I have seen the effects of a similar ban on the main session bar at the National Folk Festival in Canberra.

As far as I can see, a lot of the old hands, who are physically incapable of playing music without a cigarette lit (even if they're not actually puffing on it!), have given up on the big sessions. Some don't even come to the National any more. On the other hand, instead of one monster (mostly Irish) session, there are now a number of smaller sessions going on.

The nett result is that there are the same number of people there, the average age is lower, and there is a far larger range of musical styles catered for.

As a non-smoker, who put up with the smoke in the past for the sake of the music and the singing, I find the current situation far better. I'll be interested to see if any other NFF attendees have similar or different observations.


My guess is that the diehards in Ireland will be having sessions at home or in other private venues, and the bar trade will not go down because different people will be in the pubs. The major loss might be that the younger musicians will not get to hear the range of tunes etc that the old hands know.