# Is it unusual to portray characters smoking in modern times?



## ironpony (Jul 31, 2019)

I am writing screenplays and setting them in modern times, making them less costly to shoot.  I like a lot of old film noir movies and westerns, where you see a lot more smoking.

But you never see it movies or fiction anymore it seems hardly, so if I write characters doing it, since I take inspiration from film noir and westerns, does it come off as strange for modern times do you think?


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## ScientistAsHero (Jul 31, 2019)

Plenty of people still do smoke, but it is more frowned-upon in modern times, and it is becoming increasingly taboo to feature characters smoking in media. I remember when I was a teenager in the 90s many comic book characters who I idolized smoked. (That's not what drove me to pick up the habit, but it did reinforce its acceptability.) Nowadays, at almost 40, I look back on those creators like, "why? Why would you target young teenagers and depict their idols smoking cigarettes?" It just seems irresponsible.

I'm not for censorship, but unless you have a compelling reason for your characters to smoke, I just wouldn't.


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## ironpony (Jul 31, 2019)

Oh okay, well my stories are more aimed at adults I think that teens tastes, but I'm not sure if I do have a compelling reason, it's just more of a stylistic atmospheric one like in film noir, if that makes sense?


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## ScientistAsHero (Jul 31, 2019)

It does make sense. One of my favorite movies of late is Blade Runner 2049 and the main character, K, at times smokes cigarettes. It does add to the "noir" feeling of the movie, even though it takes place in the future.


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## ironpony (Jul 31, 2019)

Oh okay, Blade Runner is an example, but it seemed like he was the only one, so if just the main character is doing it, would he stick out as a sore thumb compared to the others therefore?

I guess one movie I can think of set in modern times with lots of smoking is The Departed (2006), but has a lot changed since 2006?


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## ScientistAsHero (Jul 31, 2019)

In today's culture, yes. Netflix recently had a thing where they said that the only reason they would depict a character smoking cigarettes was if it was historically relevant, or something to that effect. 
But that's not to say you shouldn't do it. Plenty of media aimed at adults to this day features characters smoking. And you did say your screenplays were aimed toward adults. So I say go for it if that's what you want to do. If you were writing YA fiction I might advise you otherwise.​


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## ironpony (Jul 31, 2019)

Oh okay, I just thought it might be an eyebrow raiser still since it seems to be hardly seen anymore in fiction, even aimed at adults.


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## epimetheus (Jul 31, 2019)

Vaping is common some places and would give a story a modern feel. I see it in London more than smoking. Not sure it's very noir though.


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## seigfried007 (Jul 31, 2019)

ironpony said:


> I am writing screenplays and setting them in modern times, making them less costly to shoot.  I like a lot of old film noir movies and westerns, where you see a lot more smoking.
> 
> But you never see it movies or fiction anymore it seems hardly, so if I write characters doing it, since I take inspiration from film noir and westerns, does it come off as strange for modern times do you think?


Nope. Especially not if you're trying to give the piece a nostalgic feeling or imply some subtly self-destructive old school machismo.


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## Ma'am (Jul 31, 2019)

I think it might add that noir nuance you're going for, set it apart from a strictly modern story even though it's written in modern times.


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## ironpony (Jul 31, 2019)

Ma'am said:


> I think it might add that noir nuance you're going for, set it apart from a strictly modern story even though it's written in modern times.



Oh okay, what do you mean though when you say don't make it a modern story, cause wouldn't modern times make it a modern story?

As for vaping, it just doesn't have the same feel or atmosphere, for that film noir type feel.  It's feels weird looking, whenever I see it.


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## Newman (Aug 6, 2019)

ironpony said:


> I am writing screenplays and setting them in modern times, making them less costly to shoot.  I like a lot of old film noir movies and westerns, where you see a lot more smoking.
> 
> But you never see it movies or fiction anymore it seems hardly, so if I write characters doing it, since I take inspiration from film noir and westerns, does it come off as strange for modern times do you think?



Doesn't come off strange IMO


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## ironpony (Oct 20, 2019)

Oh okay.  There is one other thing. I have a female character, that I wanted to smoke cigars, but when women do it, I feel that guys think of it as some sort of phallic fantasy perhaps.  If I have a female character do it, would people's thoughts go the wrong way on it therefore?


