[snogglethorpe]

The most obvious difference is that alcohol isn't directly harmful to other people, whereas smoking is...

This attribute basically makes it very difficult for people to adopt a "well it's their choice, I'll let them dig their own grave" attitude in regard to smoking.

[imesh]

Except that second hand smoke isn't really that bad. http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/12/12/study-fi...

[crazy2be]

That does not match the scientific consensus [1]. You'll have to do better than a single study, summarized in a Forbes article, if you want to make that claim.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_smoking

[TulliusCicero]

Even ignoring health effects, it has a smell that can be sickening for non-smokers, and you can't control where the smoke goes. Ordinances against smoking are also nuisance ordinances, not unlike rules around excessively loud music or mufflers.

At this point some smokers like to bring up "b-b-but what if someone wears a ton of perfume??" but in practice basically nobody regularly takes a break to shoot perfume several times in a row into the air around them.