Re:The king of smokers
by defen on Thursday September 01, 2016 @11:17AM
(#12405918)
Does smoking (or smelling like smoke) keep mosquitoes away? I'm wondering if some second-order effect, like malaria prevention, led doctors back then to think that smoking was healthy.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
In an age where soap and taking a bath were virtually unheard of, tobacco smoke must have smelled reasonably nice.
And of course, there's http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3001541/ (2010):
"Cigarette smoking has been shown to increase serum hemoglobin, increase total lung capacity and stimulate weight loss, factors that all contribute to enhanced performance in endurance sports."
:-)
Re:The king of smokers
by eatbitseveryday on Thursday September 01, 2016 @06:57PM
(#12409473)
Mosquitos are attracted to carbon dioxide[1] which we exhale, and heat sources (our body). Tobacco smoking produces a lot of this gas[2]. My conclusion (an educated guess) would be "no".
[1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/mosquitoes-find-yo...
Re:The king of smokers
by justsaysmthng on Thursday September 01, 2016 @11:36AM
(#12406113)
Yes, if you blow the smoke on them, they don't like it.
But I was bitten countless times when I was a smoker, so it's not a very effective remedy.
Re:The king of smokers
by fallinghawks on Thursday September 01, 2016 @12:34PM
(#12406685)
No, it doesn't. Back when I smoked I would blow smoke at them and they would just duck and find a different direction to attack.
Works better when you blow the direct draw and not post inhale absorption. Still, its a waste and just drives them crazy so doubles the annoyance.
I don't think the nicotine in a drag is high enough to do much. From what I remember, much higher concentrations were or are used in ant killer.