A month ago, a bunch of frat boys could have spent the evening at Smokey Joe's drinking beer and smoking Marlboros. Happy hour might have seen a 9-to-5-er puffing cigarettes as he drowned his sorrows.
But scenes like these will be reserved for avenues like the movie screens now that Philadelphia has added its name to a growing list of cities nationwide banning smoking in workplaces - this time for good.
After months of see-saw legislation - including a three-week period last month when smoking was allowed in bars - Monday marked the beginning of Philadelphia's re-enforcement of its smoking ban.
Under the new law, the city is threatening to slap violators with up to a $300 fine if they decide to light up.
And so now, the smoke-filled bar just might be a thing of the past.
"It's 'Smoke-less Joe's' now," Smokey Joe's owner Paul Ryan said.
It is highly unlikely that Ryan would change the "Pennstitution's" name, but that's not to say the perception of a campus bar hasn't been shifted.
"Among other things, the bar was a place to smoke, and that part of the definition has been removed," College senior Mohammad Al-Ali said.
Thus far, the transition has been fairly smooth, bar owners say, both because of the health benefits of a smokeless environment and the absence of the tobacco smell.
"Is it a nicer atmosphere without the smoke? I'd have to say so," Ryan said.
For many patrons, like College junior Derek Hobson, the ban will only improve their nights out.
"My experience in a bar without smoke would be better," Hobson said.
It seems, in most cases, that the lingering smell of tobacco - more so than the potential health risks of secondhand smoke - was the larger concern of most patrons and owners in support of the ban.
With the new law, "it doesn't stink in here," Blarney Stone manager Matt Bernardo said. "I like it, and I'm a smoker."
But while few are complaining, some see the ban as a sign of Philadelphia's inability to tackle bigger problems, such as the rising murder rate.
"More people are being shot than dying from secondhand smoke," Ryan said. "It looks good, but real problems persist."
Other critics have suggested that Philadelphia officials have passed the law because they had to 'keep up' with other major cities such as New York and Los Angeles that had done the same.
"If Philly doesn't do it, it makes it look like a second-rate city," Bernardo said.
And for the waitresses and bartenders the ban was intended to benefit, the law has seemed to do more harm than good.
Waitresses like Cobabanana waitress Julie Bradley-Norton described a recent steep decline in tips, saying that patrons stayed longer when they smoked and thus bought more drinks.
But despite the complaints, it seems like the smoking ban is here to stay in Philadelphia, for clean-air better or for Smokeless-Joe's worse.
