At Sean Bolan's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Bel Air, happy hour patrons on Tuesday sat along the smoke-filled bar, puffing on cigarettes. Michael Leeds predicts that his establishment will come through the ban unscathed.
"People who smoke are still going to go out. And I think there are people who don't come here because it's too smoky," Leeds said.
Lorie Yagjian, owner of Mount Vernon Stable and Saloon on Charles Street, said she was against the smoking ban at first, but now expects only a temporary loss.
Yagjian has been in business for 26 years and compares the new law to other factors that could hurt a business.
"We've been through a lot of changes. New restaurants. We've taken hits," she said. "But [our customers] come back to us."
It is the appetite of the consumer built on familiar routines that some bar owners expect will be hard to break. They sympathize with the plight of their most devoted customers, people like Steve Boessel, who comes to Southside "seven days a week," but expect continued loyalty once the shock wears off.
Boessel, 50, works as a painter and is a two-pack-a-day smoker. He gets to Southside about 4:30 p.m. and stays until at least 10 p.m. (and on good nights, until last call at 2 a.m.).
Monday, he let loose his feelings about the ban - with a Budweiser in one hand and a cigarette in the other - saying that government should mind its own business.
"I might stay in my basement now," Boessel said. "I would want to come here but without smoking, what's the sense?"
In the next puff, Boessel reconsiders.
"I don't know. I guess I can just smoke outside."
brent.jones@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Madison Park contributed to this article.
