Where to get a cup of coffee in Warsaw?

Starbuck's coffee is expensive and not of the greatest quality, yet they thrived in Paris, the city known for its cafés. The reason? At the time (I believe the first one opened in 2004) it offered the only totally smoke-free cafe environment in Paris!

Of course, since Jan 2008, all cafes in Paris are smoke free.

wow really??? paris of all places, never thought that day would ever come :S

Well...smoking is still permitted in outdoor cafés and special indoor "hermetically sealed areas, furnished with air-extraction systems and subject to extremely rigorous health norms."

Yes it is shocking, considering that smoking is a large part of the French culture. Some blame the ban for the destruction of village life, where the ritual of arriving at the café in the morning to read the morning paper over a coffee and a cigarette is no more.

On the other hand, approximately 20 percent of the population are smokers and more than 70,000 people die in France every year from smoking-related illnesses and second-hand smoke.

I am all for the ban.

Toronto has a ban just like that. there's no smoking allowed under any kind of roof. we were having cigars one night at a bar up on the patio in a gazebo, and they told us we had to move to seats which didn't have any sort of roof overhead heeh ... i think they eliminated the designated smoking rooms in establishments also.

You and Adolf Hitler both.

Interesting that the number of French cafe/bars declaring bankruptcy in the first six months of 2008 was 56% higher than the same period of 2007. And in England 50 pubs a week shut forever. But non-smokers don't care about that: they don't care about anybody except themselves; as long as they can take the drugs they like in the atmosphere they like, all is well with the world they inhabit.

If a smoking ban is introduced in Poland, I'll just smoke anywhere I want to. If any member of the public says anything to me, I'll just ignore them. Any member of staff will be met with a simple Finnish sentence "Sorry, I do not speak Polish". If they persist, I might admit that I speak English and then apologise profusely for not knowing the local law and then saunter outside to finish my cigarette (which will be pretty much finished by then anyway). I'll be reasonable as long as non-smokers are; if they aren't, I won't be either.

As a "sometimes" smoker, I never smoke near anyone I care about. I have too much respect for their lungs and their health! In an ideal world, where we all cared more about each other than about ourselves, smoking bans would not be needed as the smokers would CHOOSE to smoke outside out of respect and concern for the non-smokers.

Stick that in your pipe.... and don't smoke it!

your definition of reasonable is amazing. Really, your friend Adolf would be proud.


So first you're assuming that all those places close only because of the smoking law... then you assume that a non-smoker won't care that his/her favorite hang out place will close and/or that everyone who regularly attends bars/cafe is a smoker

oh, and by atmosphere they like I assume you mean one free of fumes known to cause cancer and just generally be toxic to humans as a species. How silly of us... to not want to be poisoned; how DARE we? After all, smokers everywhere have to suffer enough places with our abhorrent (relatively) clean air!

How dare the many inconvenience the few! How dare the workers not want to be exposed to said fumes for the daily duration of their shifts (they should, after all, be thankful for receiving the fumes without having to buy said cigarettes)! How dare YOU be inconvenienced to step outside for the 2min it takes you to puff away your cigarette!


very true.
The ban is needed because individual cafe or bars could not afford to become non-smoking as smokers (as happens with human nature whenever one is told he/she is not allowed to do something) would stay away from such an establishment to avoid the slight inconvenience and thus significantly lower its competitiveness with surrounding smoke-friendly equivalents. Non-smokers with smoking friends would follow said friends (because they are most likely used to being the inconvenienced ones when going out) and thus the influx of non-smokers would not be as large as some would argue. Therefore unless the smoking ban is in effect to level the playing field in some areas there might as well have been an unwritten ban on smoke-free public places due to simple logistics.

No point in arguing. Smockers and non-smockers will NEVER agree. The truth is both sides are right. But going as far as banning smocking in ALL closed areas is NOT fair in my humble opinion. If somebody wants to invest his money in a coffeteria for smockers ONLY, then why not? Just put a big sign at the door that there is smocking inside and IF a non-smocker chooses to go inside thet are welcomed but don't start crying about the smock if he does go inside.

Was this an intentional pun?? Cough-a-teria?? versus Cafeteria? I like it!

First country in the world to introduce a ban on smoking: Nazi Germany. Fact.


The ban is not needed because individual cafe or bars could afford to become non-smoking as non-smokers (as happens with human nature whenever one is told he/she is not allowed to do something, i.e. not bitch and whine about the smoke in a venue) would stay away from such an establishment to avoid the slight inconvenience of smoke and thus significantly raise its competitiveness with surrounding smoke-friendly equivalents. Smokers with non-smoking friends would follow said friends (because they are most likely used to being the inconvenienced ones when going out) and thus the influx of smokers would not be as large as some would argue.

The simple fact is that most people don't give enough of a shit. If they did, smoking would have already been banned in most places.