But it's the assault and infringement that was the problem. I quite agree that blowing smoke or ash over people is a horrible thing to do, and I'm glad to say the vast majority of smokers don't do it.

I'm a flute player with a long history of weak lungs, and a non- smoker. So I have to say that the air in Irish sessions has greatly improved since the banning of smoking in pubs (which is where the vast majority of UK sessions happen). But the downside is that there are a lot less of them, as pubs close at least in part because of the smoking ban, and the surviving ones sometimes tend to lose momentum, as the smoking players leave at intervals. They are as often as not the better players, too.