I've been checking out things lately on Craigslist and selling/giving away a few items. The big thing you see on Craig's and E-bay is "it comes from my smoke free home". I bought a ceramic piece on E-bay and the person posted the "smoke free home" business about the pottery. Like I care about a piece of pottery coming from a smoke free house but I guess some loon out there is worried about it.
Also on Craig's someone was selling some baby rice cereal that they had bought too much of. It was still in the box and had the plastic around it. They stated it came from their "smoke free home". It was still packaged for goodness sake. What was it going to do--sneak under the plastic and through the cardboard? It's crazy.
beavers mom. Buying from a smoke free home can make a difference in certain purchases. I buy a lot of art from Ebay. Trust me when I buy a piece that has been in a smoker's home I can smell the smoke and see the damage to the canvas caused by it. Fortunately I know an excellent restorer who takes care of that.
However, with pottery the only thing I notice is sometimes the packing will be very smokey. I have never had trouble with pieces themselves. Besides it is a heck of a lot easier to wash out pottery or even porcelain then to clean a painting.
Last year I got stuck with the job of cleaning out and selling the house of a deceased relative who was a heavy smoker. I brought home a bunch of unopened stuff from her pantry - fig newtons, pudding mix, boxes of rice, etc. When I opened the stuff up later, it all reeked of smoke. I ended up tossing everything. Weird, but true.
Most stuff that comes from homes of smokers is pretty much okay, but I've seen some smokers' homes where everything gets a layer of nasty grime. Basically, the "smoke free home" promises that things won't be like that.