[COFF] Smokin' In the Terminal Room

[segaloco via COFF <coff@tuhs.org>]

Subject doesn't roll off the tongue like the song, but hey, I got a random thought today and I'd be interested in experiences.  I get where this could be a little...controversial, so no pressure to reply publicly or at all.

Was it firmly held lore from the earliest days to keep the air as clean as possible in computer rooms in the earlier decades of computing?  What has me asking is I've seen before photos from years past in R&D and laboratory settings where whoever is being photographed is happy dragging away on a cigarette (or...) whilst surrounded by all sorts of tools, maybe chemicals, who knows.  It was a simpler time, and rightfully so those sorts of lax attitudes have diminished for the sake of safety.  Still I wonder, was the situation the same in computing as photographic evidence has suggested it is in other such technical settings?  Did you ever have to deal with a smoked out server room that *wasn't* because of thermal issues with the machinery?

I hope this question is fine by the way, it's very not tech focused but I also have a lot of interest in the cultural shifts in our communities over the years.  Thanks as always folks for being a part of one of the greatest stories still being told!

- Matt G.