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I have seen every episode at least half a dozen times over the decades and I am pretty sure nobody smoked; not even some exotic alien hookah or something.

In the days when cigarette ads were all over the place (in the 1960s) on TV and in print and characters did smoke in movies and on TV, if indeed this was never shown on STOS, was it a conscious decision? Or did it simply look too low tech for the show?

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Never happened in the Original Series, but St. John Talbot smokes in the fifth Star Trek film

Not the Original Series, but in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a Federation ambassador named St. John Talbot is seen smoking on screen. This was a film with the Original Series cast in the Original Series timeline, so we see that smoking in that time frame was canon, though the smoker was not in Starfleet. In fact, the character was portrayed as weak and corrupt, so the cigarette is probably part of that commentary. Here's a photo:

character looking at the screen while smoking a cigarette

According to this source, smoking occurred in a number of the movies and other series, but never in the Original Series. The closest TOS got to showing smoking was a scene with a cigar humidor and an ashtray on an alien's desk.

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  • Thanks -- there actually is a fan wiki (or something) about smoking in star trek and it seems like instances occur but in later versions of star trek, not OS. But thinking about this more, I can't recall any 1960s shows that had smoking -- this could be because reruns which I probably recall better had such scenes removed or simply because there was none. Maybe westerns had railroad barons smoking cigars. This could have stemmed from concerns that tobacco was not as safe as once thought. I Love Lucy apparently they smoked like crazy -- relevant because Desilu produced STOS. – releseabe Sep 12 '20 at 6:46
  • Yes, in my second paragraph, I link to the exact wiki you are referring to. As prevalent as smoking was in 1960s America, it was still something from which children were strongly discouraged, and the "think of the children" mindset was very strong in TV programming of that era. Remember, it wasn't until the Brady Bunch that a married couple was even shown sharing the same bed. So it's plausible that "no smoking on TV" was a guideline people followed for the sake of the kids. – ruffdove Sep 12 '20 at 16:28

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