You know what secondhand smoke is (the idea, contra Paracelsus, that any exposure whatsoever to a whiff of tobacco smoke is killing you right now). You may even know what the recently discovered thirdhand smoke is (if not, you’ll be disappointed to learn it’s not having your eardrums pierced by the hysterical shrieks of antismoking zealots).
Now Ryanair has found a way around the thorny problem of cigarette smoking involving smoke. Those of us who appreciate ingenuity and the ultimate resource coming up with solutions and meeting consumer wants in ways that no one else on the planet would ever have dreamed of, let alone thought possible ? those of us will appreciate this:
… Irish airline Ryanair has started selling smokeless cigarettes on all of its flights throughout Europe and North Africa, according to the New York Daily News . The company said the cigarettes can’t be lit; they deliver the nicotine directly through inhalation. … Ryanair said a survey found that 24,000 passengers would still like the option of smoking onboard planes.
Company spokesman Stephen McNamara said in a press release that everybody wins “as these cigarettes are smokeless, they cause no discomfort to other passengers and can ensure a more enjoyable and stress-free flight for all passengers as non-smokers will no longer have to cope with moody smokers in need of nicotine.”
Those among us who aren’t happy unless they’re regulating the hell out of people’s lives ? the dour, angry, puritanical Left ? will be offended (as always) and will immediately seek some ad hoc justification to thwart Ryanair and its customers. For fun, I’m suggesting that justification will be on the basis of fourth-hand smoke: stress-related ailments and psychosomatic responses triggered by seeing a smokeless-cigarette user.
