Today could be a long one for county officials, health experts, business owners and others who have been awaiting court decisions about implementing the new smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

But as the zero hour approaches, it's not clear if anyone will be breathing a sigh of relief or if everyone will have to hold their breaths a while longer.

If all stays quiet on the legal front, county officials will begin applying the ban tomorrow in dining and drinking establishments.

"Until we hear otherwise, we're going to enforce it and treat it as the law in the county," said Kevin Evanto, spokesman for Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

"We're still waiting, like everyone else, to see if there will be a ruling before May 1," said Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole. "If there isn't or we're upheld, we'll move ahead and start enforcing the county smoking ordinance. That's where we stand."

Today, the department intends to release a list of taverns awarded waivers that will exempt them from the ban until January 2009, he added.

Around 100 applied. They were asked to provide financial documents to show they meet waiver requirements of fewer than 10 employees and less than 10 percent of revenue from food.

On Jan. 2, the ordinance prohibiting smoking indoors in most workplaces, including hospitals, private companies and bingo halls, went into effect. But Common Pleas Judge Michael A. Della Vecchia delayed its implementation in freestanding bars and restaurants after the owners of the Smithfield Cafe and Mitchell's Restaurant challenged the ban in a lawsuit filed in December.

Some hoped that in the interim state authorities would make a decision about establishing a Pennsylvania-wide ban. Bills for a state law are in the works in the House and Senate, but those in the know don't expect either to come up for a vote any time soon.

The plaintiffs went to Philadelphia in early March to appeal their case to Commonwealth Court, contending in part that Allegheny County does not have the authority to enact a smoking ordinance due to a now-controversial provision of the Clean Indoor Air Act.

About 10 days ago, they also asked Judge Della Vecchia to extend the injunction until a ruling from the Commonwealth Court, which would allow smoking to continue in bars and restaurants.

They've heard nothing yet from either court, and it's frustrating, said John Petrolias, owner of the Smithfield Cafe.

"If they do nothing, the thing goes into effect anyway," he said, adding his establishment would adopt a nonsmoking policy if that's the case because "we have to. We have no choice."

Mr. Petrolias is prepared to appeal, if necessary, to the state Supreme Court, after discussion with his attorney, whose fees are being paid by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

"If this thing goes the wrong way, I will have a whole lot to say," Mr. Petrolias said.

County Solicitor Michael Wojcik expects that today Judge Della Vecchia may grant the request to extend the injunction. But because there is no timeline in which the higher court must issue a decision, the ordinance, at least with respect to bars and restaurants, could be in limbo for a while.

In fact, it's possible that the panel of Commonwealth Court judges could rule that Allegheny County does not have the authority to ban smoking in any workplace, he added.

"The most sense would be to get the Legislature to move," Mr. Wojcik said. A concern that has often been raised is that "the tavern and restaurant owners are going to lose business to counties that don't have a smoking ban."

If all or part of the ordinance is struck down by the courts, though, the county could decide to take the fight to the state Supreme Court.

"I don't expect County Council is going to pack up their tent," the solicitor said, dryly. "We'll have to see how it comes down and what council and what the executive want to do."

As council President Rich Fitzgerald put it, "I feel very confident we are on the right track. In the worst-case scenario, if the courts would take away our ability to home rule ourselves in Allegheny County, I think we would probably go forward."

Some businesses will continue to be smoke-free regardless of what the courts decide.

For example, local hospitals, which cannot have designated smoking areas within 15 feet of an entrance under the ordinance, will either stick with the rules they put in place in the new year or will go beyond them.

"We would still use the rules of footage from an entrance and all that," said Ed Banos, chief operating officer of facilities for Allegheny General Hospital. "We've already painted the lines and have [areas] designated."

He added that there are only two smoking zones, and smoking in the parking garage is discouraged.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, whose experts were quite vocal about the importance of a smoking ban during hearings about the issue, is going further.

Although the details still have to be worked out, "we are moving towards a nonsmoking campus, no matter what happens to the law," a spokeswoman said.

That hospitals embrace smoking prohibitions is not surprising. But when a restaurant that promotes specialty beer does it, eyebrows get raised.

"We're absolutely staying nonsmoking," said Chris Dilla, owner of Bocktown Beer and Grill in North Fayette.

It has been smoke-free since it opened in December, a decision that was initially made because of the expectation it would have to comply with the ban eventually. But, as Ms. Dilla put it, she was immediately rewarded by the positive response of her patrons.

"You can taste the food, you can smell the aroma of the good beer, and you can always step outside and have a cigarette if you're a smoker," she said. "We made the right choice and it's not hurting us."

Ms. Dilla, who has never smoked, has been a bartender for much of her adult life.

"Every time I'd leave the bar, I'd be hacking and coughing," she said. "You have to wash your clothes constantly. Even your purse would smell like smoke."

Still, an even playing field would be preferable to rules that make exceptions for casinos and smaller taverns, Ms. Dilla noted. "If it's a law, it should be a law without exceptions."

Some workplaces have found instituting stricter tobacco rules didn't cause much of a stir. MSA had been smoke-free at all sites except its headquarters in RIDC Park, said Mark Deasy, spokesman for the equipment maker. There, indoor space had been set aside as a smoking room before the ordinance went into effect.

Then, "we posted notices to let people know that to concur with the ordinance, any smoking now had to take place outside the building," he said. "And I can tell you it was a non-event. We received very few, if any, complaints about moving the smoking area outdoors."

As part of a wellness campaign, on-site smoking cessation classes were conducted. Mr. Deasy said it was so successful in terms of attendance and feedback that the company added a second installment of the program.

"If we encourage even one person to quit smoking, then the program is certainly a success by our measure," he said.

Mr. Deasy couldn't predict whether the company would change its policy if the courts strike down the entire ordinance.

Also waiting to see how events unfold are Eat 'n Park officials.

Kevin O'Connell, senior vice president of marketing for the chain, said that if the ban moves forward, then at about 40 restaurants within nine days, they will have "completely cleaned out the ventilation systems, replaced the wall coverings, deep-cleaned the carpets and upholstery and really anything we need to do to make sure that if you sit there, you would never know it was a smoking section."

The effort will cost about $75,000, he said. The usually 24-hour restaurants will close at midnight for the cleaning.

Because of major renovations undertaken there, Eat 'n Park locations in Bridgeville and McKnight Road became smoke-free in the past month, and they will stay that way. Sales have increased at the Bridgeville site, and the McKnight location had its grand reopening Friday.

"Even if the law doesn't go, we want to start testing the impact of going smoke-free," Mr. O'Connell said. "More and more the trend is toward nonsmoking and we're getting that feedback from our customers."

The chain's nine locations in Ohio went smoke-free when that state passed its ban in December, he added.

New York, New Jersey, Delaware and neighboring West Virginia counties have all enacted smoking bans, and Maryland will do so, leading local advocates to note that if Pennsylvania doesn't get on board, it could become, as they put it, "the ashtray of the Northeast."

"What's amazing is they had all this time," Mr. O'Connell noted. "The delay, I was assuming, was to work it out. And now it's down to the last day."