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 20, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay.  There is one other thing. I have a female character, that I wanted to smoke cigars, but when women do it, I feel that guys think of it as some sort of phallic fantasy perhaps.  If I have a female character do it, would people's thoughts go the wrong way on it therefore?



Cigarillo cheroots, small with the ends clipped, that should stop phallic phantasy dead  

Personally I feel that smoking has killed so many people I wouldn't want to contribute to normalising it in any way. I don't think I am alone in this. It could affect the acceptance of a script by tipping the balance of feeling about it, I don't know.


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## PiP (Oct 20, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay.  There is one other thing. I have a female character, that I wanted to smoke cigars, but when women do it, I feel that guys think of it as some sort of phallic fantasy perhaps.  If I have a female character do it, would people's thoughts go the wrong way on it therefore?



You have a vivid imagination...


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## Darren White (Oct 20, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay.  There is one other thing. I have a female character, that I wanted to smoke cigars, but when women do it, I feel that guys think of it as some sort of phallic fantasy perhaps.  If I have a female character do it, would people's thoughts go the wrong way on it therefore?


I must say, I never have that thought when I see a man smoke cigars.


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## Umree (Oct 20, 2019)

I don't think its weird to have people smoke in that context. Lots of people still smoke --my mom smokes, my friends smoke, my coworkers smoke...etc.
Also, have you seen the new _Joker_ movie? It's basically one long cigarette ad! :highly_amused:


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## Rogue (Oct 20, 2019)

I think you need to ask yourself a few questions. How important is it really that any of your characters smoke? Does it make sense for them to smoke? Or are you doing it for stylistic reasons (which is really just a lame way of saying that you think it looks cool). 

It's not that unusual to see characters smoking in any media, even nowadays. It is true that it is less prevalent than it once was but that's not saying a lot because it use to be EVERYWHERE. They had smoking ads with Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble. Thinking back to the 90's, it was a lot more prevalent in media than it is today (especially before the tobacco advertising laws) but when you compare that to decades prior, the 90's were tame.

That's not to say that there aren't modern standards that might prevent a creator from showing their characters smoking, especially if it does so in such a way as to make smoking seem cool (especially to a younger audience). But you also have to consider that they've shown pop culture icons who regularly reach children such as Wolverine smoking a cigar in a PG-13 X-Men movie (I believe it was First Class in which in the same scene they have said character drink and dropping an F-bomb). They even make it a point to focus the camera on the cigar while he picks it up. Granted, I'm willing to bet that this is something that will be avoided by Disney should they ever adapt the character to their own movies. 

So my opinion on it is that it's simply not that big of a deal. I can't imagine anybody kicking up a fuss unless your story somehow comes across as advertisement or glorification. I wouldn't recommend putting it in there just for the sake of style but rather make it a part of that particular character. Do they have other bad habits? Do they have a self-image problem and maybe they think it makes them look cool? There are idiots who still believe that. Thinking back to one of my old stories, I didn't have a lot of characters who smoked but there is one who comes to mind. He lived in a bad neighborhood and he picked up smoking at a young age. He couldn't afford to just drop five bucks (or however much poison costs nowadays) on a pack and so he would walk around town and grab butts from ashtrays and then use those to roll his own cigarettes that even the nastiest fiend crinkled their nose at. But this was a part of his character and I didn't do it for style.

If your story is inspired by the noir genre, then that's fine but just remember that noir is very much a product of its time and thus certain things simply won't fit in a modern setting and if you want the atmosphere of a smoke-filled bar and wise guys sipping on martinis then I think you're better off just telling a noir story and not trying to meld it into a modern setting, especially if something as simple as whether or not to show characters smoking is going to throw you off your game.

Best of luck and keep writing.


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## Aquilo (Oct 20, 2019)

I have my two main leads who smoke in one of mine. It's contemporary. One only smokes when he's stressed, the other likes to pinch his smoke and feed from the stress, which kind of reflects their relationship in general.

You make it work if you want it in there.


