Filed under: Rant
This story in the L.A. Times (use username/password cpunks/cpunks) chronicles the growing popularity of hookahs, of all things, in hip L.A. bars and such.
Now, you can’t actually smoke these things (or anything else) in the bar or restaurant in California, because that would be just too unhealthy. Too many people are allergic to smoke, they say. Or are they?
On a recent Friday night in Pasadena, Rachel Lesky, 25, smoked a hookah for the first time at an outside table—smoking being prohibited nearly everywhere indoors—at Equator coffeehouse. Though she is allergic to cigarette smoke, the fumes from the mixed fruit tobacco didn’t bother her. “It’s really mellow and very calming,” Lesky said.
So she’s allergic, mind you, to cigarette smoke, but she’s not allergic to trendy smoke. Trendy smoke is “mellow” and “calming”.
Now, it’s certainly within Ms. Lesky’s rights — or anyone else’s — to dislike cigarette smoke, and they can dislike that smoke while liking other, trendier smoke. But I find it very hard to believe that she (or anyone else) is allergic to secondhand cigarette smoke, and at the same time finds fancy smoke “calming”.
It’s impossible to just dislike anything these days; you have to maintain that you have some catastrophic biological aversion to it. By claiming some biological basis for your preferences, you avoid having to compromise on or defend your opinions. Very clever.
I expect hookahs to be banned outright before long in California; the possibility of holes being poked in the smoke-allergy argument is too dangerous.
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Allergies are a huge scam, and I’ve been similarly ranting about people and animals. Sure, humans can be sensitive to animal hair, dander, etc, but for the most part folks who say they’re allergic just don’t like animals. The human body generally adjusts to a new thing in the air, it’s pretty amazing, and people should shut the hell up about their allergies.
Oh yeah, humans are also sensitive to dust. Somebody do an expose. yawn
Comment by Amanda 07.14.02 @ 01:14Trendy smoke? Mixed fruit tobacco? Are you sure that was really tobacco in there?
Sources tell me that certain herbs (which may be even legal under California state law depending on one’s medical condition) can help with asthma, which maybe the “allergy” that the woman quoted is referring to.
But I’m just one of those insidious legalizers using George Soros’ money to lobby government to get crack in all elementary school vending machines, so don’t listen to me.
Comment by zurn 07.23.02 @ 04:52Whether or not someone is allergic to cigarette smoke, people who have allergies often find their allergy response (itchy, watery eyes, coughing, sneezing) to be exacerbated by exposure to the smoke (which contains about 400 UNFLITERED chemicals if you are the breather of the second hand smoke).
Also, maybe some people just don’t like animals but there are many REAL allergies to dander, fur, airborne allergens such as “dust”, pollen, mold spores etc…
It may be true that some folks use the “allergies” argument as a cop-out for taking responibility for stating the truth about how they feel – that doesn’t mean that allergies are not based in biological fact.
Comment by CoughCough 01.27.03 @ 11:24I am really offended by Amandas comment about allergies. I can speak from experience that animal allergies are true. I am deathly allergic to all animals with fur. When i have prolonged exposure i physically cant breathe. I still ride horses and plan on having a dog when im older because of my LOVE for animals. I plan on taking shots. The same goes for smoke. People physically have reactions to it, part may have to do with the dislike but some people physically cant handle it. Its like food allergies people arent making up the fact that they get hives when they eat something because they dont like it. They have a biological reaction. You, Amanda, should think before you say something so illogical.
Comment by Meaghan 04.18.03 @ 18:31I used to be a smoker and since I became pregnant in 1999, I can’t even walk by a smoker without feeling like I’m suffocating and I can smell the smoke for days afterwards. I don’t know if it’s an allergy to cigarette smoke or just a very sensitive nose – but it’s not fun!
Comment by LisaMarie 04.25.03 @ 08:29Re: Amandas Comment
I was upset by your comment on allergies , my fathers were so bad that his sinuses exploded in his brain. We waited in the emergency room as they drilled a hole in his brain to release the pressure. Had he not gotten to the hospital a half hr later he would be dead.
I started suffering as a child then at thirty, I began having severe reactions to dust, cigarette smoke, animal dander and molds from fall. So bad that I administered shots twice a day in my thigh.
