legislative information

SmokeFreeWorld is not set up to be an authoritative, up-to-date source of information on legislation, but people (surprise) do not read FAQs, and are upset that I have not heard of the smoking ban in {name your town}.

SFW was set up to list venues which are actually smokefree. De facto, not de jure. This is because (as mentioned in the FAQ) smoking bans are often widely ignored for some time. SFW is a thank-you to venues which walk the walk. So to speak.

Many web sites track legislation (which is often contested in court). That is their purpose. For instance:
www.ash.org
ash.org.uk
www.smokefree.net
www.tobacco.org

If your town has passed a smoking ban, wonderful, please let me know. Your impressions of how the ban is actually going would be welcome. If you would like to suggest a particular venue which has led by example, I'd be happy to list it.

Please visit www.smokefreeworld.com to see sample listings.

Holy haggis, smokefree bars in Scotland

Yes I knew that Scotland had banned smoking in restaurants and bars, but seeing (breathing) is believing. Drinking, music and no smoking - at least not inside. But even sitting outside not many people seemed to be smoking. Monday night was open mic at Whistle Binkie's, a below-stairs bar and small music and dance club in Edinburgh. Nice, mellow crowd, decent music, not too loud to have a conversation. In fact Edinburgh is just really nice all around. Where else can you run into a crowd of boys randomly rehearsing bagpipe tunes? Great to my ears.

sources of information

So how do I get the information?
At first, I gathered most of it myself. I made hundreds of phone calls, combed through newspapers for restaurant ads, inquired in online newsgroups, asked friends. Wherever I went in my travels, I looked around for smokefree venues.

I was nervous about making cold calls, but almost no one was rude. People in the hospitality business are basically polite. They are, however, busy, often underpaid, and often English is not their first language, especially in restaurants. So I kept calls short and to the point.

Later, people began sending information, and links to their own sites.

It was hard to find venues to list in the beginning. In addition to there being fewer back then, there was an inability to recognize the business or consumer side of things. For example, I would find smokefree restaurants where the manager didn't know that people might really like to know about this. Or I would contact a bureaucrat working on smokefree legislation, or an academic who had spoken at a conference on the subject, and I would ask, do you know of any smokefree restaurants which deserve to be listed on the web site? I would get the e-mail equivalent of a blank stare. There seemed to be no understanding that consumers can exert pressure in their entertainment and dining choices.

ironies

When I started the web site, the reactions were:
-Isn't it smokefree everywhere? (this in California)
-Smokefree bars - never gonna happen, ha ha, silly nonsmokers
-How dare you even ask if our town has any smokefree restaurants

Now the reactions are:
- You nonsmokers have taken over the world, you hate freedom
- Your list is out of date, mine is better
- Whaddya mean you charge for an ad

The occasional hate mails can be interesting:
"I hope to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buda, the God of Israel, and all lesser deities, that each and every person in your organization contracts cancer and dies, and I hope your family suffers many different ways. THIS IS NOT A THREAT JUST A DREAM OF MINE. "

Then there was the (self-described) fireman who was angry he wasn't allowed to smoke in the firehouse anymore, and reminded me that the death of those poor people in the world trade center in NYC was for my freedom.

long strange trip

In 1999, I started a web site called SmokeFreeWorld.

I was living in California and playing bass in rock bands. The newish smoking ban wasn't much respected. Result: wheezing, smoky hair, smoky clothes.

So, I started a list of venues which respected the ban. This developed into a worldwide directory of smokefree venues - restaurants, bars, hotels, whatever, in any country where they could be found.

I tried to run it as a business, supported by subscriptions and ads. I figured, people who want smokefree venues should put their money where their mouths are. The site would also link to local lists. The more languages the merrier. SmokeFreeWorld failed in that respect - not enough subscriptions, and venues wanted basic listings (free) but not premium listings (paid).

It's been fulfilling in other ways. I've met nice people, and discovered smokefree venues. Meanwhile smoking bans have expanded to places I never would have expected - New York City, Ireland, Buenos Aires. I also received fascinating hate mail. Once I stopped updating the site, I received complaints (mostly from people who didn't subscribe). Such is life.

The web site now points to this blog, to which I will migrate old content as time permits.