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In this recorded lecture, Rabbi Akiva Tatz mentions that R' Moshe Feinstein (who famously did not prohibit smoking, though see here) forbade a person from handing a lighter to a person who smokes because of lifnei iver. (contradicted by Shalom here)

Rav Moshe Feinstein says you can't pass the matches to a smoker [...] even though he [Rabbi Feinstein] doesn't rule absolutely that everybody has to stop smoking who smokes already.

(linked lecture, ~51:30)

Is this (or its inverse) a ruling that is recorded in Igros Moshe, or anywhere else "inside"?

Rabbi Tatz did not appear to plan to talk about smoking in that particular lecture (the quote appears in the questions at the end of the lecture), and perhaps erred in recalling that ruling.

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2 Answers 2

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It seems that R' Moshe Feinstein allowed one to provide fire/matches to a smoker, and did not think of this as lifnei iver.

Igrot Moshe, Yoreh De'ah part 2, 49 (last sentence):

אף לאלו שמחמירין לחוש להסכנה ליכא איסור לפני עור בהושטת אש וגפרורים למי שמעשן

Find more about this subject here.

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    Thanks; just found it myself in Yad Moshe. Rabbi Tatz did not appear to plan to talk about smoking in that particular lecture (the quote appears in the questions at the end of the lecture), and perhaps erred in recalling that ruling.
    – MTL
    Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 12:25
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Perhaps he was loosely referring to R. Feinstein's responsum in Igros Moshe Choshen Mishpat 2:76 where he writes:

ולא יניח אדם לבניו הקטנים שיתרגלו בזה אף אם הוא עצמו נתרגל

A person should not let his young children become accustomed to this [smoking] even if he himself is accustomed.

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  • That's a relevant anti-smoking ruling, but says nothing about passing matches to a smoker.
    – MTL
    Commented Dec 28, 2017 at 19:14
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    @Shokhet I acknowledged that it's not a direct source. But the underlying idea is similar, namely that even someone who smokes himself should not enable someone else to smoke. The questioner suggested some sort of mix-up by R. Tatz; I provided a possible source that he might have recalled a bit incorrectly.
    – Alex
    Commented Dec 28, 2017 at 20:01
  • (I am the questioner...?) || This is still essentially irrelevant. The question was "Where does RMF say X?" The answer appears to be "He doesn't - he says 'not X' here." ...your answer amounts to "RMF says Y." It's still interesting (and I thank you for bringing it to my attention) but it's still "not an answer" in the technical sense per site rules.
    – MTL
    Commented Dec 29, 2017 at 19:51

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