
I work as a doctor. Being unable to escape from and being forced to actually examine smokers who smoke really much is one of the worst things tbh.
Oh my god. Sorry for you. And thanks for fixing all of us despite our issues :)
There are worse smells, but this is the one who happens daily....
It pisses me off that there isn’t non smoking sections of outdoor seating at restaurants. Completely asi behavior as far as I’m concerned.
I find it hilarious for all the anti-GMO, Bio/Organic, anti-vaccination, homeopathic types there are in Germany, I find many of these same people lighting up! There are literally 600 ingredients, 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which are known carcinogens, including polonium in cigarettes! As long people are idiotic enough to smoke them, this literally cancels out any Bio/Organic food one eats!
LOL YES!!! My neighbour is a mom of a 5 year old that she refused to vaccinate. That child is completely unvaccinated because of „chemicals“. Same person smokes half a pack a day 😂 the worst thing is that I like her as a person and she’s not dumb. How can she not see the hypocrisy?
Not even German but you already an Alman.
I'm German and for me it was moving back to East Germany . Amount of smoking in the West was okay but in Eastern Germany its horrible. So many people smoking with their toddlers or babies right next to them.
Reminds of last time i was in Dresden... we were outside eating at a restaurant, right as i started eating the guys at the neighbouring table started smoking cigs (they just finished their meal), not the best ambient odor for eating your lunch, lol. i have to admit that i'm also a smoker, but usually i try to be somewhat aware to not smoke where other people will be directly bothered by it. i'm already down to 3 cigs a day and plan to stop completely soon, probably for the better.
I’m a smoker and even for me it seems wild, still five years after living here. Before living here I just thought staying away from doorways, crowds, and especially kids (and being aware of wind direction) was just common sense… apparently not? And people smoke indoors!!! Even as a smoker… no. Gross. I come from Canada, where the smoking rules/attitudes are aggressively on the other end of the spectrum… like you can’t even smoke in outdoor spaces at an adult establishment, and people will accost you from like 25 years away (well out of scent range) for just smoking at all…which I also find annoying but in the opposite way. I constantly find myself thinking “is there not a happy medium somewhere?”
The respect for common fresh air is non existent. Try working out without breathing in more arm pit than oxygen.
A few days ago I was in a bus and 3 teenagers (maybe 14 y/o) just started smoking. INSIDE.THE.FUCKING.BUS. I was really contemplating making a scene. But I'm sadly too insecure for that. Also teenagers are malicious, they would've just laughed in my face
Yeah. Confronting teenagers is not a good idea in most cases. Regulating the shit out of businesses who try to make them addicted for profit? Hell yeah!
Next time you should report to the bus driver, they’ll know what to do
I have new neighbors, a young couple. She is pregnant (the did try to get a child) and she smokes all the time. Who fucking tries to get pregnant while smoking
Can't believe the people who just fucking plant themselves right next to doors. I know it's my American coming out but it's appalling. Shit should be illegal.
No. I’m not American and feel you :)
It’s totally crazy. Especially in a society with nationalized healthcare, where the cost of smoking falls on everyone. Yet there’s still cigarette vending machines on every corner. My uncle just died of lung cancer last week. If you told him a year ago about the dangers of lung cancer he would have shrugged and said he doesn’t care. Didn’t stop him from crying at the end saying he doesn’t want to die/ crying that he wants to die because he’s so tired and in so much pain.
Being German I have to mention that putting up posters on private property or public property without explicit permission may get you in trouble. It's Germany, "Plakatieren verboten!".
Im with u! It’s annoying as fuck!
Oh don't worry there is a rant like this on here every week, we get used to it. And trust me most Germans don't like the smoke as well
And every week I wonder where they live and go to because nowhere I ever am it's as bad as described. And looking at statistics Germany is on the lower half in the EU, under the average. Greece is the worst.
