stopping smoking, stopping drinking, and the smell of cigarette smoke

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I stopped smoking cigarettes a LONG time ago, and for a long while the smell of other people's smoke didn't bother me. In fact sometimes I will be around them just to be around the second hand smoke, and I think it made it easier during the first few months. My tolerance gradually became less after a year or two, and while I won't stand downwind of one consciously, it was just a little annoyance. Several weeks ago I made the decision to stop using alcohol as well. Now I am living in the central valley of California that is currently filled with the smoke of wildfires, which I can tolerate with little problem, but while walking home tonight there was a smoker sitting on his apartment's steps. It had to have been at least twenty feet between him and the sidewalk. I did not even realize he was smoking until I passed him when it hit me. I felt my face scrunch at the stench that assaulted me. That was no wildfire, that was a smell I knew from my past. I walked slightly faster to get away from it. As a smoker I always wondered about the prudes who complained about me being outside in their vicinity. I can now sincerely apologize to my victims, for now I know what it is like.