I used to smoke up to for 27 years up to 10 years ago. Restaurants are better now but many small clubs still allow smoking and to me it's just a part of the business. We cater to those who unwind or deal with their problems by smoking, drinking, socializing and listening to us--reminding them that they are not alone. As a musician, I don't think of myself as just a performer. We provide a type a therapy for many people. I have people who I've never met, stop me on the street, and thank me for our performance they saw. Sometimes they tell me they were blue and then were uplifted afterwards. That's an awesome feeling.

_________________
"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll meet you on the next one and don't be late... don't be late." -Jimi Hendrix

I don't preach to smokers I know how hard it is to kick the habit...I'm glad it stinks to me so I won't pick it up again.
I agree with manabu108,people need to hear good music and unwind and forget their problems for awhile....I've heard so many people thank me after listening it does make you feel good.

If you are a smoker, you will never be able to comprehend what cigarette smoke smells like to a non-smoker (or even more so to a reformed smoker!). There are things I do that I'm not proud of, and I have my share of bad habbits. But some things I won't do is buy a car, a guitar, an amp, or anything else that comes from a smoky environment. I will not stay in a hotel room that has been smoked in, and I don't allow smoking in my home. The smell never goes away. So to me, it is a huge selling point

Well, I love how you chose to selectively edit my post there. If you read the first line of my post you'll see that I said "I was an avid non-smoker until I was actually 25 years old" and I sorry but again having grown up around smokers, it just never bothered me. For the sake of fairness though, I guess if someone grew up in a non-smoking household and was never really around smokers, yea...I could see where it might bother them.

I would also have to ad here that in regard's to manabu's comments about restaurants and clubs, when they imposed that horrible no smoking rule here in Ohio several small clubs simply went out of business because of it...something like 40% of the bars and clubs here in Ohio either went out of business or are struggling because of the horrible law. I could see if that have of imposed something like a "public notification law" where bars that allowed smoking would need to post that on their doors so non-smokers could choose to go somewhere else but to impose that on everyone was just -wrong-. Further...and yes, I'm saying this as a smoker, but when my wife had to have her surgery for cancer, I had to walk 5 city blocks down the street because the hospital wouldn't even allow smoking in their parking lot. When a person has a loved one going through something major like that, that is -NOT- the time to get in their crap about something like smoking! It's just utterly brutal and inhuman....but most non-smokers just can't be bothered to stop and consider these things.

Regardless...and this is just my opinion but if you're buying something like a guitar (or an amp) because it smell's "lemony fresh" instead of how it sounds or how it plays, I think you're buying a guitar for the -wrong- reasons. I'm sorry but whether or not something like a guitar came from a smokers environment isn't anywhere near my list of priorities. Personally I buy a car because it get's me from point A to point B, I buy a microwave oven to cook my food, I buy a television...well...because I'm a lazy couch potato, and so on. What any of those things smell like, is completely irrelevant to me. For that matter I don't really even care if I have scented toilet paper! As far as hotel rooms...hey...as long as they have an indoor heated pool and preferably a jacuzzi, I'm good. Ok...I like my bed sheets and blankets to smell like fabric softner but all I really need to do there is toss them in the washing machine. And I buy my guitars and amps because of how the play and how they sound (and to some degree how they look)...-NOT- how they smell.

Different strokes for different folks I guess...


Jim

(great...now I'm going to walk around all day with mental images of people walking around "sniffing guitars".....lovely)