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## ironpony (Oct 20, 2019)

Umree said:


> I don't think its weird to have people smoke in that context. Lots of people still smoke --my mom smokes, my friends smoke, my coworkers smoke...etc.
> Also, have you seen the new _Joker_ movie? It's basically one long cigarette ad! :highly_amused:



Oh yeah I just the movie last night actually.  It seemed to take place in the early 80s though, so I thought it wouldn't be seen as unusual then, compared to modern times.



Rogue said:


> I think you need to ask yourself a few questions. How important is it really that any of your characters smoke? Does it make sense for them to smoke? Or are you doing it for stylistic reasons (which is really just a lame way of saying that you think it looks cool).
> 
> It's not that unusual to see characters smoking in any media, even nowadays. It is true that it is less prevalent than it once was but that's not saying a lot because it use to be EVERYWHERE. They had smoking ads with Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble. Thinking back to the 90's, it was a lot more prevalent in media than it is today (especially before the tobacco advertising laws) but when you compare that to decades prior, the 90's were tame.
> 
> ...



Not sure what it adds, I just feel it adds something to the gritty tone, but can't explain it, if that makes sense?



PiP said:


> You have a vivid imagination...



Okay so not other people's minds would go there than.


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## Umree (Oct 20, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh yeah I just the movie last night actually.  It seemed to take place in the early 80s though, so I thought it wouldn't be seen as unusual then, compared to modern times.



That's a good point, I totally forgot about that... Though I will say that I personally saw the cigarette in that film as a contribution to the theme of rebellion. This video speaks to that -- the idea of the cigarette as being a response to society's rigid morality. Maybe including smoking would even add to your characters if you're going for themes of rebellion and counter-culture? In a society where smoking is frowned upon, here comes a protagonist who smokes regularly as a response to rigid authoritarianism? 

[video=youtube_share;Iu2L7oA9QRg]https://youtu.be/Iu2L7oA9QRg[/video]


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## J.T. Chris (Oct 20, 2019)

I don't think it's unusual to portray characters who smoke. I mean, people smoke. Is it frowned upon? Sure. But a lot of writing gets frowned upon. Write what's most truthful to you.


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## CyberWar (Oct 20, 2019)

I figure this whole non-smoking trend is largely a cinema thing which has appeared because of increasing regulation on advertising tobacco on the media. Also, people generally are becoming more health-aware these days and generally smoke less than they used to some 30 or more years back. The beauty ideal these days is no longer the gruff, tough square-jawed Clint Eastwood type with a cigarette in his teeth and a glass of whiskey in hand, but a vegetarian fitness fanatic sporting a six-pack and 5% body fat. Smoking just doesn't go with the "ideal" lifestyle anymore.

Changing attituteds towards smoking are actually a significant thing to consider if one wants to observe a period-accurate setting. A 1950's hospital waiting room or business office, for example, would likely be shrouded in a perpetual haze, something utterly unthinkable today.


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## ironpony (Oct 20, 2019)

Oh it's just that in fiction you hardly see anyone smoke in modern times anymore unless the character is a criminal, or someone trying to recover from drug or alcohol addition, or a prostitute or something like that.


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## luckyscars (Oct 20, 2019)

CyberWar said:


> I figure this whole non-smoking trend is largely a cinema thing which has appeared because of increasing regulation on advertising tobacco on the media...



Regulations regarding tobacco advertising, at least in the US, do not apply to creative works. There are no regulations I am aware of regarding depiction of smoking and in fact several relatively recent G/PG rated movies do show it.

What there is, compared to in past eras, is an emphasis on corporate responsibility. No publisher or movie studio wants to appear to be promoting tobacco usage, especially among children. Therefore it's easier to just avoid those kinds of things where they are not deemed essential.



J.T. Chris said:


> I don't think it's unusual to portray characters who smoke. I mean, people smoke. Is it frowned upon? Sure. But a lot of writing gets frowned upon. Write what's most truthful to you.



Something like 20 percent or less of adults smoke in America. So, logically no more than 20 percent of characters in a book set in America should smoke in order to be 'accurate', which would make a smoking character relatively 'unusual'. 

But that only works if we aren't taking into account the actual scenario of the story. The social and economic environment of the story would matter too. A story set in a squat or a homeless shelter will probably feature more smoking (and less botox) than a story set in Orange County with a bunch of soccer moms. This is sort of a 'write what you know' issue. 

