Smokers stood outside many of the watering holes in the Old Port.

PORTLAND (AP) – Scott Drouin stood outside Gritty McDuff’s, smoking a cigarette with temperatures hovering around freezing and a heavy mist turning to ice at his feet.

With Maine’s new ban on smoking in bars, Drouin was forced outside Saturday to do what he had been able to enjoy indoors just three days earlier.

Drouin wasn’t alone. There were smokers outside nearly every night spot in Portland’s Old Port, Maine’s busiest stretch of bars, over the weekend.

And Drouin wasn’t complaining. He’s a smoker and accepts that smoking outside, no matter what the weather, has become part of the deal.

“I’ve got kids, I’m used to being ostracized when I smoke,” Drouin said. “I understand (the ban). In theory, I approve of it. I just don’t think it’s necessary.”

On Thursday, Maine became the fifth state to ban smoking in nearly all public places including bars, pool halls and bowling alleys, which were the last bastions of indoor smoking in public.

State health officials say the ban shields bar employees and nonsmoking patrons from second-hand smoke. Bar owners fear the ban will hurt business.

Some smokers driven out to the icy sidewalks Saturday said it was an issue of fairness. Consumers should be allowed to decide if they want to go to a smoky bar or not, and if workers don’t like the atmosphere, they could find another job, they said.

People who go to bars already make a choice, said Brent Grimard, who was smoking outside Rosie’s on Fore Street.

“It’s not a healthy environment whether you smoke or not,” Grimard said. “You come here to have a good time.”

The law is barely half a week old, but bar customers and employees said people are complying.

Bar owners have posted no smoking signs, and report that for the first few days they haven’t been challenged. Smokers who already have been driven out of theaters, restaurants, workplaces and even their own homes are used to smoking outside.

“It’s been that way for a while,” said Jason Grannell, who works at the Calabash Havana Cafe, a tobacco store, and does his smoking in the alley outside. “Most of us pretty much have gotten used to the idea that we have to be lepers.”

Violations carry a $100 fine for both the smoker and the establishment, but it’s unclear who will be handing out the tickets. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood has said that he doesn’t have the manpower to enforce a law he said is “not a priority.”

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