Smoking Squabble

Many young boys dream of growing up to be a fireman.

Maybe those fantasies were running through the mind of a 42-year-old non-smoker from the western German city of Bielefeld, when he doused his girlfriend in flame-retardant foam after she dared smoke a cigarette in their apartment.

The 6-kilogram extinguisher was completely empty after the operation -- and almost everything in the apartment damaged as a result.

"My colleagues said it looked like a bomb had gone off in there," a spokesman for the Bielefeld police told Reuters news service.

The man was taken into police custody after proving unable to calm down. Authorities said he was now considering splitting up from his girlfriend if she did not kick the habit once and for all.

And that begs the question: If this was all about ending a relationship, wouldn't it have been easier for the man to take the modern route and just send his puffing partner a text message?