There are times when we come back to the boat after our afternoon walk and on opening the hatch are welcomed by the smell of whatever I’d cooked for dinner. Now this can range from rosemary used in cooking my veg, curry, chilli, sweet and sour, tomato and garlic pasta, or perhaps not quite so pleasant, cauliflower. I expect many of us can remember the smell of cooked cabbage from school dinners, and in some of the flats I visited, this was the aroma that usually blasted my nostrils.Ā That or the stench of dirty nappies, urine, and stale body odour. 
Even if I haven’t cooked, the boat has a pleasant smell of home and on hot days we throw open the bow doors as well as the helm to enjoy the breeze.
I have a sensitive beak. Not quite so sensitive as Maggie’s obviously, but I can smell things from a fair old distance, and my Mum knew she’d never get away with hiding the freshly baked sausage rolls or cake.
Today, coming back from walking Maggie first thing (Hubby had a rare lie in), a car passed me as I was walking into the private road that leads to the marina.
Even if I hadn’t recognised the driver or the car, I would have known where he had come from by the lingering stink wafting through his open window from his cigarette.
Not only did it hit me as he passed, but all the way to the gate and half way down the marina driveway.
I don’t know what they are putting in tobacco these days, but has cigarette smoke always been so offensively pungent? Hubby and I gave up in 1991, so for us I suppose we notice it more now anyway. Saying that though, when we were first looking to buy a house (and still smokers), some of the biggest turnoffs in properties we viewed were the yellow nicotine stained bedroom ceilings, the stale stifling smell of old smoke, and the sight of full smouldering ashtrays. 
Most of the boaters here are non smokers, but I can tell if a smoker has been in the ladies, even if they didn’t take a cigarette in with them (it’s illegal to smoke in public areas in the UK anyway).
A couple of members of staff smoke, and last year the external ashtray was commandeered by a pair of blue tits who raised over half a dozen young (the Manager put a sign on it saying it was out of use and why).
A third marina employee has converted to the ‘vapour’ alternative.
From what I’ve seen of them, some seem to produce more smoke than the cigarettes they are replacing, and I don’t care if you can get flavoured cartridges, it still smells. I also see it as changing one smoking habit for another.
Personally I think it looks pretentious and silly. You’d probably get the same thing going for you sucking on an empty biro tube. š
pensitivity101 
Being an ex-smoker, I can confirm that I can sense a cigarette at around 5 miles (that is how it seems) and as for those “vapor things”? It would seem to me that given the nicotine addictive qualities of tobacco, then anybody who switches from tobacco to water vapor is going to have distinct withdrawal issues. For those who adapt to sucking in water vapor, I must assume that they are the fortunate minority who truly are social smokers, but then that raises an obvious question. If they can suck in water vapor (therefore have no need for nicotine), and blow it out again…. why???? In this “day and age” when traditional smokers are virtual outcasts, why would anybody want to replicate the habit? My answer, albeit perhaps simplistic, is stupidity.
Going off on a bit of a tangent, it reminds of a 70’s joke about an Irishman who was told to blow up an English car. He failed. He burned his lips on the exhaust pipe!
We were able to give up without aids, gum or patches and feel if people want to smoke, that’s their choice. I just wish they didn’t do it around me, especially as I avoid where they are. Sadly circumstances like today can’t be avoided, though I sometimes think my nose overreacts more than I do!
As for your joke: That’s a hoot!
I agree that smokers have the right to smoke if they so desire, but they have no right to put me in a position where I am inhaling their smoke. That is just simple ignorance.
Yep, I feel the same.
I can tell if someone is a smoker by their smell even without a recent cigarette. There is just that lingering smell…..yuk!
I know. They pass me in the street or the supermarket, but the smell reaches me both before and after.
In this country (at least in my area) people look down on smokers as being ninnies unable to break the habit. I am always amazed when I smell it on teenagers (who should know better!) or young business people (also should know better). In fact everyone should know better. There has been a lot of communication about the effects.
School boiled cabbage! Even now I can recollect that smell!
It’s great that your boat usually has a nice aroma š
As to smoking, I agree, it does seem to smell more these days, but possibly because we are not exposed as much to it.