The thing about smoking as a character accessory is it's sort of...pointless isn't it? Cigarettes just aren't fashionable like they once were. They don't really suggest machismo like they did in Eastwood's era. In bygone times smoking would have been something that would have made a piece seem gritty. I don't think that's as true anymore. Asking why fewer characters smoke in stories is kind of like asking why there are fewer bank robberies, gun duels and car chases. These are cliches from an older, more innocent time. Nowadays, if you want to show wayward kids, you'd have them drop some MDMA or huff on a juul while bullying other children online or whatever. Nowadays if you want your character to seem like he 'doesn't give a fuck' you'd make him inject Krokodil or something. Smoking is _passe._


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## luckyscars (Oct 21, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay.  There is one other thing. I have a female character, that I wanted to smoke cigars, but when women do it, I feel that guys think of it as some sort of phallic fantasy perhaps.  If I have a female character do it, would people's thoughts go the wrong way on it therefore?



I don't want to harp on this because I think you know it's absurd, but I would say that even if that was true (and I'm not aware of any 'guys' over the age of fourteen or so who would see a woman with a cigar and think of a penis) it's the kind of moronic thing that doesn't deserve attention.

If this female character is smoking cigars I assume there is a reason (and not the blowjob one) that you are including that feature. We should not, as writers, be held hostage to the sordid thoughts of perverts.

This kind of shit makes me glad I'm not a woman, to be honest. Imagine having your entire life, everything you do, viewed through the prism of a sex object by certain men. It's ridiculous.


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## ironpony (Oct 21, 2019)

Oh okay, I certainly do not want to look at female characters through a lens of sex for sure.  It's just I am afraid others will, but maybe that is a false fear and I shouldn't worry about it?  The character does it cause she has a competitive superiority nature with the world, and does little things like that to over-compensate with the world if that makes sense?

Actually the whole cigar seen as phallic for a woman, I was actually told by a woman friend, so even women might see it that way, if that's true.


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## Aquilo (Oct 21, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Actually the whole cigar seen as phallic for a woman, I was actually told by a woman friend, so even women might see it that way, if that's true.



I see a guy smoking a cigar and I'm likely to think one of two things: he's celebrating/stressing over just becoming a dad or he's a corporate wbanker who's living off underpaid employees (all depending on the brand of cigar). I see woman smoking, I see she's celebrating/stressing over just becoming a mom, or she's a corporate wbanker who's living off underpaid employees....

In all honesty, as a lass, I've never tied smoking to phallic offerings, and I write enough sex scenes and play with enough sexual in-ur-endo to light up a whore house or two for a year.


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## seigfried007 (Oct 21, 2019)

Aquilo said:


> I see a guy smoking a cigar and I'm likely to think one of two things: he's celebrating/stressing over just becoming a dad or he's a corporate wbanker who's living off underpaid employees (all depending on the brand of cigar). I see woman smoking, I see she's celebrating/stressing over just becoming a mom, or she's a corporate wbanker who's living off underpaid employees....
> 
> In all honesty, as a lass, I've never tied smoking to phallic offerings, and I write enough sex scenes and play with enough sexual in-ur-endo to light up a whore house or two for a year.


As a woman and writer, I ditto this wholeheartedly. The only exception is that I can't tell the difference between these groups by cigar brand because I don't know enough about cigar brands. This, however, just means that I'm down to other cues--like dress and behavior--to inform my guess about which ones are new parents and which ones are bankers.


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## seigfried007 (Oct 21, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay, I certainly do not want to look at female characters through a lens of sex for sure.  It's just I am afraid others will, but maybe that is a false fear and I shouldn't worry about it?  The character does it cause she has a competitive superiority nature with the world, and does little things like that to over-compensate with the world if that makes sense?
> 
> Actually the whole cigar seen as phallic for a woman, I was actually told by a woman friend, so even women might see it that way, if that's true.



Your character either smokes or she doesn't. You don't have to include smoking, if you don't feel like it. You also don't have to deny her smoking (or any other character trait). If your character smokes, let her smoke.  Whoop-dee-shit if she smokes. Her choice of if or what to smoke doesn't matter. Stop psychoanalyzing her or your audience because you're getting yourself tied up in needless knots over stupid stuff instead just writing the screenplay. 

