Spanish Tradition Goes Up in Smoke, but Not in Bars

Spanish smokers working on New Year’s Day were driven onto the chilly streets to light up as a new ban on smoking in public places went into effect, but in Madrid’s typically smoky bars, the law was widely ignored.

Spain is Europe’s secondbiggest per capita consumer of tobacco after Greece, according to market researcher Euromonitor, and until now many Spaniards still smoked at work.

On Sunday it became illegal to smoke in offices, hospitals, schools and shopping centers. Bars and restaurants of more than 1,076 square feet must have no-smoking sections.

But bars smaller than that can choose whether to ban smoking throughout, making the law much softer than similar legislation in other European countries. Small, cramped bars dominate Spanish nightlife.

“Smoking is part of the Spanish culture. To go to a bar where there is no smoke, it’s like you’re not in Spain,” said Javier Gonzalez, an avid smoker and a bartender in Madrid.

The law, aimed at cutting the number of smokers from a current level of about one-third of the population, also bans tobacco advertising and raises the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 18 from 16.

The government says smoking is the leading cause of death in Spain: 50,000 people in the country die of tobacco-related illnesses each year, and 700 deaths are linked to secondhand smoke.

Some Spaniards are using the law to help them quit; pharmacies say they have ordered extra nicotine patches. “I wanted to give up before, but now it really is time,” said finance executive Ines Escribano, 40, who stocked up on patches on New Year’s Eve.

A government-financed poll released the day after the bill passed said that more than 70% of respondents supported it.