To be explicit: this is my problem. I'm not "blaming" the new guy (actually he's rather nice). That said ...
I'm allergic to smoke. When I was younger, I went "out on the town" only once or twice a year, because I would "pay for it" for a few days afterward. I also avoided friends' parties (which sucked) or just came by for a short while to at least "make an appearance".
At the office, we have one big room with "clusters" of 4 desks. A new guy started quite recently, and he's sitting diagonally across from me in one of these clusters.
A few of my colleagues smoke. They (by law have to) go outside to do their business, and then come back in. Most of 'em, you can smell that they're smokers; a few of them you actually can't; and then there's, um, Joe. I don't know what he smokes, but he reeks fiercely.
When Joe is closer to me than 2 metres, I have reactions -- find it difficult to breathe, it stings in my eyes. We've already had a project together, and he helpfully came around to my desk to discuss some code on my screen, and I literally could hardly breathe.
How can I ask my manager to relocate him, without me looking coming across as a jerk in the process?
I'm always at a loss for how to say something about this -- without coming across as unintentionally hostile. As I said, he's a nice guy, I just can't tolerate his stench.
Update: Wow, this really woke people up. I would like to make two points: (a) I do not know for a fact whether I am "allergic", suffer from "asthma" or "vasomotor rhinitis induced by chemical irritation" (thank you so much for the knowledge you've shared), I only know that it's hella uncomfortable, and has been for my entire life; and (b) I will not try to resolve this by adding more chemicals (in the form of chewing gum or air freshener), because it doesn't work that way. I need to have the "offending chemicals" removed, not masked.
Update 2: What I believe sets this apart from the "possible duplicate" Smoking with the front door open is that this is not about (a) "breaking a rule", (b) "snitching", or (c) being in any way secretive. The reason I haven't already resolved this on my own is purely due to the risk of social fall-out from me being Bad With Words.
Final(?) update: I ended up writing a friendly, open and honest email to my manager, and waited for her to consider it. We then had a private face-to-face meeting. The outcome is that maybe I'll move to the next "island", but for now we'll both stay where we are -- he's got a whole bunch of assignments coming up that would have him be located at clients for long stretches at a time (I did not know of this until today). I might have a talk with him directly at some point in the future, if it proves necessary. As a closing note, I wish to give all of you a big heart-felt thank you for your consideration and inputs.