Smoking in Canon?

[Grav_Moped]

This is absolutely not meant to discuss real-world tobacco use. Doesn't matter whether you don't, do, or have an opinion on it -- this isn't the place.

What I'd like to know is if smoking appears in canon, authorized fiction, or prominent fan-fiction, and whether Far Future Enterprises has an official position on whether it does.

I casually dropped a few cartons of cigarettes into my PbP threads as trade-goods/petty-bribery-material. Do they belong in the OTU at all?

 

[infojunky]

In my games it is canon.

 

[mike wightman]

Yes. Murder on Arcturus station mentions flashtrays. Cigars are mentioned as a trade item and I remember a rather attractive lady in a MT era adventure in Challenge as still practicing the habit.

 

[whulorigan]

ANNIC NOVA is carrying tobacco in its Cargo Hold, and it sells for premium prices in the Spinward Marches (where it is rare and potentially illegal on some high law-level worlds).

 

[McPerth]

remember a rather attractive lady in a MT era adventure in Challenge as still practicing the habit.

This is the first thing I thougth about tobaco references. It's Leyna Tirenthe (casual encounter, Challenge #43, pages 20-21).

 

[whulorigan]

... flashtrays. ....

Flashtrays are also an item for purchase in T4 (in Central Supply Catalog, I believe).

 

[Condottiere]

1. You can do what you like in private and on your own property; presumably.

2. Depends on the jurisdiction, but I kinda suspect by technological level seven, most urban societies restrict it to outdoors and sealed off private areas, since they're well aware of it's health effects.

3. There are probably safer ways to stimulate that hit/high of inhaling cigarette smoke, the crudest being a gas mask, with the gas, but not the pollutants.

4. That leaves the hipsters and/or addicts.

5. You could try it as bribes and/or trade goods with a primitive human settlement.

 

[Grav_Moped]

here are probably safer ways to stimulate that hit/high of inhaling cigarette smoke, the crudest being a gas mask, with the gas, but not the pollutants.

I recall stories of military personnel (during exercises) adapting the drinking tube of their gas mask (that goes into a receptacle on the standard canteen) to fit cigatettes. One feature of these stories is that it's only ever done once, though, for tolerably obvious reasons.

 

[Grav_Moped]

It occurs to me that a starship's personnel airlock (and, depending on how it's laid out, possibly the entire cargo bay) is definitionally capable of clearing all varieties of atmospheric taint (Atmospheres 2, 4, 7, 9) and even Atm=A+, though the latter ones might require operating in total-loss mode -- not even trying to recycle any of it, just keep pushing 70%N2/30%O2 in and let it leak out the door until it's safe again.

Anyhow. If your airlock's filters can clear all of that crud, they can handle tobacco smoke. The same might not be true for the rest of the ship's lifesystem, though. So, there's your default designated smoking area, if nowhere else.

 

[Hairy Jim DeGriz]

Anyhow. If your airlock's filters can clear all of that crud, they can handle tobacco smoke. The same might not be true for the rest of the ship's lifesystem, though. So, there's your default designated smoking area, if nowhere else.

All of the "cool kids" hanging out in the airlocks?

 

[Condottiere]

At the swimming pool, better known as unrefined fuel storage.

 

[Spinward Flow]

All of the "cool kids" hanging out in the airlocks?

Achievement Unlocked
You have left the airlock!

 

[bookwyrm]

I don't smoke, so I haven't thought of this for Traveller, but does life support for ships cover smoking passengers & crew? on the one hand, I kind of think that the technology is advanced enough that it isn't a problem, but what if there is a limit to the ships environmental systems to how many smoking crew & passengers it can handle without being compromised. and what about space stations/up ports? Asteroid Belts & vacuum worlds, or worlds with A-C atmospheres?

in the 'Planetes' manga & anime, the captain & pilot of the garbage collection ship is a smoker, and a side story is the trials & tribulations she has finding a place to smoke that isn't a problem, either on the ship or space station.

 

[Grav_Moped]

All of the "cool kids" hanging out in the airlocks?

I didn't write the implicit assumptions into the rules, I'm just pointing them out.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I don't smoke, so I haven't thought of this for Traveller, but does life support for ships cover smoking passengers & crew? on the one hand, I kind of think that the technology is advanced enough that it isn't a problem, but what if there is a limit to the ships environmental systems to how many smoking crew & passengers it can handle without being compromised. and what about space stations/up ports? Asteroid Belts & vacuum worlds, or worlds with A-C atmospheres?

... or arcologies.

But yeah, there's probably a capacity limit. Only the airlocks need the "magic air cleaner" (maybe the cargo hold does too). It'd be overkill for the rest of the ship. Perhaps room-specific filters might be necessary (and need periodic replacement over and above normal life support costs).

Also, as a ref I'd probably apply a DM to aging rolls for END for a character that's played as a habitual smoker (or allow a player to claim a smoking habit for a PC that's failed one against END during chargen).
If a sanity, stress, or morale stat is in play IYTU, +/-DMs to that are worth considering, depending on whether an addicted individual has access.

 

[Hairy Jim DeGriz]

Also, as a ref I'd probably apply a DM to aging rolls for END for a character that's played as a habitual smoker (or allow a player to claim a smoking habit for a PC that's failed one against END during chargen).
If a sanity, stress, or morale stat is in play IYTU, +/-DMs to that are worth considering, depending on whether an addicted individual has access.

I'd prefer to think that the medical issues are resolved through technology, as per the Stainless Steel Rat series of books. As per my previous comments regarding ADA access to the engineering section, I have great hope for medical technology in the future.

I'll see the anime reference and raise it a novella. Both are reflections of the time in which they were written.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I'd prefer to think that the medical issues are resolved through technology, as per the Stainless Steel Rat series of books. As per my previous comments regarding ADA access to the engineering section, I have great hope for medical technology in the future.

I'll see the anime reference and raise it a novella. Both are reflections of the time in which they were written.

Indeed. NASA's ground controller consoles back then (Space Race era) had built-in ashtrays! Seems bonkers in hindsight, as do a lot of things from back then.

To be fair, it wasn't that they were encouraging smoking at the workstations. It was because if they didn't have ashtrays, technicians would rest their lit cigarettes on the console, causing burn marks on the panels. (Or, they'd use portable ashtrays that could dump ash into the equipment if knocked over.)

At the time, the idea that you could just tell employees they couldn't smoke indoors was incomprehensible. (A lot of money over the years went into convincing society and regulators that it wasn't an option...)

 

[Spinward Flow]

in the 'Planetes' manga & anime, the captain & pilot of the garbage collection ship is a smoker, and a side story is the trials & tribulations she has finding a place to smoke that isn't a problem, either on the ship or space station.

Already ahead of you ...

 

[Condottiere]

Oxygen rich environment.

As I vaguely recall, the point of smoking a cigarette, besides trying to look mature, having something in your hand, looking preoccupied, and/or cool, was that hit when the smoke filled your lungs, which I guess a nicotine patch cannot convey.

So vaping may well substitute a lit cigarette.

 

[bookwyrm]

Already ahead of you ...

rofl! that clip is so hilarious! thx! plus you kind of get a look at why smoking/burning stuff in an enclosed space is a bad idea. the fire suppression keeps turning on to put out the 'fire'.