Tabacco products on the trail?

[kevinweitzel75]

I have no idea if this has ever been brought up, but I'm going to ask. How does everyone feel about using tabacco products on the trail? Smoking while hiking? Chewing while hiking? Just a curiosity. How many HAZ members smoke or chew? I quit smoking... for 4 months and then picked it back up again, for umfteenth time. And I have been known to chew sometimes.

[Alston_Neal]

Oh my gawd you low life scumbag!

Just kidding. My wife and I can only cut waaay back, not quit. So we hike as much as we can so we don't smoke. I have no problem not smoking while hiking, it's when I get home and have an adult beverage.

Btw way when I first read the title I thought you were talking about hot sauce....

[azbackpackr]

I can tell you I have smoked while hiking a time or two, but it sure as all heck wasn't tobacco! Seems to me like a waste of a good lung to bother with tobacco on the trail! ;)

But that was a long time ago. I'm a good girl now! I only drink Rob's weird beer from El Salvador, and put that rum of his in my cocoa.

[Jim]

I have a friend who puffs all kinds of stuff. He smoked the peace pipe and other things on Humphrey, Wrightson, Escudilla and others hikes we've done. It bothers me a little, but I just try to get away from the smoke. It's funny being on Humphrey with people gasping for air in summer, and he's smoking away. Then he brings out his beer. People like alcohol on the trail, too.

[Alston_Neal]

I must admit hiking in the 60s and 70s was much more shall we say......colorful and vibrant.
Did you know that the granite boulders by Pinnacle Peak are composed of billions and billions of type written letters....

Ahem...so I was told.

[azbackpackr]

I used to wear mocassins to feel the ground better.

Now, I think my feet would hurt if I did that!

[Tough_Boots]

Like a lot of other folks, I quit smoking about once a week (I'm definitely not a heavy smoker these days). I typically don't ever smoke on hikes just cuz it makes the day harder. I have, though, made exceptions such as at spots where I know I'm taking a very long break to enjoy a particularly great view. I definitely do not smoke unless I know I'm pretty secluded and won't ruin anyone else's nature experience. Places like Humphrey and Wrightson where you will almost never be alone at the top are not spots I would ever smoke at.

I saw a guy last month in Coffee Flat smoking while actively hiking and I thought that was insane. He also had no water or pack either-- couldn't figure that one out!

[paulhubbard]

To all you smoker out there (I used to be one, quit cold turkey 5 years ago), a sincere THANK YOU for not leaving cigarette butts out in the wilderness. Of all the places I've been to from finding them here, I rarely, if ever, see butts laying around.

[kevinweitzel75]

Btw way when I first read the title I thought you were talking about hot sauce....

I dont smoke while hiking, but will have a smoke on a long break or at camp if I'm backpacking. And I try not to smoke around people if it bothers them. And I also pack my butts back out. I don't even throw them on the ground or out the window when I'm in town. I do hike with a guy that does smokes while hiking on the trail. Don't really understand that, but to each, their own.

[Alston_Neal]

I saw a guy last month in Coffee Flat smoking while actively hiking and I thought that was insane. He also had no water or pack either-- couldn't figure that one out!

Tweeker ;)

I was gonna bring up this topic awhile back but feared I'd be banned from the forum. It's nice to see those of us are trying our best to quit or cut back as much as possible and are aware of the feelings of other folks.

[Jeffshadows]

Somking at high elevations is just plan foolish, but most casual hikers will never probably see any kind of performance hit; in fact, they might get a boost. Other than that, I would be if I were huffing and puffing up a trail at speed and was forced to choke on a puff of second hand poision!! I also don't like the idea of someone potentially tossing a lit butt into the understory, that's what set the Aspen event off.

It's like being naked - don't bother others with it and it should never be an issue!! (Shameless plug )

[CannondaleKid]

Of all the places I've been to from finding them here, I rarely, if ever, see butts laying around.

I wish I could agree with you. Lately EVERY hike I've been on, even in some out-of-the-way areas numerous butts have been laying about. Out the Dutchman from First Water seems to have by far the most, almost 90% being Marlboro's with Camel's in a distant 2nd place. Based on time, place, proximity to horse manure about the same "freshness" as the butts, as well as the distinct "smoker's breath" odor while passing equestrians, I'd hazard most of the Marlboro's are from a group of equestrians I seem to encounter reasonably regularly. But no matter, I pick them up just as a matter of caring for the environment.

