Smokers Butt Out in Germany and France

For years, anyone needing a nicotine fix in a German pub or French cafe didn't even have to light up -- the air was already so full of smoke that they only had to open their mouth and inhale.

But that all changes on Tuesday when strict new bans take effect in two of Western Europe's final bastions for smokers, Germany and France. There was long and fierce resistance to the prohibitions on tobacco that other countries imposed.

"When I have a beer I want to smoke, and if I can't smoke here anymore, I won't come anymore," said Hans Dorsmann, 60, a Berlin salesman summing up a gloom-filled view that has made countless small pub operators fear for their businesses.

"It's a stupid law that will hit the little people," he said in a Berlin corner pub where the faces of 10 smokers on the 10 barstools were veiled in clouds of smoke. A pub owners' lobby calls the ban unconstitutional and plans a legal challenge.