The second character I wrote walking onto the set in my WIP smokes. I didn't stress about it. I didn't include this habit with any grand purpose. He smokes, so I let him smoke. I've never once thought to psychoanalyze him for smoking. I'm not Freud; I don't see people putting stuff in their mouths and automatically take the most perverted viewpoint on said behavior. I don't tie anything psychosexual to smoking because--in my experience--it's more often the sign of certain socioeconomic factors and a obsessive/compulsive personality. Said character grew up in an economically strapped trailer park household where both parents smoked (his grandparents did too), but I didn't have to know any of that before I wrote him smoking. This habit _happens_ to tie into some themes in the book, but I didn't include it with that intention. He smokes, so I wrote it in that he smokes. Doesn't have to be any harder or more complicated than that.


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## luckyscars (Oct 21, 2019)

Aquilo said:


> In all honesty, as a lass, I've never tied smoking to phallic offerings, and I write enough sex scenes and play with enough sexual in-ur-endo to light up a whore house or two for a year.



In ironpony's defence, there is an established fetish for women smoking that features in a subgenre of pornography, but that's pornography. There are also pornographic subgenres featuring popping balloons, defecating, and dressing up as babies, so we're not exactly dealing with 'normal' perceptions here.

I don't think writers should be taking cues on sexual norms from porn (unless it's a certain kind of erotica, maybe) and frankly when I see that happening it's invariably some rather shitty writing.


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 21, 2019)

There is something in it, a friend who taught pottery once told me that the first pot women made was always short and round, men's first attempt was always tall and slim.


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## velo (Oct 21, 2019)

I own this shirt IRL...








As well as this one, less on topic but, I think, more entertaining...


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## Amnesiac (Oct 21, 2019)

I watch a lot of British TV. Smoking is no big deal. Some people do. Others don't. I think we Americans make much ado about nothing.


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## Galen (Oct 22, 2019)

ironpony said:


> I am writing screenplays and setting them in modern times, making them less costly to shoot.  I like a lot of old film noir movies and westerns, where you see a lot more smoking.
> 
> But you never see it movies or fiction anymore it seems hardly, so if I write characters doing it, since I take inspiration from film noir and westerns, does it come off as strange for modern times do you think?



In the old films you mention, the smoking and drinking were "product placements" there to support the cigarette and alcohol industries.

IMHO, in today's time, use "product placement" with modern items like mineral water, energy drinks, vapes, etc.


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 22, 2019)

Galen said:


> In the old films you mention, the smoking and drinking were "product placements" there to support the cigarette and alcohol industries.
> 
> IMHO, in today's time, use "product placement" with modern items like mineral water, energy drinks, vapes, etc.



I am sure there was product placement, but they would also have been lacking in reality if peoplehad not smoked. When I was a kid 60 years ago everyone smoked, teachers used to smoke in class, go back a bit further and you would see newsreel of 'Brave Tommies' being carried off hospital ships, waving to the camera fag in hand, someone had an accident they got a drink of water and a fag. It was not until the fifties that the research connecting it to cancer was done, and a while after that before people began to take notice, though actually the first lot of research was done in the 40's during the war, but that was done by Germans so it had to be false. It is horrid to think how many people had to die painful deaths because of the assumption that because their politics were bad so was their scientific method, we are not talking concentration camp doctors here.


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## luckyscars (Oct 22, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> I am sure there was product placement, but they would also have been lacking in reality if peoplehad not smoked. When I was a kid 60 years ago everyone smoked, teachers used to smoke in class, go back a bit further and you would see newsreel of 'Brave Tommies' being carried off hospital ships, waving to the camera fag in hand, someone had an accident they got a drink of water and a fag. It was not until the fifties that the research connecting it to cancer was done, and a while after that before people began to take notice, though actually the first lot of research was done in the 40's during the war, but that was done by Germans so it had to be false. It is horrid to think how many people had to die painful deaths because of the assumption that because their politics were bad so was their scientific method, we are not talking concentration camp doctors here.



