Paris Smoking Ban: Ill Effect on Smoking Bars

I haven't been to Paris since the city's smoking ban outlawed puffing in all public places, including restaurants and bars, as of January 2 (offices and public buildings have been smoke-free since February of 2007), but About.com's resident Parisian, Courtney Traub, says citizens are largely making a remarkably smooth transition to a smokeless City of Light. One sector's apparently not so glad to see the ban, however: hookah bars, according to the International Herald Tribune, which reports that the establishments established for smoking aren't faring so well with the smoking ban, since the shisha bars (which are indeed, as the article notes, hot with hip students), are for -- well -- smoking, and only 20 percent of any cafe's useable space can now be used for smoking.

Okay: would you go to a smoking bar and ask for the nonsmoking area? Yeah, not so much. Read more:

• IHT: Hookah bars in Paris fight smoking ban

More about smoking bans overseas -- CBS: Global Smoking Bans Map | RIA Novosti: Russia Joins Global Anti-smoking Convention | Slovenia News 7: 80% of EU Citizens Support Smoking Bans | About.com:Smoking Ban is a Success in Paris (Mon dieu!)

What else can you do and *not* do around the world?

• Countries banning cell phone use in cars
• Drinking ages around the world
• Countries blocking VoIP

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