Clear Peek at a Smoke-Free Future

"Customers appreciate it; smokers don't mind," he said. He wrote a letter supporting the ban to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), who is considering a veto of the ban for fear it will hurt the city's vital hospitality industry.

"Everybody should stop kicking and screaming," Hirshfield said. "This is the wave of the future, and it's not going to turn back."

Smokefree DC, the organization that compiled a list of businesses that prohibit smoking, contends that the public is demanding smoke-free bars and restaurants and that a citywide ban will not cause economic hardship. Angela Bradbery, its co-founder, said the incomplete list, begun three years ago, illustrates that without a ban, smoke-free options would be limited mostly to restaurants.

"If you want to go to a bar or shoot pool, there really isn't much of a choice," she said.

Opponents of the ban say the list proves that allowing the free market to work will result in plenty of choices for both smokers and nonsmokers.

They say that a ban will put neighborhood taverns out of business and that many smokers who usually party in the city will go elsewhere. Virginia has no ban. Montgomery, Prince George's and Talbot counties ban smoking in most restaurants and bars. Howard County's council voted last week to prohibit smoking in new restaurants and bars.

At Marty's, some patrons said the feared effect of the ban is exaggerated. George Joiner, 67, can be found Wednesdays and Fridays at his favorite corner stool. He said he enjoys the company and the atmosphere and dislikes change. The lack of a blue cloud of smoke hovering over the 17-seat bar is a bonus.

"You have a bar you like, you're not going to leave it," he said, looking to his comrades around the bar for validation.

If implemented, the D.C. smoking ban, modeled on New York's, would apply immediately to all indoor workplaces and restaurant dining rooms but would allow smoking at bars. Come Jan. 2, 2007, the ban would expand to bars but would include exemptions for outdoor areas, hotel rooms and cigar and hookah bars. Hardship waivers could be issued by the mayor, but only to businesses that proved the ban had a "significant negative impact."

Those caught smoking in prohibited areas could be fined up to $1,000. An establishment would be fined $500 for each day someone is caught smoking.

At Marty's, Don Maceda said he became a regular because his eyes become red and he finds it hard to breathe around cigarette smoke.

"I liked it so much, I started working here," said Maceda, 30, who tends the bar and manages some evenings.

The bartender at Marty's, Jose Cunha, who has worked at smoking bars in the past, said smokers generally were better tippers, willing to wait longer for food and complained less.

"I always made more money in the smoking section," he said, pouring a drink for a customer, Constance Avery, who had returned from a smoke break outside.

But even Cunha is embracing change. He quit smoking two weeks ago.