BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Nonsmokers delight, smokers take flight – the city’s ban on smoking in bars is now in effect.

The Burlington City Council, sitting as the Local Control Commission, voted unanimously last month to make the ban a condition of all cabaret liquor licenses in the city for the next license year, which runs from May 1 to April 30, 2005.

A 1993 state law that forbade smoking in most indoor workplaces contained a “cabaret exemption” for bars that take in more money from alcohol and entertainment than from food.

South Burlington is also considering banning smoking in bars and restaurants, and one Williston restaurant has a no-smoking policy.

The ban carries no explicit sanctions, and private clubs are exempt from the measure. Smokers will not be cited by police, and officers won’t be sent to bars to investigate smoking-related complaints.

Bar patrons who see someone smoking should take their complaint to the manager, city officials said.

Council member Bill Keogh said he predicts an adjustment period as bar owners figure out how to approach patrons who are smoking.

“They’ll figure out how to do it,” he said.

Smokers gave the ban mixed reviews.

JP’s Pub bartender Larry Soutiere said the ban is an example of “big brother sticking his nose in without giving bar owners the right to choose.”

The measure will also be a nuisance to most of his daytime customers, Soutiere said.

“Basically, 95 percent of them smoke,” he said as he lit a cigarette.

Sitting in the smoking section at Vermont Pub and Brewery, Mark Daniels, 34, saw good news in the new rule.

“It’s probably the one thing that will make me quit,” he said, grinding out a cigarette.

AP-ES-05-01-04 1217EDT