I am a non-smoker, but I live with my girlfriend who is a heavy smoker. We live in a large condo building with neighbors above and below. We have never heard any complaints from smoke seepage of any kind. In fact the only time I can even tell she is smoking is if we're in the same room. Even then the secondhand smoke is basically a minor nuisance. Is the smoke in these cases somehow seeking the 'victims' private spaces and consciously irritating them? I believe that secondhand smoke can cause health problems, but coming from a solitary smoker, even a chain smoker, through walls doors and hallways? I don't believe it, I think those suing people for smoking in their own homes are purposely distorting the facts of the situation to exact their will on other free citizens. Some people seem to have no respect for the sanctity of the home and the idea of privacy and free will.

Just FYI, you really don't have an appropriate grasp on the situation because you live with a smoker. When I left my parents home (my mother smoked) it amazed me how much smoke started to bother me. I used to barely even notice it. Now I can't go into my parents house without smelling it on EVERYTHING and my mother doesn't even smoke in the house...

Oh great, that probably means I have the stench of a smoker all day, soaked in my clothes and hair. I suppose I could consider that I'm desensitized to it by now, but my landlord and neighbors still don't smell it. Maybe the answer here is better sealing, perhaps with the onus and expense belonging to the smoker. My building may just be well constructed.

You may in fact smell like smoke, depending on how often you are in a room with it. I'm not going to claim that its overwhelming or anything (but she does smoke outside/out the window) but I can smell it on most fabrics in the apartment (couch/seat cushions/her clothing).

And yes, sealing can help a lot. No argument there. A close friend of mine's bathroom reeked of smoke after he bought the apartment until they redid all of the tiling and sealing around the room and now its completely gone. Not reduced, but gone.

I'm not really weighing in on if you should/shouldn't be able to smoke in your apartment right now, and yes certain things can really help (although maybe it should be illegal to smoke in your apartment until you get an architect to sign off that the sealant in your apartment is "up to code", the same way people who live on floors above the first are required to put down carpeting in most apartment buildings). I'm just mentioning that you not being able to smell smoke unless you're in the same room is much more likely a sensitivity issue than anything else.

I lived in a highrise condo where smoking is allowed inside the apartments. There was a smoker on my floor and I occasionally detected a faint smell of smoke in the hall, probably from the person's clothes.

I did not die, get sick or sue. This woman is a perfectionist control freak and if it was not smoking it would be something else.

My advice to the smoker, get a prescription to cigarettes for "calming your nerves" and defend it under ADA. Then get a really yappy companion/therapy dog.