Joe Ray

January 1, 2008 - The Star-Ledger - PAGE 1

PARIS—Many thought it would never happen. But France, a country that has had a long, loving relationship with the cigarette, is banning smoking in all bars, cafes and restaurants beginning today.

“It’s crazy,” said Pierce Siebers, 20, a Michigan native who was visiting Paris with his family for the holidays. “Everyone smokes here. It seems like part of the culture, even the dining culture.

“I started smoking in Michigan, but France doesn’t help,” he added with a smirk, referring to his half-pack-a-day habit. 

Jake Levy-Pollans, 20, a friend of Siebers, had just finished his fall semester in England, where a similar ban went into effect July 1. “In London, people were complaining, but they were adapting,” he said. “They’ll get used to it here.”

Siebers disagreed. “I don’t think they’re going to obey.”

Money is likely to do the talking. A smoker caught in the act will be fined 68 euros (almost $100), and if a proprietor is found with a smoker or an available ashtray in his establishment, the café could pay a fine of 750 euros ($1,077).

“Today is the last day of smoking at Café Titon,” co-owner Joël Blein said last week as he got ready to close for the holidays.

“I even took pictures of some of our clients who smoke, so in a year I can show everyone how ugly they were,” he said. “It sounds like even if you have an ashtray out on a bar, you can get a fine.”

People in other countries around Europe certainly love to light up, too, but France is very philosophical about the freedom, pleasure, even politesse involved with smoking.

With the historic switch, debate is raging about whether this is a good thing for France.

“I’m looking forward to the ban,” said Blein, who kicked his half-pack-a-day habit in October. “We’ll probably have to play police for a week and the philosophers will complain that it’s turning into a fascist state, but it makes for a good debate.”

Across town, restaurateur François Briclot, who runs a great-find wine bar and restaurant called Les Gorges Rouges, talked about the loss of liberté.

“I’ve run the restaurant for 20 years. When I opened, I had people who smoked like crazy,” he said, batting away imaginary smoke. “When I’d come home at night my hair would stink. But it was a choice.

“I’m worried about the society becoming a little phobic.”

He recalled an instance of being harassed in the streets of New York for smoking, and he recounted how, in his restaurant, a well-kept Parisienne of a certain age mused that someday even lovemaking would be outlawed. (Ah, France!)

“I respect people who smoke, and like smokers who respect nonsmokers,” Briclot said. “I smoke cigars—only once in a while, once or twice a week, but it’s part of the pleasures of the table. It’s a moment of serenity.

“There must be courtesy and elegance in how we act about smoking, so people can live together. I opened my restaurant because I like people. I don’t want to divide them.”

CULTURAL FLIP-FLOP
This sort of respect for both smokers and nonsmokers took a long time to arrive.

“There’s a change in people’s mentality in the last 10 or 20 years—it used to be good to smoke,” said Jean-Baptiste Valentini, a Parisian who smokes 1-1 1/2 packs a day. “There was an image of normalcy to it. It used to be that nonsmokers were strange for not smoking. Now it’s the reverse.”

Valentini attributed the shift to a long, slow government anti-smoking campaign. Before last February, when smoking was banned in most public places, the government campaign consisted mostly of regularly raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes.

Buying a pack of Luckys in the City of Light will now set you back an impressive eight bucks, 68 percent of which the government pockets in taxes.

“The other day I had lunch by myself in a restaurant where the seating was very tight. Nobody around me was smoking,” Valentini said.

“So I waited, then had one with a coffee at the counter.”

Politesse—politeness—or no, many here see the smoking ban as a good excuse to kick the habit.

“It will help, but it’s going to be hard,” said Café Titon regular Sylvian Cabouat, 32, a “15-cigarettes-a-day” smoker. “For those who don’t smoke, and even for those who do, the change will be nice.”

As the last day of smoking at Café Titon wound down last week, the regulars gathered around the bar and puffed away while they could.

Stéphane Morlet, Café Titon’s other owner, smiled, took a marker, wrote the date on an ashtray and signed the back for posterity.

“Barn Sale! Auction!” he said, holding it in the air. “Who wants to buy an ashtray?”

Joe Ray is a food and travel writer based in Paris. He may be reached via his Web site, www.joe-ray.com.

This story also appeared with:  The Sun-Journal