I went to work, but the headaches were so bad that I was bed ridden. I got so sick at one point that my sinuses closed up and I could not breathe which caused me to crack four ribs.
I lost my mother to brain and lung cancer at, 47, my father has acute empysema, I also lost one aunt and a granparent to lung desease. From cigarette smoke.
My allergies are under control now as I take 2000-4000 mg of msm daily. But, I have severe reactions to cigarette smoke. I do not know why, I begin with a headache then my eyes turn bright red and swell and they begin tearing so badly I can’t see. Then I began to get stuffed up and can’t breathe thru my nose.
I personally don’t care if someone smokes, but I would like to go to a sports bar and watch the games. I get so sick that it is impossible.
I hope you now understand that allergies are not something to brush aside. People die every day from them.
Comment by sandra despain 10.24.03 @ 10:43Amanda, you are an idiot. To say that people who are supposedly allergic to animals are people who simply don’t like them is ignorant and hateful.
I have had severe alleriges all my freakin life, to cats and dogs. Although I absolutely adore cats, just hugging someone with cat hair on their clothes will send me sneezing and make me miserable. Because of this allergy I am unable to have pets in my home – I love animals, and I will never be able to have my own cat or dog to love, and will NEVER get to hold a cat in my arms.
I hope you hold your tongue the next time you decide to say something so wrong, and so hurtful.
Maybe when you’ve walked in someone elses’ shoes you will finally stop judging others….
Comment by Julie 02.07.04 @ 22:48Amanda! I pray YOU never develop allergies, maybe THEN you will understand they are REAL. Myself, my mom, my sons, my great aunt, ALLERGIES. Real, DIAGNOSED BY PHYSICIANS, by ALLERGISTS. It can be to dust (read about dust mites!!!), molds, pollen, animals, even food allergies. They have been around for a LONG time, and many people do not have allergies as a child, but develop them later in life. Allergies can cause asthma (which happened to my sons), and sinus problems (which I have). What PLANET do you live on? Come back to earth, where allergies are PROVEN. You need some education in this area, or bite my tongue, to develop an allergy yourself so you will not attribute it to “hype”. Shame on you!
Comment by Kami 04.18.04 @ 05:05Excuse me, but you do not know what you are talking about, Miss Amanda Thang.
The stuff smoked in hookas is natural. People who are allergic to cigarette smoke – like myself – are responding to the chemical additives used to treat the tobacco. I quit smoking six months ago and since then have become allergic to cigarette smoke, perfumes, and newspaper ink. It’s very strange. I don’t know if it’s because of quitting smoking or what.
However, American Spirit tobacco does not bother me as much, AT ALL. this is all from personal experience.
THIS IS A REALITY, AMANDA.
Comment by olen 08.15.06 @ 07:57Smoke from American Spirit cigarettes and many non-chemical laden brands of European cigarettes also don’t affect me. However, smoke from most U.S. cigarettes, (many contain up to 4000 chemical additives) I don’t have to see or smell to get a headache from. A direct exposure causes both headache and nausea within seconds and up to 3 weeks to have sinuses quit hurting. In the past, when I chose to “suffer through it” to remain on jobsites, I landed twice in the hospital, hooked up to IV’s and given oxygen, face and respiratory passages swollen and bright red, the second time told that I will probably die from exposure to cigarette smoke. For those with true systemic allergies to whatever chemical causes the allergic reaction, it is just like a food allergy but without the ease to avoid the allergy causative. Repeated exposure and strength/length of exposure to the allergen, the doctor explained, decrease the body’s ability to function normally. It’s crucial for me to avoid smokers, but it is so difficult to carry on a normal life, since the allergen is on their clothing or on telephones, computers, etc. that smokers breathe onto. For me, Flonase (nasal steroid spray) twice daily helps considerably, but not enough that I can be around smokers (clothing as when they walk close by or touch anything they’ve touched) without getting sicker and sicker (nausea, lethargy and aching muscles, mental confusion, headache) increasing each week to where I can’t concentrate on anything and feel constantly nauseous with unrelenting headache by the third week. I’ve just read about NAET and also about brain allergies and am hopeful that a cure or effective measure does indeed exist, so that we “allergy-reactives” can live as normal a life as smokers are afforded.
Comment by Elizabeth 02.14.09 @ 22:44Leave a comment
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