I can handle smoke odors, what causes me to have respiratory distress is the phenomenal amount of fragrance people seem to think they have to use. Some of the 'body sprays' have my eyes watering from five feet out.
BTW, the absolute worst smoke I have encountered (in terms of immediate pulmonary irritation) was burning lint in a clothes dryer fire. Second place goes to burning chilli peppers, and the average house fire ranks a distant third. (I am a former firefighter.) Tobacco smoke is way down the list.
The bottom line is that the people who pushed to ban smoking in as many venues as possible didn't like the smell. That becomes a matter of personal preference, not a health issue. Me, I find the cloying funk of tree farts on a summer breeze oozing out of some plug-in widget unbearable.
I thought so as a smoker 35 years, and still do, after being free of smoking for 25 years. However, the smell is bad, and more objectionable now that I am not inured to it all through my house and clothes.
I do not lease my rental property to smokers, or dog or cat owners, either.
My insistence on smoking wasn't worth its contribution to my divorce (not the only one, tho'), for sure, regardless of what Rudyard Kipling said.
Cheerio --