Ibiza: The Last Great Big Puff

Questions from a part time holiday smoker-

Will the clubs be providing smoking areas?

Can i smoke on the balcony of my hotel room?

Can I smoke outside Bora Bora (eg) but within the confines of the premises?

Can I smoke around the hotel grounds/pool?
 
you can smoke outside (apart from hospital grounds and kids playgrounds)

clubs can't have areas for smokers unless they are outside in the open

hotels can elect to have 30% of their rooms for smokers

as i understand it, spain is now in line with the rest of europe as regards smoking so whatever happens in britain with regard to clubs, hotels and beach bars will also happen here.
 
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Here in Ireland once the smoking area is enclosed and not "fully roofed" is can pass as a smoking area. Terraces usually pass.

Basic rule; once you are in an "open air" environment you can smoke.... so that covers hotel balconies, grounds, pools and outside Bora Bora!

What qualifys as "Open Air" is where the leeway is given. Its the inspectors "opinion" that determines if there is enough open air for the passive smoke to vent.

I have seen smoking areas that are nearly 70% enclosed with a full roof and deemed fit as smoking areas.
 
From The Ibiza Sun:

Health Inspections

The Balearic Govern announced last week that they do not intend to carry out more inspections than normal to check that the new no-smoking laws are being adhered to. During 2010 a total of 79 establishments were fined for contravening the law and allowing smoking in unlawful places, all but one being in Mallorca, the other being in Menorca. There are 62 public health inspectors across the four islands, 46 in Mallorca and eight each in Menorca and Ibiza.

The new law, which came into force on the 2nd of January, is intended to protect two important groups, children and people in the catering trade, and brings Spain into line with other countries such as Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Holland and Belgium.

According to a recent study, 30 per cent of the over-15s in the Balearics are smokers, and tobacco is responsible for 90 per cent of the mortalities due to lung cancer, 50 per cent of deaths caused by heart failure, whilst 30 per cent of other forms of cancer may also be attributed to the use of tobacco.

In Ibiza a total of seven inspections were carried out, with a total of three establishments found to be contravening the law to some degree, although the Local Health Department was quick to point out that all were minor infractions, two of which involved the failure to display adequate signage. However, a total of four denuncias were made by members of the public complaining about establishments that were continuing to allow customers to smoke inside.

Bizarrely, the new changes in the law now permit cigarettes to be sold in petrol stations, to the great relief of Service Station owners across the country. Such establishments were banned from selling tobacco five years ago, seriously damaging trade within the sector.
 
theibizasun

Smoking

In the short space of time since the new anti-smoking law was introduced at the beginning of the year, sales of chewing gum containing nicotine and electronic cigarettes have almost doubled. Electronic cigarettes have a filter incorporated which simulates a real cigarette, and users have the sensation that they are smoking tobacco, whereas all they are in fact doing is absorbing water vapour. Strangely, the nicotine patches, which are also used as a substitute for tobacco, have not proved as popular.

The President of the Balearic Pharmaceutical Association, Antoni Reál, commented that it is quite normal at this time of year for sales to rise, as people try to give up the vice as one of their New Year resolutions, but this years' rise has been spectacular. He added that approximately 50 per cent of the people who try these methods do eventually succeed, although the most important factor remains willpower.

Last Friday a stand was set up in the entrance hall of the Can Misses Hospital to exchange cigarettes for a piece of fruit. Some 50 people were present to make the swap and to receive detailed information on how to give up smoking. Antonio Cascales is in charge of the section dealing with nicotine dependence at the Hospital and claimed “the interchange of cigarettes for fruit is really only symbolic; our main task is to advise people who really want to stop smoking and encourage them to visit their family doctor. One should not think of smoking as a habit, but as an illness which needs to be cured”. He pointed out that, without professional help, only five per cent of the people who attempt to stop actually succeed.

He admitted that many members of staff, especially the females, in the hospital are smokers; up to 80 per cent of new smokers on the island are young women, which is much higher than the national average. He went on to say that one should not gain weight as a result of stopping smoking “but, of course, if you exchange twenty cigarettes for twenty slices of cheese or twenty chocolates, you are going to gain weight”. He continued that it was natural to put on a few pounds due to the change of metabolism, but that with a well balanced diet and exercise, these ‘few pounds' would only be temporary. Slavery to tobacco has become, for the majority of people, an addiction, both psychologically and physically, as the cigarette is observed as a ‘friend' during most of their lives, leaving a sensation that you have lost your best friend.

One of the pamphlets being offered to the public contains a message “if you smoke not only will you probably die earlier, but the last few months or even years, can be agony”. During the next few weeks this stand will be visiting all the other health centres on the island.