Side note, but I always wondered about this. If smoking was such a widespread thing, I always wondered why it was that kids weren't typically allowed to smoke even back then?


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 22, 2019)

As I remember you were allowed to smoke, but not to buy tobacco. Just like kids might get a drink from their parents nowadays there were plenty of adults who gave their children cigarettes. You were supposed to be sixteen to buy them, but I started at age eleven and can't remember having any problems, most people regarded it as a 'nanny state' sort of thing as I remember.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Oct 22, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> As I remember you were allowed to smoke, but not to buy tobacco. Just like kids might get a drink from their parents nowadays there were plenty of adults who gave their children cigarettes. You were supposed to be sixteen to buy them, but I started at age eleven and can't remember having any problems, most people regarded it as a 'nanny state' sort of thing as I remember.




It was the reverse with my experience as a child in the late sixties/ seventies. A child wasn't allowed to smoke but they had no problem when it came to buying cigarettes for their parents. Mom always used to send me to the store for cigarettes when I was as young as six. It wasn't until the eighties when they began to enforce the age limit to buy cigarettes (eighteen I think).


As far as the OP goes, I don't think you should alter something that happened during a certain period just because it would be politically incorrect now. You have to be as authentic as possible and if your characters happen to smoke, well, so be it. That's the way it was, or even is, as people still do smoke.


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## luckyscars (Oct 22, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> As I remember you were allowed to smoke, but not to buy tobacco. Just like kids might get a drink from their parents nowadays there were plenty of adults who gave their children cigarettes. You were supposed to be sixteen to buy them, but I started at age eleven and can't remember having any problems, most people regarded it as a 'nanny state' sort of thing as I remember.



Thanks for this. Not wishing to derail the post but I'm still unclear as to why there would be any prohibition on children smoking at all given the consensus was that it was a benign or even healthy habit.


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## seigfried007 (Oct 22, 2019)

luckyscars said:


> Thanks for this. Not wishing to derail the post but I'm still unclear as to why there would be any prohibition on children smoking at all given the consensus was that it was a benign or even healthy habit.



You might have to look into when those prohibitions happened relative to cancer research. There might not have been a ban on children buying tobacco products prior to the surgeon general warning everyone off cigarettes. Said prohibitions also might not have gone into effect everywhere at the same time.


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## Terry D (Oct 22, 2019)

seigfried007 said:


> You might have to look into when those prohibitions happened relative to cancer research. There might not have been a ban on children buying tobacco products prior to the surgeon general warning everyone off cigarettes. Said prohibitions also might not have gone into effect everywhere at the same time.



I found a timeline with some interesting info here. Most states had smoking age restrictions by the turn of the 20th century, and, by 1939 all 48 states did (the first statistical link between smoking and cancer was published in 1929). What really blew me away was reading that in the 1950's states started to lower or eliminate minimum age limits. These efforts continued into the '60s. That's probably due to the influence of TV and big-tobacco.


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## ironpony (Oct 23, 2019)

Oh okay, so smoking isn't that unusual still, it's just we maybe don't see it in fiction as often cause writers want to be PC perhaps?


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## JohnCalliganWrites (Oct 24, 2019)

I go to a coffee shop several times a week that sells pipes, cigars, and tobacco. When I worked in restaurants and as an EMT, not that long ago, lots of people smoked. Higher stress jobs like medical, manual labor, and cooking still have a lot of smoking. It also depends on what part of the country you are in, and what the income is like. A lot of writers live in places and with circumstances where people are highly educated and have little desire for the effects of smoking, so it isn't going to turn up in their writing as much.


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## luckyscars (Oct 24, 2019)

ironpony said:


> Oh okay, so smoking isn't that unusual still, it's just we maybe don't see it in fiction as often cause writers want to be PC perhaps?



It's not about being PC. While it's true smoking is less prevalent now pretty much across the board, John Calligan made a good point. Social and cultural norms within select groups are what makes the primary difference. 

My brother-in-law is a chef and I swear to God damn near every chef smokes - a lot of them do some fairly hard drugs too. An awful lot of nurses smoke, ironically. When I was in the legal biz smoking wasn't common (most lawyers are very image conscious and the smell of tobacco is perceived as being undesirable) but a _lot _of lawyers drink heavily, that's their outlet. 

