* Smoking bans and prohibitions became rare during the 18th and 19th century. Trade in tobacco became an important source of revenue for monarchs and leaders and tobacco bans were revoked. Even the Pope not to be left out opened a tobacco factory in 1779.

1719: France
Smoking is banned with the exception of a number of provinces.

America and Prohibition

Smoking bans and restrictions found little favour in the developing Industrial world of the 19th century. However in the USA as the century drew to a close moral crusaders outraged by the consumption of alcohol and tobacco by American people began to demand action by federal and state legislators. This culminated in an amendment to the American constitution which allowed for the prohibition of alcohol in 1920.

Believing that prohibition might be "for their own good" Americans at first seemed to reluctantly accept it. However they rapidly grew disenchanted with the oppression. The rich and powerful colluded and rubbed shoulders with gangsters in efforts to maintain the flow of alcohol. Speakeasies flourished, hip flasks became a popular symbol of defiance.

Lucy Page Gaston of the
Anti-Cigarette League 1900

During this period the imposition of smoking bans reached a zenith with the sale of cigarettes banned in 15 states. However by 1927, Kansas became the last state to repeal it's ban on the sale of cigarettes. Other than making the crusaders feel good, prohibition had proved an unsuccessful experiment in social engineering leading to many disastrous consequences. Prohibition was eventually lifted in 1933.

1818: USA
Smoking is banned on the streets of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The mayor is fined when he becomes the first man to break the law.
1840: USA
Smoking is banned in Boston
1893: USA
Washington State introduces legislation banning the sale and consumption of cigarettes
1898: USA
Total ban on cigarettes in the state of Tennessee
1900: USA
The sale of cigarettes is now outlawed in the states of  Washington, Iowa, Tennessee and North Dakota
1904: USA
A women is sent to jail for 30 days by a New York judge for smoking in front of her children.
1905: USA
Indiana introduces a total cigarette ban
1907: USA
Washington passes legislation banning the manufacture, sale, exchange or giving away cigarettes, cigarette paper or wrappers
1914: USA
Smoking banned in the US Senate
1922: USA
15 States now have laws banning the sale, manufacture, possession and use of cigarettes

Smoking Bans and the Third Reich

Hitler was a fervent anti smoker and a crusader for the anti-smoking cause. He personally funded research into the dangers of smoking and little wonder those results given the nature of his regime tended to support his assertions that smoking was an evil the Aryan race must be rid of. Many of the studies carried out during the Third Reich are the basis for the arguments put forward today by those seeking the imposition of repressive smoking bans.

Hitler once stated that tobacco was "the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man" Under the Nazi's the Bureau Against the Dangers of Alcohol and Tobacco was established in 1939 followed in 1942 by the Institute for the Struggle against the dangers of Tobacco. Nazi's were the first to coin the term "passive smoking"

Under the Nazi regime the German people had imposed on them the most comprehensive set of tobacco regulations and restrictions seen in any modern nation to that date. Hitler himself took particular interest in this area often personally overseeing the drafting and implementation of anti smoking policy.

"I am convinced that if I had been a smoker, I never would have been able to bear the cares and anxieties which have been a burden to me for so long. Perhaps the German people owe its salvation to that fact."
Adolf Hitler 1942

Bans And Restrictions in Nazi Germany

• The Luftwaffe banned smoking in 1938.
• The German Post office introduced.it's own ban
• Smoking was barred in many workplaces, government offices, hospitals,and rest homes.
• The NSDAP (National sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) announced a ban on smoking in its offices in 1939
• SS chief Heinrich Himmler announced a smoking ban for all uniformed police and SS officers while on duty in 1939
• Hermann Goering's bans soldiers from smoking on the streets, on marches, and while taking rest periods.
• Sixty of Germany's largest cities banned smoking on street cars in 1941.
• Smoking was banned in air raid shelters. Some provided separate rooms for smokers
• Tobacco coupons were denied to any woman who was pregnant
• Blanket smoking bans were introduced in many cafes, bars and restaurants
• Women below the age of 25 were banned from smoking
• Restaurants and cafes were barred from selling cigarettes to all female customers
• In July 1943 it became illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to smoke in public.
• Smoking was banned on all German city trains and buses in 1944. This initiative coming from Hitler himself,who was worried about exposure of young female conductors to tobacco smoke.

1973: America
Arizona becomes the first state in the current wave of smoking bans to pass a comprehensive law restricting smoking in public places