Smoking Laws

During the first ten days of the new anti-smoking laws, Ibiza Town Hall received 50 petitions from bars, cafeterias and restaurants to be able to use pavements and terraces to offer a place for their customers to smoke. Normally the Town Hall concedes some 400 licences of this nature each year, so 50 applications since the 2nd of January is an eighth of the annual demand for these permits. According to the Tourism and Commerce Councillor, Vicent Ferrer, “we want to make it easy for these establishments to use public domain, but in an orderly fashion which does not impede the passage of pedestrians”. He commented that, in the case of pavements with a width in excess of two-and-a-half metres, owners were permitted to use 75 centimetres to place ashtrays, stools or heaters. In the case of narrower pavements, each request will be studied individually, but the free passage of pedestrians will always be a priority.

Ferrer stated that several businesses had already occupied public streets, without asking for prior permission, and he urged them to do so, as during the winter there is no charge, but they need to have their paperwork in order. Two years ago the Town Hall reduced the amount of tax which needed to be paid on each square metre, and only charge during the months between June and September, although in the first month a discount of 20 per cent is applicable.

He went on to say that the Local Police will be visiting premises to advise the owners of the need to apply for a licence, and sufficient time will be given for them to react.
 
theibizasun

Smoking Laws

The first month of the new anti-smoking laws has resulted in 22 fines in the Balearics, all of them, apart from two in Ibiza, in Mallorca. Seventy per cent involved bars, restaurants and cafeterias and the remainder occurred in work places, transport, shopping malls or near children's playgrounds. A total of 1,250 inspections were carried out during the month, most of which were of an informative nature rather than sanctioning the establishments.
 
theibizasun

Smoking Laws

Six weeks after the new anti-smoking law came into force across the country only 1.6 per cent of establishments are allowing their customers to smoke, according to a recent study. Five thousand bars, restaurants, cafés, pubs and nightclubs of the 350,000 that exist in Spain are failing to comply with the law on either a regular or sporadic basis. Researchers interviewed 750 landlords for the investigation, initially posing as customers to observe if anyone lit up a cigarette on the premises; they also consulted 1,000 people in their homes.


According to the survey, only five per cent of bar-goers said that they had visited at least one establishment where a client was smoking, while 90 per cent said that they now spent the same amount of time in bars as before the law was applied at the beginning of January; one-and-a-half per cent said they now spend more. This increase was attributed as much to people setting out to give up smoking as to non-smokers enjoying the new smoke-free atmosphere. According to the director of the company which commissioned the study “two out of three non-smokers are annoyed when someone smokes next to them”. Three out of four bar owners said they noticed that sales were down, while five per cent think that they need to organize themselves to combat the law.

Another consequence of the law is in that 15 per cent of establishments their customers are now noticing other smells which the smell of smoke used to camouflage, ranging from fried food and plumbing, to toilets and sweat.

Meanwhile, Andalucia's regional government has threatened a bar owner in Marbella with a €145,000 fine, as well as the closure of his business if he continues to flout the tobacco ban. José Eugenio Arias, owner of the Asador de Marbella, defied the threat, however, promising to continue the crusade against the law that he led at the start of the year, although he has now been closed down until he conforms to the ban.
 
Another consequence of the law is in that 15 per cent of establishments their customers are now noticing other smells which the smell of smoke used to camouflage, ranging from fried food and plumbing, to toilets and sweat.
That's my main problem with smoking bans (aside from having to trek through the crowd to go outside). Nightclubs usually smell pretty bad!
 
theibizasun

Sales Drop

There were signs that the new smoking legislation is beginning to have a positive effect after tobacco sales fell by 32 per cent in January, compared with December. For the first time in years, the number of packets sold in one month fell to under 200 million to 194 million, according to the Treasury's Tobacco Industry Commission last week. This sudden decline took the National Smoking Prevention Committee by surprise, as they had expected falls of between four and five per cent since the ban on smoking in public places came into force at the beginning of the year.

However, from a different angle, it was also announced last week that tobacco smuggling is now back in vogue. Shipments from China have replaced the speedboats that once supplied Europe with contraband American brands and now the cigarettes inside the fake packets of brands such as Marlboro, Winston or Chesterfield are adulterated by coarse, low-grade tobacco. “We have seen a major increase in smuggling over the last year,” commented a spokesperson from the Union of Spanish Tobacconists. This shift has coincided with an 11 per cent drop in cigarette sales between 2009 and 2010. The tobacco enters the country via the northwest coastal region of Galicia, where smuggling cigarettes is a “time-honoured tradition”, according to the Spanish Treasury.

The port of Vigo is ranked as one of those with the highest volume of smuggling traffic, alongside Algeciras in the south and Valencia to the east. This figure is calculated by the number of seizures, which have increased steadily over the last three years. Last year customs intercepted a total of 12.5 million packets which had arrived on boats from Asia, at the three most notorious smugglers' ports. The consignments came hidden inside shipments of glass, porcelain and textiles. Around 90 per cent of the contraband came from China, and the packets were imitations of leading American brands and came classified as being in transit within the European Union.

