There are blood tests available, but they are less accurate and more expensive. Usually allergists prefer skin testing and will only use blood tests when skin testing cannot be performed for such reasons as extensive skin disease, the need by the patient for medications that can block skin tests, or extreme situations where patients cannot cooperate with the procedure. Therefore, skin testing is still the first choice for diagnosing allergies. We do not smoke but family members do very much. When we leave their house your skin smells like it and your clothes.
Cigarette smoke is a major trigger of asthma symptoms.
One of the highest risk factors for development of asthma in children is parental smoking in the household. There is also clear documentation that secondhand smoke can affect family members with asthma and cause serious respiratory problems. Asthma patients should not be exposed to cigarette smoke in any way, and patients with asthma who are adults and themselves smoke are setting themselves up for severe and relentless respiratory difficulties. My children have allergies that we control with Zyrtec and Claritin. They don't have to take them year round, just in the spring and summer.