I actually thought your last paragraph was funny, in a Bulgarian-humor type of way.

I am also bothered by smoking every time I am in Bulgaria.  In NYC the law is that there is no smoking anywhere in restaurants, clubs, cafes, and in general, inside public building, period.  Also, no smoking near a public building's entrance, unless the space is specifically marked for that purpose.  Yes, there still are smokers here.  They survive, they smoke, they do not protest or light a cigarette against the law in protest.

The law works well because there is public support and also because people and establishments do get fined whenever police show up and catch someone smoking.  I have seen that.  I also know a couple of Bulgarian cafes and Greek clubs where there is (unofficially) smoking inside - the owner pays the fine when he has to and views it just as the cost of doing business with Bulgarians and Greeks.

I think there are plenty of people in Bulgaria who do not like smoking.  I have heard that less than a third of people in Bulgaria smoke regularly.  Nonsmokers are not a minority.  It just seems like they are because they are less vocal than the smokers who think it is their right to smoke wherever they like.  Yes, they have the right to smoke.  But not in any place they like and at any cost to society.

Another argument for allowing smoking in restaurants and public places that was used very recently to lift the ban on smoking (a ban that was in effect for one day, June 1) is that forbidding smoking will reduce business for food and entertainment establishments.  Maybe in the short run, but even if that is true, I have not noticed that people have stopped going to restaurants or clubs or cafes in New York City...

Just my 2 stotinki.