The long-time smoker jokes the ban has overturned one of the traditions of the century-old Kowloon Cricket Club he belongs to.

“They really hit us on the head when they let women in here,” he quips, a plastic nicotine inhaler between his lips.

“But this is almost as bad as that,” he adds before cueing a shot in the club’s once smoky snooker den.

Unlike France, which will allow smokers to ease into the new year before implementing a partial smoking ban in February, Hong Kong’s ban came into effect at midnight on New Year’s eve.

The new laws bring Hong Kong, a city of seven million, in line with places like Ireland, New York and California, by banning smoking in offices, restaurants, most parks and beaches.

So far, implementation seems to have been smooth, with the government’s team of enforcement inspectors only prosecuting seven violators since last week.

While some of the city’s restaurants and “cha chan teng”, or hole-in-the-wall eateries, have begrudged the dip in business from the ban, others showed signs of embracing change.

“There’s been no effect on our business,” said Wong Sing-fan, the bespectacled boss of the 56-year-old Mido cafe in Yaumatei, as she stood behind her cash register. “I welcome the ban.”

Across the harbour in the raucous Red Box Karaoke lounge in the teeming Causeway Bay district, managing director Anthony Lock said business had fallen up to 20 percent on the first weekend after the ban, with clients consuming less and leaving earlier.

But for regular karaoke crooners like John Chan, the ban was something to savour whilst belting out the latest Canto-pop hits.

“It’s super, I don’t have to smell like cigarettes all day.”

Violators face fines of up to HK$5,000 (330 pounds) after a court summons, though the government says spot fines could be introduced within 18 months.

The government has proclaimed the smoking ban a success so far, but critics say it has instead forced smokers onto busy streets where smoking is still allowed, and to other spots where enforcement is problematic, such as in stairways and toilets.

“Now, if we need a smoke, we go out. We run in and out of buildings all day,” said Ah Chun, a teenager who was lighting up with five friends on a crowded shopping street.

The ban is also not absolute, with over 800 bars, saunas, nightclubs and mahjong parlours granted exemptions till mid-2009.

Anti-smoking advocates are hopeful the Hong Kong’s ban will set a precedent for tougher smoking laws in China, which has 350 million smokers, more than any other country.

Esther Ng, a social smoker and reveller at the Lan Kwai Fong nightlife hub, complains the ban will not resolve one of Hong Kong’s most pressing problems — the pollution which the University of Hong Kong estimates kills 1,600 people a year and costs $HK21.2 billion.

“Having the ban’s one thing. But what the government really needs to do is sort out the air pollution,” she says. “That’s what’s really killing us.”

Source: Scotsman.com