Why do people advertise "pet free, smoke free environment" for audio gear?

well a well used vocal microphone is a pretty gross situation in every case when you think about it.

 

Cigarettes – and everything they come in contact with – stink.

 

They've trained you well, congratulations. Brainwashing works.

Not all that many years ago, there were two kinds of people. People who smoked and people who didn't. They worked together, played together, lived together,and everything was fine. Then came the "smoke hater". Suddeny, little paper tubes full of dried leaves became leprosy, AIDS and bubonic plague all rolled into one. It became "fashionable" and "trendy" to hate smokers. It doesn't "reek", it doesn't "stench", it doesn't "stink". It's simply the aroma of tobbacco. But people have been trained to display exactly this knee-jerk reaction.

NOW... who is going to cost MORE? The smoker who drops dead at age 60, or the non-smoker who lives to age 85, collects 20 more years of social security, and spends the last 3 years of his life in a nursing home for $5,000 a month? Health care for an elderly person has been estimated at $144,000. So even if a smoker uses half that amount due to smoking-related illness, he's still saving the system tons of money.

Global warming, pollution, overcrowded highways, insane real estate prices, etc. are because there are too many humans on the planet. Here we have something that helps to relieve this burden, but it has become "evil".

Think about all this. In China, they actually encourage smoking. But they're a little smarter than us.

 

Ugh... I bought a 4-track reel-to-reel a number of years ago via Ebay. It was from a widow whose husband used it for recording. As soon as I opened the box all I could smell was cat urine. It was sticky with the stuff. Never could get that thing working right.

I had a cat who used to like to sit on top of the receiver or stereo amp, getting whatever warmth was generated by the power transformer/transistors. In some models I could see - over time - that shedding fur building up inside, possibly causing issues.

 

"Stink" is in the nose of the beholder.

Once one has had the opportunity to be removed from it, it's usually unwelcome when it returns.

That was the weirdest, most convoluted, argument for smoking I've ever read.

I do agree about overpopulation being a much bigger issue, though. Problem Number One.

I've done my part. Snip, snip.

Cigarettes? Just another human anachronism. The appeal died with Bogie.

 

I don't hate smokers. I hate the smell of cigarettes in general. I like the smell of cigars in general. Where does that put me?

 

Squarely in the middle. If one doesn't care for the aroma of tobacco, that's fine. But the raging, frothing-at-the-mouth paranoia about it is simply not necessary. You will not catch smoking and die within 30 seconds if you stand within 100 yards of somebody doing it, but that's how they've been trained to react.

Cat pee - now that's something else entirely.

 

I generally have no problem with people smoking outdoors - I'd rather have them smoking out there than indoors. I would prefer a smoking area away from everyone else, but I'm not going to go ballistic over second hand smoke in general. I'm not frightened or offended by it in principle. What's really annoying is my work place took away the smoke shack, now everyone has to smoke in their cars and now you're hit by it when you're walking to your car.
They made it worse for everyone by making it "healthier" or whatever due to safety/health codes (because they couldn't smoke by the building).

That said, I don't want equipment that reeks of tobacco or smoke in my household, even if I generally have no issues against smoking. Very VERY occasionally I'll have a cigarette, and more occasionally I'll have a cigar. I'm not happy that people smoke in restaurants, but I think it should be up to the property owner to allow smoking or not. However, I'm kind of on the fence because while I think it's an invasion of property rights, I like being in buildings that don't have smoke and I'm sure the employees like it too and don't have to worry about getting sick from LONG DIRECT exposure to second hand smoke. (I do believe direct prolonged exposure is unhealthy/dangerous)

But no, I agree...raging at the mouth paranoia is completely unnecessary.

 

Aroma of tobacco, or the 5,000+ chemical and carcinogenic additives? Seriously, cigarette smoke smells foul to any non-smoker (and former smokers), and stinks up everything it comes in contact with.

Smoke all you want, I don't care. But don't pretend it doesn't foul up lots of things, including lungs.

 

There is a big difference between fresh smoke and old smoke. That's not the aroma of tobacco anymore. My girlfriend's parents used to chain-smoke, then gave it up one day. The smell was everywhere years later, in drawers, between the pages of books. The Tar that turns the curtains and the wallpaper yellow over time in a smoker's household, that stuff is on a CD-Players lens as well. It's sticky and it collects dust. So that's definitely bad.

Also it's acidic, I think there's sulphuric acid, if it comes in contact with the humidity of the air. That's more a problem for museums I guess, altough I once wondered if it could be harmful for CDs. You know, attacking the lacquer, exposing the aluminum layer to oxygen. But I try not to worry about such things anymore, I try to stay away from my OCD tendencies. Of course I wouldn't lend a book or CD to a smoker!

 

Would you accept free gear from a pet smoked enviroment?

 

No.

 

Well I grew up with a father who smoked and always hated the stench of it.Repulsion to it is not a recent thing.

Smokers cost the health system and society far more than non smokers.Not just from the cost of treating the cancers that it causes but also the cardio vascular problems.
Most of our medical costs occur in the last year of our lives so if you die at 60 or at 85 the gross lifetime cost is not much different .If you are unhealthy in the last 10 years of your life then of course there will be costs but if you are a smoker you are far more likely to have chronic health problems than if you are a non smoker.

 

Funnily enough the worst piece was a lovely AR eb101, no pets, no smokers, but had been kept in a garage for 30 years...stank of exhaust fumes.

 

I agree on the smell of smoke. But being worried because the owner had a cat or dog? That's over the top in my opinion.

 

I think all three are important to some extent. Most will not want smokey gear. Some will not want dog dander and some will not want cat dander.

My anecdotal experience is that I (former smoker) don't want smokey or cat haired/dander/sprayed gear. I'm allergic to cats.
I have friends that are allergic to dander from short haired dogs. I have two short haired pointers and we try to keep a pet free room for them when they stay.
I will advertise the dog issue if I ever sell my gear because it could be an issue for the buyer. It is being courteous to the next owner.

 

When I smoked, I used to go through a cd player every year. And all of my cd cases developed a wonderful sticky yellow brown coating.

 

I'm currently taking care of an ipad the is owned by a friends mom. She was a smoker and you can tell. It smells and on the edge that was exposed to air (it was in a case) you can see a brown stain. The case also smells and needs to be cleaned.

If I bought this ipad online used I'd be highly annoyed at receiving it.

 

Odor, hair, dander, urine. Tar on case, knobs, laser lens or other components. Cats tear up cloth grills usually, and tend to pounce on stuff. I had a dog and used to smoke but still managed to keep my stuff in better shape than some of the pet free smoke free gear I got. I never described anything as pet free smoke free and never had any complaints.

 

I remember reading somebody ask a question on a McIntosh forum asking why some vintage Mc gear is silver and some gold, and wondered if it was a special edition. The answer was that some owners smoked and others didn't. I'm not sure I'd want to mess with an MC275 that had been turned gold due to nicotine painting.

 

In most cases I don't think it matters at all, but some speakers like Martin Logan's have that synthetic clear Mylar membrane and smoke will build up and affect the sound and the look, and at around 5k+ for a decent pair, it isn't worth the risk.