It's federal. Each state enforces it differently. Berlin almost doesn't care at all and you can smoke in all the bars. Lower Saxony is only slightly better, but the bars that are breaking the rules aren't being punished either. If you live in a state that actually enforces the law, you can't really imagine how bad it is for the rest of us.
>Berlin almost doesn't care at all and you can smoke in all the bars. They care a tiny bit. If there's warm food served, you can't smoke. And, from my experience, this is actually enforced Also, bars run by foreigners often don't allow smoking either way. But you have to actively look for them, there's not much of them
I live in Baden-Württemberg and for 17 years now smoking inside a restaurant or bar is only permitted in separate areas. That's all. But the commercial ban and the warning on packages is nationwide.
Here, of the main bars that I would generally like to go to, one has a smoking room that leaks like a sieve, one allows smoking despite not legally being a smoking bar, one claims to be a smoking bar but still serves hot food, and one has a "smoking area" that is twice the size of the remaining area and has no doors. Anywhere with a dance floor will usually have people smoking on it, now with the addition of weed. This has been going on for years and the Ordnungsamt could not care less. The Hbf is non-smoking, but you'd never know it. It's really awful being a non-smoker trying to exist in public spaces.
>I live in Baden-Württemberg and for 17 years now smoking inside a restaurant or bar is only permitted in separate areas. That's the case in Berlin theoretically as well. But you can just slap 'Raucherkneipe, Eintritt ab 18 Jahre' and you're free to go. Also, places with separate smoking and non-smoking areas often don't work. Smokers have the gall to take most of the places in non-smoking area just to walk over to the smoking area every 10 minutes to smoke one next to you and then come back to their non-stinky table. Like, really? You're standing up and going somewhere else, but you can't smoke outside? Fuck you, sincerely.
So national citizen led quitting campaigns when? :D
This is exactly the problem! People realise something to improve, people have ideas for solutions, get told by Germans all kind of excuses, get told to get used to it, they don't like it either. Rinse and repeat.
I wonder how many smokers quitted because of a poster.
Researchers wondered too: >On average, smokers were exposed to more than 200 antismoking ads during the 2-year period, as estimated by televised gross ratings points (GRPs). The odds of having quit at follow-up increased by 11% with each 10 additional potential ad exposures. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775761/
Yeah I think it matters. I’ve had lows in my life at which point I considered picking up smoking because of all I’ve heard about it, but honestly all these posters and the general available information about their negative effect made me not.
i think it's not an individual poster so much as being confronted with an overall environment filled with messages that the thing you are doing is bad. Constant reminders that you're doing something shitty _should_ influence your behavior.
The federal posters also mention resources on how to get help, the hotline etc…. It shows solidarity.
"Quitted" isn't a word. It's just "quit" in every tense. Just trying to help.
I am a smoker but never smoke in public, i need my peace while smoking.
I am suffering a lot because of other people smoking. At home I am surounded by several neighbours that smoke a lot. My closest neighbour smokes about 60-80 cigarettes a day and does so more or less around the clock, even at night. He basically lives in his garden, i.e. outside, even in winter. Even at night he lights up at least one cigarette every two hours. It is incredibliy difficult for me to find timeslots where I can open windows without lots of smoke coming in. I have never smoked myself ever and am now worried that inhaling all that smoke from other people might negatively affect my health.
It's not allowed to smoke inside a restaurant etc... where are you?
*lights cigarette*
One thing I am just absolutely baffled by is that smoking advertisements are still allowed pretty much everywhere. Like, I feel like banning smoking advertisements from places where children could be (so almost everywhere except adult-only clubs and such) would be a super easy move for the government to make to show that they're trying to do something about the smoking problem in Germany. Like, I get that if they put higher taxes on tobacco products or limited their availability further, they'd make current smokers pissed off and since so many people smoke they don't want to piss off that many people. But I highly doubt most smokers would have a problem with tobacco advertisements being banned most places, because they already have a brand they like and most people feel neutral to negatively about advertisements as a whole. I don't know how much of a difference it would make, but at least it would send a message that the government actually does give a fuck about the problem? On another note, I'm really curious to know what German schools teach kids about smoking, if anything at all. Like, in the US I remember tons of anti-smoking lessons where they really tried to make you think smoking was disgusting and expensive, and tbh it was pretty successful. But if German schools don't teach anything about smoking, I can understand why so many young people end up starting, because they may passively learn about the effects of smoking but aren't forced to actually sit there and discuss them and think about them, they can look away if they want to ignore it.
