From the AFP:
Specifically it has helped musicians clean up their traditional instruments, clogged up with years of dirt in smoke-filled pubs, so they can produce clearer sounds in fug-free bars.
continued… http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070928/ts_afp/irelandsmokingpubsmusicoffbeat_070928145420
I also read this report on the Yahoo news this morning. When I read it, I thought that there was a typo with the adjective “fug-free” bar. I was thinking that they probably meant fog-free bar. However, my dictionary gives the meaning of fug (prob. alter. of fog): an odorous emanation; esp: the stuffy atmosphere of a poorly ventilated space.
Sorta sounds like the kind of euphemisms some people make up for an expletive.
All said there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke from accordions played in a smoke-filled environment when they are opened. Soot-like dirt was deposited throughout the instrument.
"One repairer commented that the deposition of dirt could be substantial enough to affect the pitch of the reed.
“Two others claimed that if a musician tended to play in a particular key, that this could be determined from the distribution of dirt around particular reeds.”
All the repairers were categorical that these signs had definitely improved in accordions they had worked on since the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland.
Almost enough to make me take up smoking again.
djm
It definately helps the singers.
Its got to be lots healthier for the young kids being brought to the pubs to play music with their elders as well.
Most of the local pubs around here fall under the smoke-free restaurants law since they sell more food than alcohol. (More alcohol than food makes them bars, which do not have smoking restrictions.) The cigarette lobby really pushed that it would greatly hurt profits and therefore city tax revenue, but it hasn’t. I, for one, can finally go to a pub and enjoy the food and music.
Even if smoke didn’t do anything to the intstruments, playing while your choaking is sort of hard.
I remember the lovely experience of idiots blowing cigar smoke into the parade route on St. Patrick’s Day (my high school band marched in the parade). If moving through a cloud of smoke made it momentarily difficult to play, I can’t imagine sitting in an even thicker one and playing…
What a great bunch of tree huggers.
It’s all part of the witch hunt of the 21st century.
We don’t need to burn them at the stake. They are already doing it to themselves from the inside out!
I just don’t want them to take me down with them. Second-hand smoke is more toxic than first-hand. At least the smoker has the filter-end.
I have very mixed feelings about it -
On the selfish side, I don’t like smoky bars or restaurants, at all. I’m allergic to tobacco smoke, and any kind - even good pipe tobacco (I like the smell of good pipe tobacco) gives me breathing problems. And I can happily live without my clothes and hair smelling of stale cigarette smoke.
On the other hand, I really don’t want the government to be a nanny, either. And I think that most governments, these days, are far larger and more intrusive than they have any justification, or right, to be. If I go into a smoky bar for a session, I knew what it was like going in. And I don’t require everyone else to conform to my notions of how the world ought to be if they’ll accord me the same courtesy. And it really bothers me that the government has decided that it, not the owners or customers, knows best what they (should) want.
So - mixed feelings.
<edit - that should be conf O rm , not conf I rm>
The no smoking beyond 15 feet of the bar did absolutely nothing to improve the air quality in restaurants here in Chicago.
I’m really looking forward to when the total state of Illinois smoking ban kicks in come January and I can attend public smoke free sessions like the smoke free ones in Ireland.
folks keep saying that they don’t want the government to be a nanny but smoke is air pollution. do you want the government to quit regulating all pollution? or just the pollution that you may create?
Oh wow.
Someone needs to say it, so here it is: http://cnfpoli.informe.com
When you refer people over there it’s a conflict of interests, since you created it.
I have to agree with you that nanny government policies are a bit worrying but I would consider banning smoking indoors an exception. It is sort of a representation of a general will not one politician’s bright idea as many peole are bothered by smoking.
Yeah, because I make more money the more people use it. 
Google ads?
No. I don’t make money. Not from that site, anyway. 
I’m glad I’m not the only person who thought that. So often I don’t know if I’m being “out of line” because I’m the only person who feels a certain way. When there’s a second voice, it allows for a certain lessening of anxiety. It must be the old “power in numbers” thing…and I’m probably thinking about this way too deeply…