How Do I Handle Visitors Who Smoke in the House?

How to handle out-of-town relatives who smoke in the house?
Anonymous

There are at least three concerns I can see with this: secondhand smoke health impacts, thirdhand smoke health impacts, and the impact on your house.

Secondhand smoke (from the exhalation of the smoker or from the cigarette itself) has been linked to negative respiratory health outcomes for both adults and children, including low birth weight and asthma. There is no question that regular exposure to secondhand smoke is dangerous. We have very little — in fact, no — evidence on short-term exposure to secondhand smoke. But extrapolating from the long-term effects, the impact of a few days of exposure would be extremely minimal.

Thirdhand smoke — the residue of smoking that stays on surfaces and clothing — has also been implicated in health, although these links are harder to show and, again, are likely very small at this level of exposure.

Putting aside health, though, the fact is that having people smoke in your house is unpleasant. It is difficult to get the smell of cigarettes out of furniture, and you don’t want your toddler to get a face full of smoke.

The obvious option is to have people smoke outside or stay at a smoking-friendly hotel. It’s your house; you get to set your boundaries.