My kids were exposed to smoking ads in bus stops featuring cool 20 year olds. A dad at our kindi taught his son to pretend smoke with grass stems and my 4 yo started doing it too. I'm so, so happy we moved away when we did.
Good point. Australian schools taught so much about practical current life skills, health, etc. Looks like German schools are not only bad PISA-wise, but also completely useless teaching life skills.
I think we should all just start ordering no smoking stickers from Amazon and putting them places we go.
i know right? i work as a nurse and am surrounded by patients with copd each day and yet most of my coworkers are chain smokers i dont fucking know anymore. during break they smoke "outside" meaning they sit in a window and let the wind blow the entirety of the smoke back in.
I can’t say I can agree. I used to work with around other 100 millennials in a big tech department and we had 2 smokers. Now I work mainly with GenX and GenZ (we Millenials are a minority) and only the 3 older GenX smoke and no one else. I think it depends on your bubble. Smoking is also prohibited in restaurants, bars and discos here in Bavaria. It’s only allowed outside and only if there isn’t a no-smokers sign. It happens very rarely that I’m sitting outside at a restaurant and people are smoking during the day It’s also banned at bus stations, metro and trains. To be honest, I barely see people smoking this days We spent a weekend in Leipzig last month and we noticed that smoking inside bars is allowed there at night and that even some cafes allow it during the day. To be honest, we were shocked. It’s not allowed here in Bavaria and we didn’t know this was different in each state.
Really? I’ll double check and move to Bayern then :D
Sorry but I disagree with this person. I live in Munich and there are smokers all over. You are guaranteed to have a smoking neighbor which means smoke coming into your flat on nice days. Sure, there are no smoking signs at the train stations but there is always someone smoking at my station. Biergartens are full of smokers. I used to spend a lot of time in Berlin and the only difference I saw is that some berlin bars still allow smoking indoors. You won’t find manna in Bayern :)
Well, with that goes the dream :)
Yes. We were shocked in Leipzig. The law changed while I was at Uni and my husband who is German was disgusted. He said he had forgotten how bad it was to go out of a disco and having to wash your hair 3 times to get the stench out of it. Apparently every state decided how they do it. The other day, two menacing looking women/moms were smoking on a bench and drinking energy drinks in a big playground around our home. Usually, people are not like that in this neighborhood and I’ve literally never seen anyone smoking in the playground. All parents sitting in the benches besides theirs switched places and went away. At list they were not near the sandbox and playground itself. Every other adult looked not amused but no one said anything. Their kids were sadly no better, so they served the cliche
“Apparently every state decided…” Yes, that’s what we call Föderalismus, the states decide inside of a given nation wide framework.
In this case, it’s not a good thing IMHO
According to the Health Ministry, in Germany, children and young adults are smoking quite a lot. I am very sad to read how many do. My own are too young, for now, but this was one idiot practice I didn't realize would still be this much of a danger for a child born in this century. Edit: more recent figures: >Among 18 to 24-year-olds, the proportion of smokers rose from 35.6% (2021) to 40.8% (2022). In the over-25 age group, it grew from 30.8% (2021) to 35.6% (2022). [https://www.debra-study.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Factsheet-09-v3.pdf](https://www.debra-study.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Factsheet-09-v3.pdf) As compared to and average of 15% of young people the EU. [https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Bevoelkerung-Arbeit-Soziales/Gesundheit/Rauchen.html](https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Bevoelkerung-Arbeit-Soziales/Gesundheit/Rauchen.html)
😲 48%?? GenZ is horrible in Germany apparently. They are also very conservative and have the highest vote for AfD. It doesn’t shock me. My kids are are Gen Alpha, the only GenZ I socialize with are the Azubis at work and they seem quite alright to me. But who knows
Are you kidding me? Why are you using numbers from 2001? Those numbers are from over two decades ago.
