Smoking is seen in some Amish communities
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?
Photo credit: Kristin Farron
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1 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.
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