LEWISTON – Smokers at Del’s Bar and Grille are still lamenting Maine’s strict ban on bar smoking, a year after the law went into effect.

“Banning smoking in a restaurant, that I can understand,” said Jessica St. Laurent, a smoker and patron. “People bring kids to restaurants, but a bar is something different. You make a personal choice when you come to a bar, and it should be your right to choose whether you smoke or not.”

Patrons and bartenders at the Lewiston tavern also say the ban has chased away some regulars and hurt the bottom line.

In 2003, Maine legislators passed the ban, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2004. It added bars, taverns and pool halls to the list of public places where smoking is banned.

Maine is one of seven states in the nation to adopt such a ban. The others are California, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Survey results released this week by the Maine Coalition on Smoking OR Health showed that overall, 76 percent of Maine residents support the law. Among smokers, 54 percent support it.

The poll questioned 600 people in September. The measure has become more popular since it went into effect, according to the poll.

OK healthwise, but …

Del’s patron Matthew Drouin puts himself in that category. He said it makes being in the bar more pleasant.

“And I’m a smoker,” Drouin said. “I think it’s a lot better. The air is certainly easier to breathe, and everything doesn’t smell like cigarettes.”

Vicky Kingsbury, a bartender at Del’s, said the ban has hurt business at the bar. The bar still stocks and sells cigarettes, but requires people to step outside to smoke them.

“It may be a great thing for people healthwise, but it’s moved people out of here,” Kingsbury said. She suspects some customers have left the bar for good, in favor of places where they can smoke while they drink. Lewiston’s private clubs, where members pay a fee to belong, continue to offer ashtrays alongside mugs of beer.

“The private clubs have benefited,” Kingsbury said. “It’s just not as busy here as it used to be.”

Patron St. Laurent agreed.

“Right after the ban started, this place was empty,” St. Laurent said. Many of the bar’s regulars have returned, but there are still faces she misses seeing.

“It’s just not the same,” she said.

Across the street, at the Derby Athletic Association, patrons have continued to smoke while they drink. But Manager Theresa Temple said the club’s membership rolls didn’t grow as a result of the ban.

“A lot of our customers are their customers, too,” she said. “They come in here for a drink and a smoke, and go across the street to dance. That hasn’t changed just because of the ban.”

But Del’s patron Dan Charest said allowing the private clubs to continue to allow smoking is a mistake.

“The problem I have with the law is that it’s unfair,” he said. “It punishes the regular bars and taverns, and hurts one group of businesses. To be fair, they should have included the private clubs.”