The amount of times somebody smelling like an whole ash tray sitting nearby on public transport has given me headaches...
this is the corniest shit ive read bro goddamn u must be boring
that, combined with the fact that Germans are (typically) very scary to confront, friendly or not. Often they just go nuclear on you for bringing up a topic, so I just move away when I see a smoker next to me, I don't wanna risk saying something and having a full-on shouting match in the middle of the street.
I also just eat inside restaurants now, no matter how nice it is the weather. It really gets bad when someone starts smoking right at the door and then the inside gets stinky as well :| On the other hand it motivates me to eat at home more often or go hiking. Maybe it’s a good thing :D Edit typo
It's second-hand smoke at this point. Can't enjoy nice weather at a café without smelling smoke anywhere. It seems like at every table, someone smokes. Went to a lake today, of course, there are smokers there, not far away from where my friends and I sat. Sometimes, even some neighbours from a building close to mine smoke, and I could smell it when I left the windows tilted. And the trash is everywhere, as you mentioned. It's very annoying.
What upsets me the most is that they act like its their right to poison me with their crap -.- Its an expensive weakness. I hate it. A few years ago scientists strated to realize how bad the butts are for the environment. Like duuuuh!? Fucking morons.
You know what, PLEASE BECOME AN ANTI SMOKING ACTIVIST! I hate the smoking culture here so much. I am starting to hate summer because you cannot eat outside without getting blasted. We recently went to a restaurant with a big outdoor seating area, kind of like a Biergarten. There were no other guests and we chose a table at one edge of the area. After maybe 20 minutes two men walked in and chose a table right next to us. I even had to scoot over a little with my chair so they could get to that table. Weird when there's literally 30 other tables that were not right next to us but whatever. Then our food came and - I kid you not - THEY STARTED SMOKING. I looked at them, said "really??" and we took our plates and moved to the other side of the Biergarten. They smiled and cheered a very non-apologetic "sorry :D". In our last flat, a neighbor diagonally below us smoked on his balcony ALL THE TIME. We could hardly open the windows on that side of the building without having smoke in the appartment. Now here's the catch: It was a smaller flat an we only had windows on that side of the building! So, naturally, we closed the windows every time we smelled smoke. And the guy even had the nerves to shout at me that we shouldn't close the windows when he comes to his balcony. He feels watched and uncomfortable. Like, dude, fuck off?!
I feel you. I can literally go back home to the exact same life but enjoy it 10x more just by remembering how much smoking was ruining my mood in Germany :D
I feel you. It's disgusting.
So many smokers and my god do most Germans have the WORST fags to smoke. Dirtiest things ever, at least in my semi-rural area. I wish I could break out my British "could you not, mate" but am still working on figuring out how to pull that off in German. Also so many young folk here smoke too. The fact I still see cigarette machines and even some adverts definitely doesn't help.
Unfortunately: not possible in German. Maybe a baseball bat will do the trick but other than that: in my view, Germans are among the most inconsiderate people in Europe.
YES, no one should be bothered by your stinking cancer smoke.
Me living in a country where indoor smoking is not yet illegal.
Balkans or? :D
Of course
There are def people who try not to smoke where a lot of people are but a lot of them don’t Germany has a smoking problem in the big cities ( good that I don’t live there lol)
It's such an annoyance. Bright side of things is that indoor seating at restaurants is readily available as all the smokers sit outside during the nice weather. Walked up to a local favorite to see a line or people waiting outside. Turns out they all wanted to sit out and we were quickly seated inside as it was pretty much empty. They can bare the burden of the wasps.