Customs officials use the most up to date scanners which allow them to see the contents of a container without opening it, but the smugglers work to smooth their merchandise's safe passage. Ten police personnel and five port staff were arrested in connection with an upsurge in illicit traffic at Vigo, although the case against them had to be dropped due to lack of evidence. Over one million packets of cigarettes made up one of the largest hauls seized in this northern port in January last year; the imitation Marlboros were worth over €3 million. Analysis carried out by quality control at Marlboro revealed the contents to be a crude imitation of the original brand.

As a rule the cigarettes are destined for other European countries, mostly the United Kingdom where a heavily taxed packet of 20 Marlboro costs smokers over €7,00. This compares to a price of €4,40 in Spain, the destination country for only one of the major consignments intercepted by customs in Vigo. The imitation brand cigarettes are sold at an average of 60 cents less than the originals from all type of improvised retail outlets, including private houses.

The hike in smuggling will remind tobacconists of the harsh climate of the 1990s, when an economic crisis converged with blossoming networks of organized crime. The Tax Office estimates that contraband accounted for fourteen per cent of sales between 1995 and 1997. Customs and Excise dismantled two major rackets at the end of the 1990s, and in 2001 brought down the last bastion, PP party major José Ramón Barral from Ribadumia, Galicia, who had amassed a personal fortune.

A representative of the Tobacconists Union believes that things are not as bad as in the 1990s. “Two years ago smuggling was at a residual level, accounting for less than 0.5 per cent of sales; but this has changed drastically”, he vowed.
 
That's my main problem with smoking bans (aside from having to trek through the crowd to go outside). Nightclubs usually smell pretty bad!

Wholeheartedly agree.

As somebody who works day & night in a club, I can attest to this.

Nothing worse than standing at a busy bar waiting to get served and smelling beer farts!

Also, if you're ever unfortunate enough to find yourself in a club with carpet (why?!) then you realise how much they hum whatwith soaking up spilt drinks and vomit every night.

some venues in the UK have installed fragant releasers in their air con units. But I have experienced only a handful that do their job properly, the rest just create an offensive nauseating odour no better than the ones they're meant to be covering!

However, on the toss side even as an ocassional social smoker I do appreciate coming home and my hair/clothes not stinking of smoke.

As somebody who always smokes like a trooper on holiday, I have to say that this new legislation is a bit unwelcomed.

Sure, the weather and temperature is 10 x better than the UK, but part of beauty of going to Ibiza was enjoying a cigarette and a nice meal simultaneous.
 
From this weeks Ibiza Sun:

Smoking Ban
The Balearic Business Federation (CAEB), in association with Pimeef, confirmed last week that its members, including many of the regions bars, restaurants and cafés, would be closing their doors at 6:00 p.m. on 18th April in protest at the recent smoking ban introduced at the beginning of the year. This will coincide with a demonstration, although the precise details have yet to be revealed.

Zenón Helguera, one of Pimeef's representatives on the island, and himself a bar owner, claimed the association was not against the introduction of the law, but felt each establishment should be given the opportunity to decide whether to allow smoking or not within their business.
 
I'm allergic to cigarette smoke but can tolerate a little. Before the smoking ban in the UK I sometimes had to spend a lot of time freezing my nads off outside of pubs or next to open doors and windows just so I could try to socialize with my mates a few times per month. We had one pub that had a smoking ban before the official ban and I had been going in there for a couple of months or so and not even realized it had a smoking ban. It was only when I saw 3 lads being told to take their cigarettes outside that I found out. I had never noticed a horrible smell in there but the place did not have carpets. At least not in the public bar anyway.
As far as I'm concerned the smoking ban in Spain has been brought in especially for me, just on the off chance that I may want to go into a bar sometime this year. ;)
 
As somebody who always smokes like a trooper on holiday, I have to say that this new legislation is a bit unwelcomed.

Cannot agree more :(:roll: Love being in an unknown bar or club and having a drink you wouldnt necessarily drink at home and 'enjoying' a social cigarette. Its actually become part of a holiday for me lol

Back in England though i try not to smoke, in the winter its just effort so have found myself smoking alot less, whcih is obviously a good thing :D
 
Oh My God - the last bastion has fallen to the anti-smoking brigade.

Blummy lummy - no more smoker heaven in Ibiza - thank god I found out before we went - will have to ensure we get a smoking room or balcony.

Does Space even have any outdoor spaces other than Premier Etage, which is hardly ever open!

LttP
 
theibizasun

Tobacco Sales

Since the new anti-smoking laws came into force at the beginning of the year, sales of cigarettes have decreased by 29.5 per cent in the Balearics, when compared with the previous year. Even so, 9.2 million packs of 20 were sold, representing a turnover of €35.2 million. Across the country the average decrease in sales was 26.5 per cent, approximately 387 million packs. On the other hand, sales of rolling tobacco increased by 6 per cent during the first three months of this year, with a value of €2.6 million, an increase of 30 per cent, as the manufacturers increased their prices at the beginning of the year; pipe tobacco sales were also on the increase.
 
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