On a recent day, there was only a handful of smokers out by the harbor and virtually none in the outdoor seating areas, among the few places where some restaurants allow smoking. Most smokers either puffed while walking along the harbor or while seated at benches.
They said that government anti-smoking campaigns haven't necessarily influenced their decision on whether to smoke - but have made for fewer places to do so.
Jack Myers of Hagerstown said that, regardless of such campaigns, he'll probably continue to light up. "It's all a personal decision. I've been smoking since I've been 18; I'm now 41. I've stopped here and there."
Smoking in a seating area next to the National Aquarium, Kirsten Skinner of West Chester, Pa., said that she has considered quitting.
"I definitely want to. I just don't want to right this second. I know I should," she said, adding that because there are fewer places to smoke indoors, she doesn't smoke as much.
At Towson University, among those who welcome the new ban is Gail Lukens, executive administrative assistant for the dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Her office is in Linthicum Hall, a place where smokers regularly congregate and ignore school policy that generally prohibits smoking within 30 feet of an entrance.
"Every once in a while, [smoke] comes in my window and the associate dean's window, and she'll come out and tell them to scoot away," said Lukens, who added that she has asthma.
Then there are some, like Towson student Bridget Tan, a junior from Malaysia who puffed a cigarette in front of Linthicum Hall.
Tan isn't sure how much next year's smoking ban will curb her habit. "It depends on what the consequences are for smoking on campus. I'm not a person who really smokes cigarettes all the time. I can just wait until I go home and smoke and go off campus.
"But I think they should be more concerned about the people who work on campus, like the cooks and cleaners. They smoke all the time, and they need a break in between. What are they going to do? They get, like, what: a 15-minute break? They're going to suffer."
Smoking in U.S.
Percentage of adult smokers by state:
Lowest
Utah - 9.2 percent
California -14 percent
New Jersey -14.8 percent
(Maryland - 14.9 percent)
Highest
West Virginia - 26.6 percent
Indiana - 26.1 percent
Kentucky - 25.3 percent
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