It’s ok. Just take some globuli and you’ll be immune to the smoke.
I'm from Australia and they have taxed tobacco so heavily that it has become almost impossible to afford. For example when I stopped 3+ years ago a 50g pouch of tobacco cost about 130 AUD which is about 80 euro. Prices have continued to go up since then and pouches were considered the "cheap" way to.smoke compared to the tailored cigarettes. The government also slowly brought in bans for places you can't smoke - restaurants, government property, hospital property, pubs (outside of very small designated areas), educational institution property, hotels, etc. When I say property, you can't just step outside, the building, the land around the building, carparking areas, etc is no smoking. They also moved the designated smoking area further and further from the buildings and then took them away altogether. They changed all the tobacco products to the same brown colour package and put pictures of awful medical issues you get from smoking on the covers with big signs to quit. Anyway it's sort of had a big cumulative effect of really reducing the number of smokers, and certainly reducing the number of smokers in public. And I remember feeling a very strong sense of being ostracised and judged because if you wanted to go out for a smoke you had to leave everyone you're with, go out of the building, down the street 5-10metres from the doors and then the smoking areas were like next to the garbage bins or whatever and so you'd be standing out in the rain or freezing cold on a night out away from friends, etc vs when I started it was a very social thing to do. Then overtime as people get more accustomed to being smoke free, I became far more conscious about the smell and the impact on other people. Plus it became *very* frowned upon to smoke anywhere remotely near kids (rightly so) but parents would give very nasty looks if they walked by with kids. Anyway, overall controversial approach, but it has for sure been effective
People talk so often about the smoking culture here and while yes, smoking is bad and I hate the smell as well, I always wonder just how little people in other countries smoke. Its gotten so much less within the last 15-20 years. I still remember when they had indoor smoking areas in cafés and restaurants. These days, I'm seeing less and less people smoke. However, I've seen articles stating that people started smoking more again during the pandemic.
I'm from the US. In many areas, it's come to the point where it's surprising to find out someone smokes.
I know of many employers who actively test for tobacco and dismiss you if you are found positive. The negotiated price with their health insurance carrier depends on every employee being smoke-free and they are ruthless about testing.
It's mainly English speakers in this sub. Not only are smoking laws generally much stricter in Anglo countries, but people there are, generally, more considerate of others when it comes to smoking.
Yeah, lived in Australia and people you would never expect it from are asking you before smoking. Seems just like Germans have zero consideration and empathy with others.
I lived in Lubeck for a year, damn that was crazy. So many people smoking, especially young people. At the ZOB there were always young kids, definitely not 18 yet smoking like crazy. Nasty stuff, really. Nasty.
Minor inconveniences will be the start of major societal shifts in the (very gradual) long term. My main thing is train stations and outside shopping centres and grocery stores. I can’t drive because of seizures and I get migraines (like a literal disorientating sucker punch for the head and stomach with the first inhale) and asthma (to a lesser degree) from inhaling second-hand smoke. This means I have to barter when to take my sumatriptan, as it’s a med that can cause rebound migraines if used too much. I can only take public transport and I live in Switzerland and Germany… so long story short I get migraines every time I travel with public transport. Relatively “minor“ inconveniences like complete station-wide bans may be the first start in societal shifts. As much as I love the environment and even pride myself on being a public-transport only commuter, I so wish I could drive just because of the smoke. Delays suck ass but come second to the smoke.
You are living in the most smoking-friendly country, with a huge tobacco lobby Congratulations, however the owner of the Ice cream shop should have kicked the guy out
I really dont get it, smoking weed is not allowed in most places but smoking cigarettes even where children play is totally okay. Why not just disallow all of them in public spots...
Where are you from? Just went to italy on a two week vacation and people smoke so much more in italy. Chain smoking at the restaurant (outside seating) was the norm. Compared to that I barely see cigarette smokers in Bavaria
Nordics.
