My Neighbor Hired An Attorney Over Me Smoking Outside. Am I Actually In The Wrong Here?

Location: Haslet, TX

I live in Haslet, Texas in a single-family neighborhood (quarter-acre lots, fenced yards). My husband and I rent the home.

This started because we occasionally smoke cigarettes outside on our back patio, usually with coffee in the morning or here and there during the day. We don’t smoke inside the house or in the garage whatsoever.

Our neighbor has been escalating things over the past few months. It started with complaints, but recently she:

- stood on something to look over our fence and recorded me while I was outside in my nightgown while telling me how I need to stop smoking and if she wanted to smoke she would go down the street and buy her own cigarettes and that I should be ashamed of the example I'm setting for my children, mind you they're 15 & 16

- posted about us in the neighborhood Facebook group admittingly telling everyone she recorded me while also identifying which house is ours

- screamed over the fence saying she hired an attorney and claimed multiple neighbors are complaining yet most, if not all of the neighbors who commented on her FB post sided with us and said we have the right to do what we want in the privacy of our own home

We tried to be considerate and even adjusted where we sit outside. At one point we tried going into the garage with an air filter to avoid bothering anyone, but she still complained, so we stopped doing that and moved the air filter outside.

Now an attorney has sent a formal letter to our landlord claiming we’re creating a “nuisance” and affecting her health, and threatening further action.

For context:

We’re in a detached home (not shared walls)

There’s no HOA rule specifically banning smoking

I’m not chain-smoking outside all day

We’ve made efforts to be mindful

I completely understand not liking cigarette smoke, but this has escalated to being recorded, publicly posted about, and now legal threats.

At this point I feel like I’m the one being harassed, not the other way around.

Am I missing something here?

Is occasional outdoor smoking actually something that could legally be considered a nuisance in a situation like this?