An Amishman with a cigarette dangling from his lips may seem an odd sight.
But some Amish do accept smoking among their members.
Smoking tends to be more common among more conservative (ie, "plainer", with more technological restrictions) Amish. Smoking is not common among Amish, however.
Certain Amish are adamantly against smoking and raising tobacco, such as the New Order Amish group, an affiliation known for promoting "clean living" among its members and youth.
A number of Amish, particularly those in Lancaster County, PA, do raise tobacco as a cash crop. This has been controversial even among Amish.
With the high prices of land, some see tobacco as the best way of supplementing dairy farming in order to make farm payments. It's safe to say a majority of Amish reject tobacco farming, however, including some spin-off communities of Lancaster County.
Amish-born scholar John Hostetler notes that Amish are more likely to smoke cigars or pipes, seeing cigarettes as more "worldly" (Amish Society, p. 165).
Read more: Do Amish drink?
4 responses to Do Amish smoke?
One of my neighbors mentioned that she was surprised to see Amish smoking. I told her that I wasn't surprised because the Amish around here seem to live very much the same way that my father's family lived 100 years ago and many of them smoked.
I've seen a few Amish men smoke. But last summer I went to a secluded Amish Farm auction out in the middle of no where. There, 70 percent of the boys (14 to 21, guessing about the age) were chain smoking and in front of their parents. That was in PA, somewhere between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg.
My Cousin and I went to some Amish community a couple of years ago in Kentucky and I saw all kind of Amish men smoking and some were even dipping and I was so surprised when I saw them doing that, because I figured since they are more plain that they would be against smoking and dipping. Another thing that I saw that surprised me was that the younger Amish men were driving the fork lifts with regular fork lift tires on them. I say regular tires because one time when I was in Etheridge, Tennessee I saw some tractors being drove, but they had steel wheels.
For me whether your an Amish or not every people has the right to choose if you want to smoke or not. If you're happy smoking? then do what makes you happy don't let other people be the means or hindrance to your own happiness.
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