Star Trek: Smoking breaks on the Enterprise? Is schmoozing allowed in Starfleet?

• Is smoking permitted on board Starfleet starships? We investigated the question.
• While “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry was against smoking, Starfleet is less strict.
• Characters like Captain Riós from “Star Trek: Picard” also smoke on the bridge of a spaceship without bothering anyone.

In “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3, we see villain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) happily smoking a cigar during her introductory scene. On board a spaceship. While smoking is strictly prohibited on board the ISS during actual NASA space missions, this of course raises the question, what will the future depicted by “Star Trek” look like?

Even though “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry was against smoking and advocated for smoking to be rare or nonexistent in “Star Trek,” there are always people, especially in the new productions like “Star Trek: Picard,” who smoke on board a spaceship.

Are the air filters even designed for crew members to smoke?

Of course, the first question that is likely to arise when considering whether smoking is allowed on board a spaceship is whether the air filters are good enough. In a small space, a cigar like this can pollute the air quite a bit. But while this is a real problem on a mission on NASA’s ISS, it doesn’t seem to be a problem with “Star Trek”.

Even Captain Riós (Santiago Cabrera), who is not a villain, enjoys smoking cigars on the bridge of his spaceship. We also see characters smoking in “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” We already know that entire ecosystems are established on spaceships that not only remove waste, but also provide oxygen replenishment and clean air.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was against smoking

At around 4:35 minutes into the YouTube video above, we see Gene Roddenberry talking about how he didn’t want cigarettes in Star Trek. And in fact there were no smokers on the ship in the 1960s series. At most, people sometimes smoked away from the ship.

With “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” things went in a different direction, as director Nicholas Meyer wanted to have “No Smoking” signs in certain areas of the spaceship. Roddenberry didn’t like the idea, but Meyer thought such everyday things would add authenticity (via Stack Exchange).

Will tobacco still be smoked in the future or will there be a substitute?

As noted, there are people in Starfleet who smoke on board a spaceship, and this doesn’t seem to be a problem. Interestingly, the Star Enterprise: The Next Generation episode “Danger of the 19th Century – Part 2” actually states that smoking has been given up, although this is not necessarily the case in other parts of the franchise.

In the episode, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) talks to Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens (Jerry Hardin) and reveals that she has given up smoking. But you could certainly have him synthesize a cigar in the replicator. What’s interesting here is that replicators don’t produce anything toxic, as Tuvok (Tim Russ) states in the Voyager episode “Death Wish.”

According to logic, there should be a substitute for tobacco that is in no way inferior to real tobacco in terms of taste and smell, but is no longer toxic. In the seventh episode of the first season of “The Next Century”, Data (Brent Spiner) takes on the persona of Sherlock Holmes and smokes his pipe all day long. The other crew members are disturbed by the smell.

Whether such a Synthobacco exists has never been revealed. What is certain, however, is that in the future imagined by “Star Trek” there will be synthehol, an alcohol substitute that tastes and smells like conventional alcohol, but does not have the intoxicating effect.

The next “Star Trek” series to start is “Star Trek: Discovery” season 5. Currently, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season 3 and the film “Star Trek: Section 31” are also being worked on. We list all new “Star Trek” releases for you!