NWR: A smoking neighbor....

You could say just that, but honestly I dont think it would work. I have plenty of friends who do and it doesn't bother me. Putting myself into his shoes, I would probably be offended if someone had said something to me, while I would listen to your comments, I would still continue to do so.

Try bribing him with brownies.

I understand that it is legal in Colorado (we are from colorado too) but I also get the frustration of it. Have you walked through civic center park anytime recently? You get a contact high in a block. I personally don't partake and I hate that in our state it has become so common place that even if you don't smoke you are in contact with it all the time. That being said, I don't think there is anything you can do about it except maybe put a fan in the window pointing out to blow the smoke away. It's not going to get rid of the smell all together, but might help. You could leave a note and see what happens or maybe try to talk to them about it. Legally they don't have to be considerate of you because the law was written that you could smoke anywhere on your own property. Unless the patio is considered a common area to the neighborhood that's not a lot you can do.

I agree, I really could care less about people smoking it. I have plenty of close friends who do it. When I start to have an issue is when it smells up my entire house. I shouldn't have to smell it in my own house when we don't smoke.

Do you have a townhouse association? Maybe it could be addressed through that?

Oh yikes, I was just going to say call the cops, but since it's legal... I really don't think there is anything you can do If you've already mentioned it and he has continued, he obviously doesn't care. Do any of your neighbors have a child? Maybe that would be inspire him to smoke inside. Or report him to your complex. Not sure if they can do anything either, but it sounds like "disturbing the peace" or some kind of "peaceful" violation.

To me it sounds like the smell offends you. If that is the case, I would look at it this way, it would be like someone who is cooking food that smells awful all day and asking them not to cook that food because you don't like the smell. It may not smell good to you, but there is really nothing you can do about it...

So I'll come from the other side of this. We got our dog last year and didn't realize he had separation anxiety until we came home one day to a note on our door and a call from management about our dog barking/crying while we were gone. I wish our neighbor had the balls to say something to us rather than call management. We would have jumped right on it and tried to solve the problem because we want to be good neighbors.

Our next door neighbor also just has a big stick up his butt. I volunteered for a clean up of a local park and came home with muddy sneakers. I left them in the hall of our apartment to dry off because I didn't want to track mud in. I had left them in the hall for 3 hours and came out to a note on the door about how I shouldn't leave muddy sneakers in the hall because some people are trying to sell their units.

It might not work but just go talk to him? Our neighbor's obsession with leaving notes on the door has just made it so we absolutely hate the guy.

I'm sorry about this-- what a bummer! You can always ask, "I'm so sorry, but the smell gives me a headache, would you mind only smoking at lunchtime/after dinner/when the wind is from the east?" apologizing for your request is always a good start, and offering a compromise upfront instead of just, "Don't do that!" tends to lead to negotiations instead of just, "Screw you!"

Good luck!

Honestly, if he's not breaking any laws or violating any terms of your homeowners association (if you have one), I'm not sure there is anything you can do.

I agree with Koch that a low-key face to face conversation is probably your best bet, like "Hey, is there anyway you can do this somewhere else because of x,y,z." Otherwise it looks spiteful and passive aggressive.

I would do the note on the door thing - the neighbor might be really oblivious.

We had a neighbor whose dog would apparently wiggle under the fence the second the owners left the house (the doggy door exited into the fenced back yard so the dog could come and go all day and the food/water was inside). Well the dog was then coming into my yard and pooping everywhere. I thought the neighbors were just total idiots and very irresponsible until I left a *brash* note, polite yet stern about the dog crap. They came over and profusely apologized. For the longest time I thought they were letting the dog just roam but there was a hole in the fence that they knew nothing about. The dog never returned to my yard again.

I would talk to him first and just be really nice about it - he may not even realize. If he's a douche, you can try talking to your homeowners association, if you have one.

Thanks ladies! All good advice. I think I may try talking to him first. He may not realize that its getting all the way into my living room. It just makes me angry because this is why we moved out of our rental home and bought a house. We had really inconsiderate downstairs neighbors and my house always smelt like weed. Now we are dealing with it again!

And we do have a HOA so if this doesn't work I can ask them for advice.

I would talk to him about it. He may have no idea you can smell it. I think the note on the door is passive aggressive and is more likely to make him feel defensive. He might just ignore you but at least you tried. I have nonallergic rhinitis which is triggered by any kind of smoke, so if it was me I'd at least try to talk to him.