Woo Lady or do I just stink?

[weirdexperience]

I am on holiday in a beach area where I don't know anyone.

I have smoked in and off for some years, currently in an on phase. Since being here I've smoked outside after dark at the end of each day, and to my knowledge I'm not visible by anyone as there are no houses close by. Plus it's dark.

Yesterday I had a shower and washed my hair (by mistake), brushed my teeth, put on a brand new clean swimsuit and headed to the beach. I had not smoked at all that day. My swimsuit does not smell to my knowledge as I never smoke in my house at home and if I ever smoke outside, I take off those clothes immediately and wash them. This swimsuit is new so has never been next to those clothes in the wash. I had a dress on over my suit which is also new, so same applies. My suitcases also don't smell of smoke as they've never been in a smokey environment.

I went to beach and got directly into the sea where I swam for about 20 mins.

I got out and as I was walking back to my things, and before I even passed her chair at a good 8-10ft away, a lady said "you really should quit smoking, it's not good for you". I looked at her and then looked behind me to see if she was talking to someone beyond me who was smoking. But there was no one there.

I don't have yellow fingernails or teeth.

So on a windy beach in a clean swimsuit with clean hair after swimming for 20 mins, and at a reasonable distance before I even passed her, could she smell me, the once or twice a day smoker?! Or, is she some kind of guardian angel telling me to quit before I get sick?!

Smokers do smell, but in my experience only when you are up close. No way would you have smelled bad after showering etc and especially her being so far away from you. Forget about it, I think she was rude anyway, none of her business.

So was she speaking to you or her daughter?

Smokers do smell and most don’t seem to realise it. Up to you what you want to do, do you want to quit or are happy with how things are? It’s your choice.

I once worked with someone who smoked -she smoked at home before work and then had a shower and washed her hair, brushed her teeth and scrubbed her hands and nails. Then got dressed. Then she drove to work (no ciggies at work) and then drove home and smoked again in the garden in the evening.
She was paranoid about it and was constantly trying to make sure she didn't smell.
She always smoked out of the house at the bottom of the garden.

She oozed the smell of smoke - I swear I could smell it a mile away -it literally came out of her pores - or it seemed to. She reeked. Even with perfume on.

Then it stopped. She stopped smelling -of smoke, and I said to her " you smell nice" one day as she really did -like orange citrus and summer -and she beamed and told me she had given up smoking two weeks before. No change in shampoo, perfume or anything. She said 4 people at work that day commented on it and 3 people at the gym the next day and so on.........I really do feel that some people their skin just reeks of it.

AnneofQueenSables, that sounds lovely. I used to love Highway to Heaven.

She smelt the lingering cigarette odour, I think it builds up, if my husband stops after a phase of smoking he still smells for a few days after. If I have a very rare cigarette on a night out I can smell it on me the next day.

There's no way you would smell from smoking such a small amount the night before outside, when you had a shower, washed your hair and swam. No way. She saw you. Smokers only smell when they are still wearing the same clothes they smoked in. It doesn't come through your pores unless you smoke a lot and probably in confined spaces.

I had a delivery yesterday - left in my porch. I went to get it and was met with a smell of smoke!

@loutypips

Yet I used to get compliments on how GOOD I smelled all the time! From colleagues and randoms walking past my desk.

When someone says 'oh you smell nice!' It usually means, bloody hell you got enough perfume on love?!?

When I compliment people on smelling nice, I certainly don't mean it that they've put too much on and I hope they don't take it that way.

@IDontLikeZombies me too! I had a little crush on Michael Landon

The posters on here telling you that the woman won’t have smelled you are probably smokers themselves and therefore in denial about how much smokers smell of smoke.

I don't smoke and my sense of smell is pretty acute. I hate the smell of smoke. Even I doubt this woman got a whiff of smoke from the OP from 10 feet away outdoors at the beach - there are just too many other smells that overwhelm things. If OP had just finished smoking, yes sure. But she hadn't smoked for hours and had been swimming.

Are you sure she wasn’t on the phone to someone at the time? Maybe hands free? Or talking to someone out of your line of sight?

*And you should keep your unwanted opinions to yourself, stalker lady’. Has she been staring at you without you realising?! Very curious.

She was rude. Tell her to mind her own business if she says anything else.

I'm surprised she would be able to smell you from the distance you describe, but smokers do smell and the smell really clings. Even if they shower/ wash hair, it clings to their belongings. DH gets occasional cash for some work he does from a smoker and I hate having the money in the house. You put in in your purse and then the purse smells for ever more. You put it by the keys and the leather key fob smells. I think most smokers are in denial/ lose their sense of smell.

There's no way should could have smelled you, maybe if you were inside sitting beside her but not at a distance on a beach!
I would definitely have questioned her though! Why is it her business as long as you're not puffing smoke in her direction. I assume she was sitting in the sun on the beach, hope she had sun cream on! Nosy bat!

The BMJ many years ago did a thing were they printed black and white photos of random people's faces and readers were asked to spot the smokers. It really is possible to spot a smoker visually not just from smell or seeing them smoke.

That said - I would never say anything to a complete stranger about their smoking habits.

It will be the smell. DP mostly vapes these days but I can tell when he has been smoking. Even though he only smokes outside and even after several days when he has since changed his clothes and showered and cleaned his teeth a few times. It adds a horrible undertone to his natural smell that's hard to describe. Rotting, burnt cauliflower leaves is the closest I can come to describing it.

@flamedtoacrisp think you need to rethink your definition of drip feed.

Her daughter was a teenager, under 18, and they were both looking at me as she said it. The comment began as I was 8-10 ft away, keep in mind i am walking toward and alongside this woman's chairs at the time. By the time I got to her we were looking directly at each other, her daughter too, laughing.

Anyway, it matters not.

Thanks everyone for the food for thought re stinking. I'll work on giving up.

Are there cottages in the distance to yours? Some of them supply binoculars, or she may have brought her own. No one would say that even if you looked wrinkly or weathered, or smelt, (both highly unlikely from what you say), as both appearance and smell could be for other reasons (outdoor living/rough life or living with a heavy smoker).

I'm guessing your complexion gave it away. My skin looks rough if I've been eating too much sugar. A week of drinking loads of water and I look totally different.

I'll be in my car and be able to smell the cigarette that the person in the car in front is smelling!

Smokers are completely kidding themselves if they think that that breath mint and squirt of perfume disguises the fact that they've been smoking!

You can smell it on kids coats, reading books, bags etc at school too. Even their jumpers.

I ordered a takeaway once, was really looking forward to it but then when it was delivered the plastic bag stank of smoke. Had to bin it 😭 (off topic, I know, sorry!)

I'm guessing the MNetters on this thread are the same that claim they can smell when a woman 3 streets away gets her period!

Outside in the situation you describe, probably not. Inside, always. I gave up 15 years ago but I can smell it a mile off in others. I've had to chuck away reading books from my book corner if they've been to a home with smokers in. Some kids stink even though their clothes are clean. It just lingers. Even worse is the skunk smokers - the kids with parents on that absolutely honk and stuff that comes home from them has to be binned.
I must have stunk in the 70's, with my acrylic jumpers and both parents on 20 a day. The whole school must have! I think it 's that it's not so usual now, thank goodness.