Unintended Effect of Smoking Ban in Paris

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A dining companion said to me— “Let’s eat inside. It’s too smoky out there.”


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Categories: Whining

13 comments

    • Jen

    Ha, we just returned from a trip to Paris and said the same thing. Some of the patios get SO smoky it’s ridiculous!

    • Blair Conrad

    Yeah, having lived in a number of communities where smoking in restaurants is banned, this is a bit of a downer. That being said, I’d rather have this problem than the problem of not being able to have a smoke-free indoor restaurant experience any time of the year…

    • merritt

    Haha, I would probably be the same way. I’m not a virulent anti-smoker (I myself smoke “socially” aka drunkenly) but around my food? yuck. I hate having dining companions who light up as soon as they are finished, especially when I’m still enjoying my meal.

    • Joseph

    Where I live, there are smoking ban’s in restaurants (with the exception of bars). It has made my dining experiences quite pleasant knowing I can eat outside without the lingering of smoke. Hope your evening was still enjoyable David, even though you had to “relocate”.
    Joseph from Louisville, Kentucky

    • Dana McCauley

    You’ve reminded me of one of my (many) pet peeves: entering and exiting office buildings and having to walk through a fog of cigarette smoke in the process.

    Driving the smokers outside can really ruin the outside. It’s a good thing squirrels and birds can’t afford lawyers.

    • anne

    Had lunch a the Relais Saint-Germain and yes, I stayed à l’intérieur for the very same reason.

    • dp

    Did hell freeze over? They banned indoor smoking? I’m not good at keeping up with news.

    But it is better that than having to eat inside a smoky room.

    • anothercatherine

    It’s so true! For London the rest of the UK too – every bar, restaurant, pub has an outside area which may as well just be their smoking room. And to make matters worse, a lot of them *improved* these areas before the ban came into place! (Although some of these improvements included lots of patio heaters, which I don’t approve of. If you are cold, go inside. Unforeseen consequence of smoking ban – increased damage to the environment due to excess use of such things).

    • barbara

    A few years ago we were told we would have to sit outside if we wanted a non smoking table.

    • Steve G

    Well, give it time… in many parts of the US, you aren’t allowed to smoke within 15 or 25 feet (depending on jurisdiction) of the entrance to a public building, which is any business open to the public.

    San Francisco banned smoking in parks in July of 2005, which was news to me. I’ve never seen that one enforced!

    • materfamilias

    Too funny! But so true about many restaurant terraces now, in Paris and here at home in Canada. Still, better than the restaurant we recently ate at in Lisbon where the manager chatted with us from his adjacent barstool, smoking happily away as he enquired about whether we had these foolish non-smoking rules in Canada yet,smoke encircling our table as he lamented how tough it must be for the French, etc. — only found out later that there are non-smoking regs in Portugal as well!

    • Vanilla

    Oh no! Not to be able enjoy the beautiful terrasses parisiennes!? I think that it is even forbidden to smoke on patios here, in Alberta.
    Can it actually be worse than breathing exhaust fumes?

    • Al

    At Disneyland Paris I remember thinking how grateful I was to be on a ride, not for the ride experience, but to be out of those lines with smokers!

A

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