As a non-smoker who never wasted a single thought wondering what it would be like to smoke, I have a hard time to find a valid reason why others would start. What is it? Peer pressure? Wanting to "cool" as a member of the "in crowd"? Nowadays with the mountain of evidence and full knowledge of how bad it is for people, isn't that enough to stop, or never start at all?

Unfortunately, cigarette butts don't get my goat anything near like beer cans. And like the Marlboro's, there is a distinct leader by probably a larger margin... Bud Light. I've come across so many lately that I've been photographing them with the possible intention of posting a "Bud Light-only" page, sending the link to Budweiser and ask them to kick in $$ to help clean up the environment, and maybe even come up with some catchy phrase on the can to promote recycling. Yeah Right, like that would ever happen. I'm sure it would be a wasted effort... the drunken boors will continue to spread their trash without a thought. Unlike cigarette butts, I rarely pick up the cans and/or cases... if I did I'd be dragging trash bags out on many hikes. Maybe if they put a $1 deposit per can I'd be more likely to do it. (And possibly the boors would return a few as well)

[PaleoRob]

I packed empty beer cans (that were full when we started) three days out of the Grand Canyon, and didn't give it another thought. It ain't that hard to pack it out.

[paulhubbard]

Bud Light. I've come across so many lately that I've been photographing them with the possible intention of posting a "Bud Light-only" page, sending the link to Budweiser and ask them to kick in $$ to help clean up the environment

Grand Idea! Up on the Mogollon Rim last summer I swore someone was using Bud Light cans as 'breadcrumbs' to find their way back out of the wilderness. Just going out to Promontory Point we probably saw more than a dozen cans. Disgusting what pigs the human race can be.

[Alston_Neal]

I"ll venture to guess that most all butts I've seen on the trail came from horseback riders and all the BuTT Lite cans came from A-holes...

[Tough_Boots]

Nowadays with the mountain of evidence and full knowledge of how bad it is for people, isn't that enough to stop, or never start at all?

of course smoking is super stupid and we all know that and some of us still do it... but also so are many other things and people continue to do that-- such as eating meat. Yes, I said it and its not about the fat-- its the hormones, antibiotics, and basic disease they leave the factories with. Poultry is like slurping on a cancer/salmonella shake and there's tons of undeniable evidence to prove that. Everybody has their own switch to decide what information to ignore.

[kevinweitzel75]

I had many bad habits. I can safely sat that I have only one left. And that is smoking. Drinking has never been a habit, I quit the hard stuff without a second glance, although the beer I would miss. The "light" drug use I quit years ago. Smoking has been my crutch and will always be, I think. The problem is that I enjoy it too much. If I could go back to the day I started, I never would have. I think all long time smokers share the same idea. I try to never look back on the past and only look forward to whats in front of me, but smoking is my only regret. Maybe some day, some time. Now the meat is a different story. Beef... well I can't live without. Chicken... no problem giving up. Pork... well, I love bacon as much as I love smoking.

[gringoantonio]

Nothing enjoyable about driving 10, 30, 50, 250, miles to hike X miles into nature only to encounter a cloud or even a whiff of tobacco smoke. I think it's just as inappropriate, (if not more so), as a loud boom box on a trail.

As for chewing tobacco, as long as every drop of spit is packed out, no harm, no foul. Tobacco spit on the ground--same as food scraps, trash, deuces & TP--can not be healthy for wildlife.

[Jim]

Nothing like a cigarette after a nice bacon and egg breakfast while camping, eh? ;)


I don't smoke, never have and I don't like second hand smoke at all. Maybe it is due to where I live, but I never see smokers on the trail, but then I hardly ever see people out when hiking unless in Sedona and even there...
I would only mind it if people were being really rude about it, standing around in a large group puffing away on some summit or location where the air wouldn't clear out. It is usually windy so that isn't a problem up here either. Wow, a plus to the wind! I can see how on Squaw or Camel Back that a cigarette smoker would be annoying, and that really seems counter intuitive to being outside hiking.

[Alston_Neal]

This topic is too stressful, I need a smoke and some bacon.. ;)