In English, they call it third hand smoke. If you want to translate it into Romanian or other languages, perhaps a better term is “residual smoke.”
Residual smoke could be making you sick, your children sick, and could even give cancer to your pets. That’s right, it’s not only the smoke leaving the visible smoke that you breathe in that makes you sick, it is the dust that leaves behind that tobacco smell.
Have you noticed your eyes water when you pass by a place where no one is smoking, but where it still smells like smoke? That could be the third hand residual smoke harming you.
More on that in a minute. But first, we said that we would continue the song with the fifth day of Christmas. Perhaps we will adjust the gift for the first.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, five fresh covrigs! Four mistranslations, three cancelled dates, two palanets, and a promise that she’d quit smoking!
What can we do about third hand smoking, or residual smoke? For one, we can clean up after someone has been smoking. Wash your coats, mop the floor, clean anything else that smells like smoke. And if you accidentally buy cabbage or other vegetables that smell like tobacco, never feed any of them to children or pets. (I wouldn’t eat them myself, the smell affects the flavor).
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, six days of cleaning, five fresh covrigs! Four mistranslations, three cancelled dates, two palanets, and a promise that she’d quit smoking!
Other things you can look for are smokeless alternatives.
Most smokers already instictively know this, and they smoke away from their pets and children, and wash the smell of smoke out of clothing, furniture, and other items so that they do not go near the noses of people or animals.
Other ways to have fun
A lot of smokers are overworked, and live boring lives. There are other ways to have fun in Cluj.
You might still be able to catch the happy train that goes around town. This was fun.
If you are looking for something unhealthy to do that doesn’t hurt others, you can try the pistachio langos. (Langos cu fistic). It is not super healthy food, but at least you won’t push third-hand residual langos into the lungs and stomachs of your family and pets. And, it has a few vitamins, so it is better for you than a sugary latte or softdrink.
Pistachio langos seems to have the same cream as the famous pistachio cream as the pistachio croissants at Panamar. In a Langos, it is warm, which might even improve the flavour. Unfortunately, it melts, which makes it messy. But it’s a fun kind of messy. And no one will get cancer if they touch the messy pistachio sauce.
I still prefer the traditional cheese, garlic, and sour cream langos, which is fatty but has a variety of dairy vitamins and carries the health benefits of garlic. But, trying new flavours is always fun.
There is still time to enjoy a few flavors from the Christmas market, or buy last minute presents that got ‘delayed in the post.’ (No one reads time stamps anymore, do they? The three kings were 12 days late, and they were royalty.)
Okay, happy sixth day of Christmas. Pofta buna!