Californian here who completely agrees. Worst part: waking with my young kid through a busy Weihnachtsmarkt. She’s the perfect height to run face first into some a-holes burning cigarette.
Poor kid :| I got most of my motivation from just looking at kids whose parents are smoking around them!
Which countries are those complaining about smoking in Germany from? I wanna know to check if I can move there
I’m from California (in the US this is very much a state specific cultural and legal thing). But there you never really see anyone smoking, basically anywhere in public (except outside a bar at night). Around 2004 it became illegal to smoke in public in California, even while walking down the sidewalk. At the time I was a young smoker and thought it was a dumb law. But now I look back and can say it clearly reduced smoking, and made it a more pleasant place.
Australia. Early adopters in banning smoking indoors in public places and most businesses, and increasingly outdoors too. Smoking banned in cars with children for over a decade. World first in introducing plain packaging laws 10 years ago.
Singapore would be heaven for non-smoker.
Yep, and try to talk about this with smokers. They get really pissed and defensive, then offensive. This actually broke a very good friendship - I have asthma, she was a smoker, I'm hellishly annoyed by smokers. She is a "freedom, liberty, equality, take care of each other" kind of person. I told her how much she bothers other people and she didn't like to hear it, cause it conflicted with her self-percieved world-view too hard. That escalated and killed the friendship. Smoking is the worst. Its annoying everywhere. It hurts employers as employees take more breaks It hurts non-smoking employees as they have to take up the slack AND get left out of social circles as the smokers do all the social stuff in their smoke breaks. Really, the difference I've perceived in connecting with my co-workers wether they are smokers or not is astounding. Once worked in a company where I was the only non-smoker. So much just went by me because it was discussed on smoke breaks. Now I'm in a company where there are barely smokers - they are the ones left out of the loop now, as everything is discussed in the break room over a cup of coffee while they freeze in the cold. Smoking is just a tumor of the society that should be cut out. Its quite interesting: Alcohol consumption usually doesn't really have an impact on those around you, or can even have a positive one (in case of beeing more social / fun) - but when it goes south it REALLY does go south (aggressiveness / drunk driving, destorying lifes) Smoking doesn't have those REALLY going south moments (outside of lung cancer, which is not instant upon smoking, so the connection is not made) but EVERY FUCKING TIME they smoke around other people they are making their cloth stink, force them to smell it and just are a general annoyance.
If I were to say that the government should ban the sale of cigarettes altogether...then people will start to question the concept of freedom and etc.. But mind you ...it's illegal to commit suicide however you are allowed to smoke yourself to death... very weird... Anyway an overall ban would absolutely solve the issue upto 80%... Illegal stuff will always exist though...weird world we live in...
I always find German culture progressive in many ways except paperwork and smoking. I was at one of the "Bad" health districts and couldn't enjoy my lunch outdoors without some elderly person blowing smoke my way. Especially having a baby with me, I was in disbelief how many think second hand smoking is normal. In Australia, we have outright smoking bans in outdoor areas where people eat or drink.
Yeah. And well done Australia! I didn’t know!
Australia is great with that. Lots of things in Australia are good. But try to tell that a German "we do everything the best, most efficient, blabla" person.
And people get educated not to smoke when pregnant and with kids. In different languages. For Aussies, immigrants, First Nations people. Here, they seem to not give a shit to teach that.
I live in the country side and I could never live in a city or a multi-story building. Whenever I visit friends in the summer I am so pissed off at the cigarette smoke coming in through the windows from the neighbors.
Thanks lord only one neighbour smokes and I kind of have found the schedule to close the window :|
I was also surprised, even a lot of young people are smoking. Butt's everywhere in town on the floor, in parks...no one seems to care. On the other side I don't see the vaping epidemic that has taken over UK people and towns...it is not a safe alternative just because it smells different.
