> Cigarettes only smell when being lit

I am confused. Second hand smoke smells awful, and cigarettes emit second hand smoke the entire time they are lit. Does this not count?

I think they mean that a bag of tobacco doesn’t make the room smell like an ashtray, but a bag of weed is excessively pungent even when wrapped and stashed.

Ah, great point. I misread OP. Thank you to clarify.

Disagree that cigarettes only smell when being lit. The "stale tobacco" and "ashtray" smell sticks to your clothes, your vehicle, your house, basically anywhere where it's consumed. Anyone who smoked and later quit can attest to that, mostly because you go through this period of "Oh my, did I actually smell like that"?

Of course, smoked cannabis is the same. Whatever the smoke touches will leave some sort of residue and it can smell. In my opinion the "stale cannabis" smell is more pleasant than the "stale tobacco" smell, but different people are sensitive to different things.