The smoking ban has seriously hit the bar business in many Western Countries. Most of the bar frequenting folks smoke, and the non-smoke policy doesn’t leave many choices: they’d either smoke outside or bring their booze home.

In fact, some bar owners claim that more than 90 percent of their regular clientele smokes while non-smoking customers don’t mind the ones that do. Bar and pub owners complain that they are already loosing some of their customers to the ban on smoking. Further, they point that unlike restaurants and eateries, bars are adult-only places. Kids are not allowed in bars and therefore not exposed to the harmful effects of the tobacco smoke. Besides, smokers and non-smokers alike don’t like being told what is best for them and what to do.

Some bar owners have already started looking for ways to accommodate their smoking customers. They see few alternatives: placing heaters on deck areas, offering or selling electronic cigarettes, or a combination of all. They are adding speakers to the outdoor sections so that smokers enjoy music and live shows. In USA, a recently reopened Duso’s Bar in Bay City sells ‘vaporettes’ to bar customers as a smoking alternative. The kits sold here come with changeable filters, containing zero, four, six, and eight milligrams of nicotine. Some of its customers have even purchased the kit as a smoking cessation aid.

Hotels have also begun to supply electronic cigarettes in order to cater for their smoking clients. A spokesman of US-based Smokestick explained that their mini-bar electronic cigarette was very popular with hotels in the United States. They supply hotels with units for every room, and the product is available for use by the clients for free. Hotel guests only pay for the used cartridges, found in the mini-bars. Furthermore for hotels, the product turns to be a no-risk venture: units are paid to the supplier only when they sell.

Hotels, bars, and various establishments look for various ways to comply with the ban and keep their clients all happy. New approaches and products, such as electronic cigarettes, invariably appear on the market, partly as a response to changing arrangements and circumstances.