I have to admit I'd be pretty cheesed off if I found out I didn't get hired because I use tobacco products. I don't think ANY company, private, government, or whatever has the right to tell you what you can or cannot do when you are not at your place of employment. My time is my time. On the other hand, it really used to piss me off when my soldiers would take 10 minute smoke breaks every hour. I hated smelling that foul reek of stale cigarette smoke for the rest of the day too. What really used to get me is that, if you add up 10 minutes an hour over the course of a 10 hour day these people were missing almost two hours of work every day. And I got grief for taking one 20 minute pipe break around lunch time.

I don't care if you want to ban tobacco use at the workplace but don't tell me I can use it at home. As long as I'm coming to work looking and smelling like a professional, who cares? And, for the record, my tobacco use has NEVER caused me to be late or miss work. As a matter of fact, I usually get more work done because I can go home and relax with a pipe or cigar and come back to work recharged and ready rock the day!