Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a chamberpot [the steam that rises from hot urine in cold weather].

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(b) (US) a steamship.

1825		Sporting Mag. XVI 211: We walked four miles early in the morning to the smoker.
1849		H.A. Wise Los Gringos 378: I [...] took passage in one of them smokers, bigger than a three-decker.

(c) (US) a cigar.

1849

Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 1 Sept. n.p.: As I was puffing a smoker he [...] was polite enough to demand me to put out my cigar.

(d) (US, also smoke house) the smoking carriage on a train.

1882		Alta Calif. 25 July 1/8: At a convention of drummers held in the smoker it was unanimously resolved that her seat was reserved [...] for the balance of the season [DA].
1886		‘’Arry at the Smoking Concert’ in Punch 13 Nov. in P. Marks (2006) 67: These ‘Smokers’ are not arf bad fun.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 171: I saw the old gent [...] go into the smoker.
1902		‘Hugh McHugh’ It’s Up to You 57: The moment I entered the smoke house I was greeted with yells of enthusiastic delight.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 200: She was on hand when I dropped off the smoker.
1913		L. Light Modern Hobo 47: The ‘con’ was taking tickets in the smoker.
1922		J.A. Dunn Man Trap 154: The third coach [...] was the smoker [DA].
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 96: Bill had gone into the smoker.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 15: I dropped into a seat in the smoker.
1944		C.B. Davis Rebellion of Leo McGuire (1953) 90: Idaho went to the smoker.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 59: I don’t believe this is a smoker.

(e) (US black) a pistol or revolver.

1935

E. Freeman ‘The Whirling Hub’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 16 Mar. 15/1: The enraged hubby of a certain matron stormed the hot-spot with a smoker.

(f) (US black) a kitchen.

1941

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb. 20: They figured it out that all clucks belong in the smoker [...] or pearl diving on the big float.

(g) a motor vehicle that emits stronger than average exhaust fumes.

1962		Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 13/4: Roadside checks [...] have resulted in about one diesel lorry in eight being termed a ‘smoker’ because it is making too much exhaust.
1976		Globe and Mail (Toronto) 30 Jan. 1/6: The Ontario Environment Ministry has laid its first pollution charge against the driver of a ‘smoker’ – a car emitting dense smoke [OED].

(a) (drugs) a smoker of opium.

1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 165: If you haven’t done a few bits, by the looks of ye, I’m a smoker, which I ain’t.
1914		Amer. Mag. 77 June 31–5: When I became a regular smoker I bought a ‘layout’ [...] and indulged my habit in the ‘joint’ of a white smoker where I was a favored patron.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 120: Curiosity was my only excuse for my ‘first smoke.’ It made me very sick, and although I became a ‘smoker’ after, it was some years before I touched the pipe again.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 112: ‘Big Mayme,’ a smoker, took me to her room where later I was aroused by a smothering sensation brought on by the fumes of opium.

(b) a smoker of marijuana.

1961		H. Ellison ‘At the Mountain of Blindness’ in Gentleman Junkie 64: The cops in the subways, up and down the platform [...] looking for mashers, smokers.
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 85: ‘Smokers’ rarely drank alcohol.
2007		R. Milward Apples (2023) 41: [H]oping [Mam] wouldn’t catch me out with smokers.
2010		K. Richards Life 217: We were already heavy-duty smokers. One could say we were going round [Tangiers] as hash inspectors.

(c) high quality narcotics.

1970		G. Cain Blueschild Baby 131: He sings his sale. ‘I got it, the smoker, my bag killed Frankie Lyman last week’.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 46: Williams [...] cut his heroin, which nwas generally 4 to 12 percent pure when it hit the end user. Four was garbage, 12 a smoker.

(d) a smoker of crack cocaine.

1987		NWA ‘Dopeman’ 🎵 Nigger didn’t care, she ain’t nothing but a smoker.
1993		Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Lodi Dodi’ 🎵 I bumped into this smoker named Sally from the Valley.
2002		Simon & Burns ‘The Pager’ Wire ser. 1 ep. 5 [TV script] Once we got him out of there, we send in the smokers.