History Main / NoSmoking

Modern U.S. law dictates in what instances cigarette smoking may appear, coming down hardest on animation or other programming intended for minors. For versions meant for broadcast before the {{Watershed}} in the U.S., this trope is practically mandated. This can also mean that DVD versions culled straight from the broadcast version also have this trope in effect. Strangely, the law is vaguer on cigar and pipe smoking; how much those are edited can vary (and to this day even G-rated icons like SantaClaus may be depicted with a pipe). Likewise, depictions of smoking pot seem to be all over the place; it's not uncommon for made-for-cable series (i.e. those not restricted by watershed and FCC rules) to show pot-smoking in abundance, but tobacco cigarettes are totally absent.

* The movie version of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' cut out all instances of cigarette use (though the Comedian does still smoke, mostly cigars) , making Laurie look a bit stupid for randomly pressing the flame button on the Owl ship (in the comic, she pressed the flame button because she mistook it for a cigarette lighter), though this was because the actress didn't want to smoke. In the extended edition, an agent does offer her a cigarette.

** Creator/RogerMoore opted not to smoke cigarettes, but did smoke cigars in his first couple of Bond films.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', the original design of the gardener pony from "The Best Night Ever" had him smoking a tobacco pipe. This was nixed by the time the episode was animated, so in the episode as aired, he has some buckwheat in his mouth instead.

* The Nintendo Company once banned or censored cigarette smoking for American releases during the 1980s, 1990s in order to discourage smoking to kids and families.

* The Cartoon Network and Boomerang airings of their old cartoons (Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Droopy, etc) mostly [[AvertedTrope avert this]] by keeping a lot of the smoking in. They do edit some of the harder drug use though, like [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Sylvester the Cat]] in "The Last Hungry Cat" ingesting pills, chain-smoking and downing two cups of coffee. Scenes like this often get cut in reruns.
* One early episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' surprisingly had a GreasySpoon waitress unambiguously smoking a cigarette, with smoke-trail and everything. Sure, she only had a few seconds' worth of screen-time, but when you consider that even the exponentially DarkerAndEdgier ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' got no such breaks...

* The movie version of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' cut out all instances of cigarette use (though the Comedian does still smoke, mostly cigars) , making Laurie look a bit stupid for randomly pressing the flame button on the Owl ship (in the comic, she pressed the flam button just she mistook it for a cigarette lighter), though this was because the actress didn't want to smoke. In the extended edition, an agent does offer her a cigarette.

* ''VideoGame/ChipNDaleRescueRangers" for the NES features the final boss, Fat Cat, attacking Chip and Dale with his projectile cigar ashes. It's unknown how it slipped past the Nintendo censorship.

* In a NES game "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers" features a final boss "Fat Cat" attacking Chip and Dale with his cigar ashes shooting at them. It's unknown how it slipped past the Nintendo Censorship.

* In 2007, Disney banned smoking in all of its films, later extending it to Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm in 2015. Even in ''Film/SavingMrBanks'', Creator/TomHanks wasn't allowed to smoke on-screen, even though he was playing Creator/WaltDisney himself, who was known to be a heavy smoker in real life. (They do play with the trope a bit by showing Walt frantically snuffing out a cigarette, saying that he doesn't want to be seen smoking in public.) However, a few instances of smoking in Disney movies have occurred since then. For example, in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', Absalom the Caterpillar is clearly shown smoking a hookah, and ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', where we see several people smoke (though this is because it's set in 1969 and a collaboration with Creator/{{Paramount}}, who are more lenient, even if a little bit, with smoking).

* According to creators' commentary on Season 1 DVD, Cartoon Network S&P had had a huge problem with Mooninites smoking in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode when they were introduced (even if it was a late-night programming for adults, back then Adult Swim block wasn't considered a separate entity yet and they had to report to Cartoon Network). Willis and Maiellaro promised to remove the cigarettes only to disregard that and leave them as it is.

* The Penguin was allowed to keep his iconic cigarette holder in the original run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (possibly because the network executives were convinced kids wouldn't know what it was, anyway). The Season 4 revamp, however, played this trope straight by doing away with it, and even in later DC animated shows aimed for kids such as ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Batwheels}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019'' (for obvious reasons as many of the characters are portrayed as high school students), the Penguin doesn't have his cigarette holder at all. However, in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'', he does still have his cigarette holder (although ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' and the ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'' have the Penguin smoke cigars instead, although he does have the cigarette holder in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' for his bio picture, most likely a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness).

* ComicBook/ThePenguin was allowed to keep his iconic cigarette holder in the original run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (possibly because the network executives were convinced kids wouldn't know what it was, anyway). The Season 4 revamp, however, played this trope straight by doing away with it, and even in later DC animated shows aimed for kids such as ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Batwheels}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019'' (for obvious reasons as many of the characters are portrayed as high school students), the Penguin doesn't have his cigarette holder at all. However, in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'', he does still have his cigarette holder (although ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkham'' have the Penguin smoke cigars instead, although he does have the cigarette holder in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' for his bio picture, most likely a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness).

* Bizzarely, there was a concern during the shooting of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' about Creator/NewLineCinema vetoing the scenes of Gandalf smoking a pipe. The LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition DVD even shows Creator/PeterJackson filming of scenes where Gandalf munches on some sort of candy instead. However, the studio never raised any objections and all characters went on to smoke their pipes on-screen.

* ComicBook/ThePenguin was allowed to keep his iconic cigarette holder in the original run of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' (possibly because the network executives were convinced kids wouldn't know what it was, anyway). The Season 4 revamp, however, played this trope straight by doing away with it, and even in later DC animated shows aimed for kids such as ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/Batwheels'', and ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019'' (for obvious reasons as many of the characters are portrayed as high school students), the Penguin doesn't have his cigarette holder at all. However, in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'', he does still have his cigarette holder (although ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'' and ''VideoGame/BatmanArkham'' have the Penguin smoke cigars instead, although he does have the cigarette holder in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' for his bio picture, most likely a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness).