I was in college when the bars in my college town went smoke free. It was noticeable how all of a sudden I didn't feel like my night needed to end with a shower just because I went out and didn't want to lay in bed smelling like an ashtray. So yeah, well before the hug.

And the things it does to your skin. You can tell a smoker from across the room by looking at their face.

It doesn't take a kiss or hug, I have a visceral reaction to just talking to or walking by someone who stinks of cigarette smoke, it's disgusting to me. I'll still assert that all people are innately deserving of compassion and respect, but it takes effort and a choice when I smell that.

As a father, an uncle, and a dog owner who has changed a lot of diapers and cleaned up a lot of poop (at ~10 years x 365 days x 1-10 events/day x ~1 lbs/event, probably a literal ton of shit) and been numbed to the smell, I'd literally prefer to smell feces in your adult Depends than cigarette smoke on your breath. It's not "hot" at all, completely the opposite.

Socialization is a funny thing. I have the same reaction you're describing to dog smell, but I'm not troubled by cigarette smoke at all. (My dad was a multiple packs a day smoker when I was a kid.) I actually find it quite pleasant, even the stale tobacco smell in old motel rooms.

This is so the case - I never smoked myself but my college years were filled with others smoking; it didn't bother me at all until a few years removed when I return to visit.

It's not entirely off-putting it but it is certainly noticeable.

I grew up in and around a family of smokers, always in the smoking section of a bar, etc. I don't smoke myself and have been away from it for decades.

I recently attended an event hosted at an American Legion Post and went to the bar there where smoking was allowed (and done, frequently). The scent first hit me quite negatively, but something triggered in my mind and honestly made it feel more like home. It was an odd feeling of both not really enjoying the immediate sensation while also triggering positive nostalgia memories.

As someone with asthma who has trouble breathing around cigarette smoke I agree it's nasty.

See also:

The $4 billion gum industry has gone into freefall, with sales down 11% and volume down 20% in the past five years.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3033451/why-nobody-likes-to-chew...

Once we legalize MDMA that will pick right back up again!

Add some probiotics, call it keto, give it a more modern packaging and palette, advertise on the L train, charge $6 a pack, give it a person's name like "Greta".

Smoking was a signal between men and women that we were on the same page. It was also a way for women to initiate a conversation with a man without coming on too strong.

Or for example, try to climb the stairs