[Tango-L] Smoking in the milongas

[Deby Novitz]

Re the law, the absolute "no smoking" depends on the size of the place.  
If it is less than 100 sq meters then there can be no smoking.  If a 
place is larger, then they can have a smoking area completely 
independent of the non-smoking area.  There can be no smoke in the 
non-smoking area.  The rules for how this is to be achieved is fairly 
detailed.

As one who lives here, I can tell you that either it will be observed or 
not.  Probably not very strongly at first. Then again I have been 
surprised many times by things I never thought would be observed and 
they are.  When I look back at my first visit here in 2000, there were 
no non-smoking areas.  Everything was smoking.  The milongas were much 
worse than they are now. A night in the summer was a sure way to gag and 
feel like sudden death.  Gradually places added non-smoking areas.  The 
ventilation has been greatly improved many places.  With the new law the 
non-smoking areas have been made larger.  How many times I have gotten 
in a taxi where a sign is posted for no smoking?  Many!  There is no 
smoking in government buildings. 

There is now a public awareness about smoking that was not here before.  
One night at one of my dinner parties we were almost 30 people.  The 
majority were Argentines.  One friend commented that no one smoked in 
this group of people.  The majority of my friends are Argentines and I 
have only two friends who smoke.  I know many people who have quite smoking.

This is not to say that there is not a lot of smoking here.  There is.  
Coming from California where almost no one smokes and there are strong 
anti-smoking laws, is a big change to live here.  However, it is 
changing here.  Will it kill the milongas?  I doubt it.  Some will 
adhere to the laws, others will stretch them, and others will ignore 
them, just as they have with the laws on capacity.  Eventually, everyone 
comes around.