🚬 French Smoking Vocabulary & Expressions

Tu veux te tirer une sèche ? Learn the French smoking vocabulary and about smoking in France. I’ll also explain three dumbfounding smoking expressions.

1 – Smoking in France

The French smoke a lot. It’s been changing a bit lately, but still, smoking in France is a real nuisance.

Smoking is allowed in the streets of France, and most of the time on the patio of French restaurants, bars… So, think twice about seating “en terrace” if you are a non-smoker. It’s the smokers’ territory and they do feel entitled to smoke there.

If someone smokes and it bothers you, you may try to say:
“excusez–moi: est-ce que vous auriez la gentillesse de ne pas fumer. Ça me dérange beaucoup / je suis allergique à la fumée“.
sorry, would you be kind enough as not to smoke. It bothers me a lot / I’m allergic to smoke.

Good luck to you though, since this is not customary in France…

And if you are a polite smoker, you may ask:
“est-ce que ça vous dérange si je fume” – do you mind if I smoke?

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2 – French Smoking Vocabulary

1. le tabac (c silent) – tobacco
2. le tabagisme – fancy formal word to talk about smoking… In the news, you’ll find sentences like “les problèmes du tabagisme en France”…
3. un fumeur / une fumeuse – a smoker
4. une cigarette – cigarette
5. une cigarette blonde – light tobacco cigarette
6. avec ou sans filtre – with or without filter
7. la nicotine – nicotine
8. un patch – a patch
9. une clope, une sèche, une cibiche – cigarette, familiar: ciggy, smoke
10. une cigarette éléctronique – e-cigarette
11. vapoter – to smoke an e-cigarette
12. un vapoteur / une vapoteuse – person who smokes e-cigarettes
13. un cigar – cigar
14. un cigarillo – smaller kind of cigar
15. un joint – joint
16. rouler un joint – to roll a joint
17. la marijuana, la marijane – marijuana
18. un briquet – lighter
19. une allumette – match
20. un cendrier – ashtray
21. un mégot – butt
22. la cendre – ash
23. la fumée – smoke
24. fumer – to smoke (verb)
25. se griller une clope – to smoke, familiar
26. crapoter – to smoke without inhaling fully the smoke
27. un paquet de cigarette – pack
28. une taffe – a puff
29. la zone fumeur / la zone non-fumeur – smoking/ non-smoking section
30. un bar-tabac = where you can buy tobacco. It’s usually part of a bar and has a large sign that says “tabac”.

3 – French Smoking Expressions

1. Casser Sa Pipe – Lit. to break one’s smoking pipe. Meaning to die.
2. Fumer Comme un Pompier – Lit. to smoke like a fireman. Meaning to smoke a lot.
3. Fumer La Moquette – Lit. to smoke the carpet. Meaning to smoke a joint.