Passive Smoking to Active Smoking?

While certainly not all that great for your lungs, I doubt that inhaling secondhand smoke periodically throughout the day is going to make you develop the itch to buy a pack of cigarettes and become an active smoker. What are the smoking regulations for your hostel? Is it possible to move to an area that is non-smoking (or at least next to someone who does not smoke)?

Smoking is theoritically banned, but practically there is no ban at all. I even complained to the higher authorities, but they didn’t do anything apart from saying him to do it in the bathroom. He does not smokes in early morning, and I am out of the room in classes/library most of the time it is only from night 10:30 to 1am or 2am. I am very worried please tell me something further.

I’d tell them that you cannot tolerate the smoke and that THEY need to go OUTSIDE.
If they are a reasonable and considerate person they WILL show respect for your feelings. If not, then you might have to try and get moved where you are sharing space with a non-smoker.

I’m not sure where you are located, because most public places ..at least in the US .. are no-smoking. There’s a reason for that .. and a big one is due to the dangers of secondhand smoke.

I might suggest that you contact your local Health Dept.—- anonymously, if you’re uncomfortable. It’s just totally unfair that you have to put up with this.

Please don’t give up… if you can’t get any assistance, I hope you can move.

Welcome to Fluther.

Part of the response depends upon what your neighbor is smoking, and how often.

When I used to work in construction field offices (through the 1980s) where it seemed half of the people inside were chain smokers (cigarette tobacco) I never got more than annoyed + headaches and watery eyes. I never had any desire or inclination to smoke as a result of all that time. (And I had grown up in a house where my mother used to smoke moderately, and mostly enjoyed the aroma of her occasional cigarettes.)

On the other hand… if your neighbor is smoking marijuana, and if he smokes heavily, then you may get a “contact high” (not an unpleasant feeling if you like that), but you may also inhale just enough to fail a drug test, should one be administered. That’s something you may want to know about in advance and take steps to avoid.

It’s possible. I wouldn’t have thought you’d get enough nicotine through second-hand smoke to cause addiction, but apparently you can.

It shouldn’t. Can you get your room changed?

You sound fairly averse to the idea of smoking so I would doubt it would encourage you to take it up as an active habit. Breathing in second-hand smoke is not healthy though and you have a right to breath in clean, fresh air and especially while you are sleeping.

You could try speaking to the smoker and asking them to take it outside (I doubt they will). If that doesn’t work or you don’t feel comfortable doing that, put in a written complaint about the smoking to whoever is supposed to be managing the building. Ask them to either resolve the smoking problem or to find you another room. Do it nicely. You don’t want to end up in the broom cupboard on the 10th floor with no lift! If that doesn’t work, can you find another place to live?

It isn’t a small irritation. I am a former smoker and I remember going to a restaurant in Melbourne and someone on the next table was smoking and I found it very unpleasant to be around both physically and mentally. There is no smoking in public places where I live any more so it was very noticeable. Good luck.

I agree that you should pursue this further, in the meantime, can you construct a smoke blocker? Google it for more ideas, I suspect Youtube has how to vids as well.

No. The only thing you will suffer is the odor, and for a non-smoker, that can be bad enough. I am a smoker, and I smoke outside for the sake of my non-smoking girlfriend. The second hand smoke will not be enough to noticeably affect your health, long or short term. Smoking harms the lungs by building up therein, and second hand smoke, though touted as more dangerous due to lack of passing through the filter, is not enough by TWA (time weighted average) to affect you. Passive cigarette smoke is not addictive, smoking is. There’s more to it than a drug addiction, much of it is psychological, even OC behavior.

I would ask the person to smoke outside if possible, or at least open a window… and most of the odor that hangs around will be that from ash trays and unwashed laundry.