In January, France enacted an American-style ban on indoor smoking, so we asked Paris native Célestine Albert-Steward for a report …

Six months ago, when I was actually supposed to write an article about the smoking ban, I was pretty impulsive and angry about it.

Here is how I had started the piece: “Since last January, the pissed-off smoker that I am, and all the ones I represent, have found our habits and cozy ‘pauses cafés’ brought to ashes.

We cannot smoke in bars, cafés, restaurants, nightclubs or concert venues anymore, and it just makes everyone miserable. And, by ‘everyone,’ I mean the 15 million smokers out of the 60 million population.

The French are already known for their self-pity about everything all the time—especially in spring, when the weather is nice enough to go on strike … I think maybe smoking is a way we found to calm down. So, if this is us calm, what is it going to be like when we quit smoking?!

Now, did the government really have to go and make us even more miserable? Why on earth did they start the ban in January when it is freezing out there? It is just sadistic.

All winter, we poor smokers will have to sit on the terraces or stand outside to have our vital doses of nicotine. Not only is this really a pain in the neck, but it also brings another problem: Paris has simply become one giant ashtray.

It hit me the other night when I was out in a street with a lot of bars in Saint Michel (center of Paris). Everyone was outside, in front of their respective bar, smoking their cigarette and then throwing it on the street, including myself, leaving the road and sidewalks jammed with cigarette ends in the morning.”

Six months after I wrote this, I eventually put some eau dans mon vin (literally: water in my wine).

I still agree with my old self from six month ago on some points—like the dirtiness of Paris’ streets being awful—although to be honest, the whole ban is not that terrible after all.

Half a year later, here is a glimpse of what French people think:

Marc (20-year-old Parisian smoker): I think it’s a great idea, even though I’m a pretty big smoker. It allowed me to reduce my consumption slowly. I still smoke outside cafés, but I only go out for a smoke once or twice. Compared to the 10 I used to smoke, I think it is a pretty big step towards quitting.

Catherine (48-year-old tobacconist and bartender in Paris): I was really anxious when the ban was introduced, since a lot of our clients were smokers. I was afraid that our business would completely crash, but something interesting happened. The non-smoking population started to win the café territories back, leaving the terraces and streets to smokers. Therefore, the economic aspect of the whole thing was not so bad. Yes, we lost money because some smokers took this opportunity to quit smoking totally, but it was not a disaster, since more people go out.

Magali (20-year-old Parisian non-smoker): Since I am a non-smoker and wear contacts, I am really happy this ban was introduced. The smoke used to be very uncomfortable and hurt my eyes a lot. And, I wasn’t going to stay at home alone when my all of my friends would go out in bars at night. So, I just came along and used to suffer in silence … Now, it is great. I feel much better in cafés, and it doesn’t stink anymore.

These testimonies are representative of the general feeling towards the ban.

Most of us smokers have assimilated it, and we don’t complain anymore. It has indeed gotten us to slow down our cigarette consumption, which we can’t possibly criticize.

Also, with the arrival of summer, we are all out on the terraces, which is much nicer than being inside anyways. These same terraces were fitted with heaters during winter, which made it easier for us to fight against the cold.

After all, the ban has brought more good than bad. We smokers just needed the time to get used to new habits. The traditional “Café Clope” (coffee and cigarette) still exists. It is now just a little more “café” and a little less “clope.”

An American friend of mine once told me, “In France, smoking is patriotism.”

He was right, and he still is—although I think we are not that patriotic of a country—and perhaps slowly, but surely, France will quit smoking altogether.

By Célestine Albert-Steward for PeterGreenberg.com. Born and raised in the Montparnasse district of Paris, Célestine Albert-Steward is also the author of our Off the Brochure Travel Guide to Paris, France. She also wrote a separate article on Le Tramway and Beyond: Transportation in Paris.

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