Sailors and Army grunts traditionally smoked and drank a lot - though I'd imagine fewer do now because there's a lot more P.T than there used to be. Wall Street traders drink scotch after-hours and snort coke. Cops drink coffee and eat donuts. Rastafarians and Hippies smoke weed. EDM afficionados prefer MDMA and ecstasy. Millenials like to eat tide pods and send dick-pics. Middle-class white girls drink Starbucks Frappes. Somalis chew khat. Dads watching football drink Bud Lite. Old grandmas sip sherry. Arabs smoke hookah. Every group of people and every profession has its cliches, stereotypes, and cultural norms that include _some_ vice or other, to varying degrees of prominence and real-life accuracy.

So, depending on _who _your story is about and _where _and _when _it's set is going to dictate the prevalence of smoking more than PC culture or generalizing broadly. If there seems like there's less smoking now, it's probably because most modern literature tends to focus on groups and cultures where smoking is just not so much of a thing. I mean, how many stories are written about chefs? Not many. Hence, that groups penchant for cigarettes doesn't get represented. Same goes for nurses. 

And yet modern literature features a lot of cops - who tend not to smoke these days, at least on the job (there's rules about that now) - and a lot of elves and other fantasy creatures (who don't smoke much), a lot of space travelers (can't smoke on a spaceship) and a lot of yuppies who are too busy boning each other, working on their marketing careers and instagram accounts, and generally being materialistic to degrade themselves with such a dirty habit. So, naturally, there are fewer smokers in _those _stories. But that isn't necessarily going to be the case for _all_ stories. Write a story set in a county jail about a bunch of low income hoodlums...and you'll likely be including smoking, among other things, a lot more.


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## Amnesiac (Oct 24, 2019)

My story features a bunch of outlaw 4-year olds. Most of them smoke about a pack a day.


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## BornForBurning (Oct 24, 2019)

> My story features a bunch of outlaw 4-year olds. Most of them smoke about a pack a day. :grin:


Was this inspired by Hawk Jones by any chance?


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## Sustrai (Oct 28, 2019)

I just finished a book that has both the main character and her sidekick smoking.  One smokes Lucky Strikes, the other Parliaments.  It's set in 1958 and that's what folks did _back then.  _They also drink socially to excess and eat food that is . . . unhealthy by today's standards.  It's a period piece.  It's accurate.  It's in.  Screw PC.


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## EthanWarwright (Nov 19, 2019)

It would certainly be a little out of place in a modern setting, but it's certainly not contradictory with reality. Plenty of people still smoke to this day, so it's not unreasonable if you were to have one or maybe two characters smoke.


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## ironpony (Nov 19, 2019)

Oh okay, the last movie I can think of that had lots of smoking from numerous characters was The Departed (2006), but has a lot changed since 2006?


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## Foxee (Nov 19, 2019)

Yes, I'd say it's unusual to portray characters smoking. They drink coffee in amounts that would have me augering through the ceiling, though.


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## seigfried007 (Nov 22, 2019)

Foxee said:


> Yes, I'd say it's unusual to portray characters smoking. They drink coffee in amounts that would have me augering through the ceiling, though.



Yup. There's also the ever-present wine and other alcohol to consider. Seen a lot of characters that have coffee every morning and wine every night. 

I've got a couple characters who have experienced caffeine addiction in my WIP, but I tend to save the coffee mentions for when the characters need it. For instance, when glossing through a dark time in the POV's life, I mention that his 'sweat ran black with coffee' as a hyperbole because he's fleeing a difficult home life and relationships through being a workaholic. There's also a scene where two doctors have had a long day and are prepping for a long and trying night; hence, they drink coffee late at night once. Then, there's a character who over-caffeinates because he has nightmares and doesn't want to sleep. Drinks far too much on an empty stomach and makes himself sick--instead of sending him augering through the ceiling (what a great description, Foxee :thumbr


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## ironpony (Dec 30, 2019)

Actually one movie I saw recently was Hustlers, where the lead female character smokes, and the movie came out this year, but is based on a true story that happened in 2014. ...And I am thinking, a female character, smoking in a 2014 setting?  That's unheard of!  So maybe it is not strange so much then today?


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