Dave the Gnome
I know what you mean, Dave. It's a genuine problem. We do disagree on this one(though I must point out that I came down firmly on the side of making folk clubs non-smoking in my post earlier). I really think, though, you can't in all fairness go to a place where people go to smoke and demand they make the place non-smoking.
   It's not only smoke that creates this sort o problem. I socialise, and play music a lot, with a number of Muslim firends. Some of them (but by no means all!) don't drink. In addition, some(but by no means all) of those who dont drink actively disapprove of other people drinking, and won't go into licensed premises. So all sorts of compromises and discussions have to take place to create the ideal circumstances yo make music socially, or to record. And then there is the fact that my partner is a fiddler, and also a woman. And some people dont much like women musicians, or women going out much anywhere.
   And never mind the music. What about the arguments about dancing...whether you do it at all, and if so whether you do it with members of the opposite sex. Life is a mine-field.
    But what reeeeeeally pisses me off is people who lecture smokers about their foul emissions which kill people, but drive cars themselves. Smoky rooms I can just about to;lerate, but rampant hypocrisy is just niggling in an all-pervasive way.