Any trees I can put along my fence to block my neighbor's cigarette smoke?

Question

My neighbor goes onto his back patio every evening for a smoke in the evenings right when I want to open the windows to cool down my house and not use air-conditioning. I have a newborn baby so I don't open those windows, but can I put any type of trees/shrubs along our shared fence to help block or absorb the smoke?

Answer 1

We are having the same problem with new neighbor's. He smokes on his patio and the wind drags it straight to our patio and yard. Frustrating at best, it's rediculous to think that if someone won't let you smoke inside because they don't like the smell or the danger of second hand smoke you shouldn't think that your neighbors will like it any better. The smell is so dense and you cannot get rid of it. I shouldn't have to not enjoy my patio because someone is so inconsiderate as to not care that their nasty habit is emposing on someone else. It's a shame that people don't care enough about other's to impose there habit on you. I have the right to breathe clean air inside or out. Be considerate of your neighbor's. This is a problem for many!!

Answer 2

All of you who support smokers are complete idiots.  You are RETARDED!

Cigarette smoke is more dense and more dangerous than all of those others that you compare.  People don't smell jet exhaust, forest fire smoke (REALLY????), or things like that every day, all day long.  Cigarette smoke is much more concentrated and more disturbing.   I can't believe how stupid you are.

 

Answer 3

Some ambient pollutants can't be controlled.  To smoke or not to smoke--that is a decision made to pollute one's own lungs.  The inconsideration of smokers is unbelieveable--not just the smoke, but they alone feel they have the right to litter sidewalks, parking lots, and road shoulders with their plastic butts and what not.

The neighbor's relatives don't want him to smoke inside, so he goes outside. Or in living with another in the same house, he realizes they have the right to not breathe his smoke. This doesn't give him the right to fill his neighbors' lungs with smoke and tells me he is aware of the issues with smoke.

I agree that planting some dense non-deciduous trees and the use of fans (as explained excellently) may minimize it. If the neighbor seems otherwise reasonable, it might work out to speak with him.  I have found some cigarette smokers to be accomodating (even riddled with guilt) and some to be just arrogant and in-your-face about it.  So I take the road of least resistance when it comes to them and leave any area I find them in, which means never getting to sit in an outdoor cafe.  But you can't move your household that easily! As to getting a life, that is exactly what you are trying to do--or at least prolonging your baby's, who has enough "ambient pollutants" to deal with, let alone pollutants which are unnecessary and do NO ONE, not even the smoker, any good.