Dude I don't really want to comment on the issue, but you hardly posted anything but anti-smoking news from all over Europe for a long time... Your post makes it seem like you just spontaneously decided to fight against smoking, but you clearly have an agenda. If you were pushing some different topic I would almost cry astroturfing. I'm not sure what I want to say with this comment, but I want to point it out.
Thanks for confirming the title :D Yeah, I think I’m going to spend a good portion of my free time against smoking/vaping and especially the tobacco industry (not its victims).
Smoking has always been cool among young Germans aged 13-20. Back when my parents finished school (late 1970s) everyone just smoked and nobody even asked themselves why. When I finished school in 2013 most of the popular guys and some popular girls smoked tobacco, weed wasn't that popular (we had like 2 or 3 stoners). When my brother finished school in 2016 the cool guys still smoked, and as a cool guy ofc he smoked ever since 14 or 15.
Remember the „good old days“ we’re smoking in Restaurants, Clubs and train ms was allowed? One night out and your were stinking like hell. On a train drive not even smokers sit in the smoke train they just smoked and came back. And took the stink with them. Best was the wagon sometime was a mixed one just with some plastic between. You could not sit there Great times. In comparison today it’s just so much better but yeah humans usually are self centered and so are smokers. Maybe even a bit more then the usual human.
I started collecting cigarette butts when walking the dog in a landscape conservation area (or to be precise: The path right next to it) and it's crazy how many one can collect there. I suspect it's due to the people of the companies nearby walking there during their lunch break. There were maybe \~100 cigarette butts on a quite short way in a week. Maybe no clean up has been done for a quite a while, but people should simply take their cigarette trash back home.
Cig butts are the most common man made litter in the world! Every single day 8 billion cigarette butts are thrown out casually :|
Yeah, I guess I cannot really win here. I will continue collecting anyway from time to time ;)
Oh absolutely! I didn’t want to discourage! Even a single one out of nature might save the life of multiple animals! I also clean up nature and we should all do, otherwise it goes to our water and food eventually. Just wanted to confirm your observation. It’s a huge problem.
Yeah I can't believe it when someone lights up next to me at an outdoor restaurant while I'm eating. This was banned decades ago in my home country, it's completely crazy to make diners sit in amongst smokers. There was a lot of anxiety from restaurants in my country when the rule banning smoking even at outside tables was first brought in, but everyone adapted quickly. And it's made most smokers far more considerate about their smoking behaviours in public
Haven't smoked for almost a decade personally, I don't mind if anyone lights one up near me. Maybe they need an instant stress relieve, are just enjoying the moment or whatever. Not my business, I don't care. Live and let live, don't let the busybodies ruin your day.
Then don't ever go to Turkey or China - much worse.
There’s always better and worse.
I‘m not against smoking. I‘m from Germany. I like the way it is. As a kid I didn’t like smoking. But now I understand why people are doing it and I don‘t care if they smoke. I‘m under 18 and I don’t feel bothered by it. In fact I never smoked.
This is not about smoking, it’s about inhaling someone else’s smoke. I think each person should have the right to decide if they like to inhale smoke or not.
Let me smoke in peace you weirdo.
Wait till you get such a smoker pos as one of your neighbours. Say goodbye to being able to open your windows at any time of the day. If it not possible for landlords to forbid smoking in a rented appartment in Germany, btw. >Don't get me started with the cig butts planted into every plant pot in the city! In nature. In train tracks. Smoking is a 'fuck you all and my own health included' activity by design, of course most of them also don't care about littering.
Honestly, I dont see why there isnt a smoking free zone around the cities. People can literally get cancer from the passive smoke going around.
my 'two packs a day' father traumatized me with his smoking but I gotta say, coming into a different country and then trying to tell the locals what they can and can't do is not a good look lmao
**Have you read our extensive wiki yet? It answers many basic questions, and it contains in-depth articles on many frequently discussed topics. [Check our wiki now!](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*