Cigars & Liveaboard?

1 cigar ok at the end of a dive day on a liveaboard?

  • Yes

    Votes: 46 46.5%
  • No

    Votes: 53 53.5%

  • Total voters
    99

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Is @Ana implying that banning public smoking is mostly a US thing (as opposed to, say, a Filipino thing)? Smoking in enclosed public places, on public transport, etc., is regulated in numerous regions around the world: List of smoking bans - Wikipedia. If anything, much of the US lags other countries in regulating where one can smoke. Also, I suspect the countries in the world where smoking is regulated tend to be the same, relatively wealthy Western countries from which most liveaboard customers hail. I would argue that it would be logical to consider the deck of a relatively small liveaboard, where the wind direction is unpredictable and there is nowhere for others to escape to, similarly to a semi-enclosed public space.

However, the reality is that most if not all liveaboards accommodate that minority of their worldwide clientele who are smokers by designating a smoking area away from the rest of us, and that seems like a reasonable compromise to me. Liveaboard operators are aware that their guests' enjoyment or lack thereof may affect the tip they leave. So they try to please everyone. Sure, lots of Indonesians and Filipinos smoke, but they don't make up the majority of liveaboard guests, just crew, and I believe liveaboard operators are well aware of who is paying and who is being paid.

I no longer smoke cigars, but admittedly there was a time in my life when I thought it was a cool thing to do on certain rare occasions. Remember the early-mid '90s, when cigar bars with walk-in humidors were all the rage, and Cigar Aficionado magazine began, etc.? I suppose I got caught up in that. I get the attraction--I really do. However, even if I did smoke cigars nowadays, and even if a liveaboard were to make accommodations for smokers, I believe I would voluntarily refrain from doing so on a small boat out of respect for my fellow divers who find cigar smoke and residue offensive. I don't think it would impact my enjoyment of my dive vacation to give up one small ritual out of recognition that on a small boat I can't do everything I would at home. If enjoying a cigar at sea is that important to me, I could take a cruise on a big ship with a cigar bar. I recognize there are a lot of things I can't do on a boat that I can and would do at home--that's just the reality of life on a small boat. I'm not arguing anyone else should voluntarily refrain from smoking on a liveaboard, but rather only saying that's what I would do if I were still into cigars.
 
I'm only saying that as long as the boat is upfront with their smoking rules, people should not be caught off guard and have to endure smoke when they don't want to.
If anyone assume without asking that smocking isn't allowed, but it is and start annoying people smocking I have a problem with that.

I've gone twice on liveaboards... Both cases on boats of 12 passengers max. Felt like a lot of elbows for my taste... I asked a lot of questions before putting my credit card number. Some of my issues were important enough "for me" that I followed up with an Email so I had the answer in writing.

If the smocking issue was important to me I'd not be on a boat that allows it, that's it. I'm not implying anything... I don't smoke I generally avoid smoking areas but is not the worse in my book.
I rather be around 1 smoker than 5 non smokers. To me less people is usually better.
 
I agree with much of what you said, @Ana. A problem is that liveaboards are, quite understandably, not always completely forthright; they might tell you that smoking is allowed in some designated area away from others, but it's not until you're on the boat that you discover the crew smokes nonstop up there. As far as I have been able to determine, NO liveaboard completely bans smoking everywhere on the boat. (In many parts of the world, they wouldn't be able to hire enough crew!) So, to ensure "I'd not be on a boat that allows it" would likely mean me never taking a liveaboard.

Now that I think about it, I seem to recall a thread or two in which someone researching a specific liveaboard asked whether anyone who had taken that liveaboard before noticed a lot of smoking. That's a good way to research it. I wouldn't suggest relying solely on what the liveaboard tells you or doesn't tell you. As I said, their goal is to accommodate everyone and offend no one.
 
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I just got back from a week on the Red Sea Aggressor and I expect more crew smoked there than on any other boat I've been on, but I never noticed it. The smoking area was on the bow.
 
I just got back from a week on the Red Sea Aggressor and I expect more crew smoked there than on any other boat I've been on, but I never noticed it. The smoking area was on the bow.

Exactly the boat I was thinking of when I wrote some of my comments above. The Aggressor did a great job.
 
Exactly the boat I was thinking of when I wrote some of my comments above. The Aggressor did a great job.
All of the Aggressors I have been on, and others that I have looked into, all state that they have a specific, limited, smoking area. It has never been a problem for me, I've never been aware of anyone smoking a cigar, though it may have occurred.
 
Hey! There's a small business opportunity: set up a dive and cigar and port and rum and foodie live aboard tour. My surface interval BBQ lunch on a Lapu Lapu dive (Cebu, Philippines).
GJS

Go big or go home...

Looking or sponsors to open up the Liveaboard. Diving during the day (some nights), cigars, "Amsterdam specials," a selection of good rum/ scotch/ cognac/ brandy, thai massauses, and russian/ukranian for dive tending and entertainment, and a genuine BBQ drill and smoker for carnivores and grilled seafood, appropriately sourced.

A stock of OTC Benadry and allergy eyedrops if Chairman is to join, to pre-treat the allergies. Brief versions of everything for Pedro. :)

That said, 99% of my vacations (and dive trip nights) are going to involve a Gurkha maduro, a Pinar 2000 and reflecting on some very old friends and brothers left behind in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and "elsewhere."

If my plan for the 75th DDay anniversary falls through, I'll be looking at a dive resort of Liveaboard for early June, and a prohibition would be an absolute fail point. Just need a place to sit off to the side (wind wise) and chill for a while...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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