While his barmaid and wait staff were telling customers that they could no longer smoke on the premises, John Elavsky, owner of Hemingway's Cafe in Oakland, was downstairs, writing letters to legislators and newspapers.

Angry letters.

The statewide smoking ban that went into effect Thursday prohibits smoking in most public spaces and workplaces. Bars, clubs and taverns can still allow smoking, but not if 20 percent or more of the establishment's total revenue comes from food sales.

Mr. Elavsky says Hemingway's, located on Forbes Avenue in the heart of the University of Pittsburgh, and places like it are caught in the middle, and it's only going to hurt them.

"I don't have a problem with the smoking ban if it's for everybody," he said. "Why are they discriminating against me because I serve food?

"Right next door, Boomerang's doesn't serve any food, and kids are allowed to smoke their brains out there. But my kids can't. And that's going to hurt my bar business at night, no doubt about it. It already has. They're going to go where they can smoke."

Frank Vetere, manager of Carson City Saloon on the South Side, said he had to put the ashtrays away Thursday, even though he'd never heard a customer complain about his smoking area. He said he, likewise, stands to lose under the new law.

"At 10 o'clock, my kitchen closes and this place essentially turns into a bar," he said. "I don't want people going to another bar because they can't smoke here, and we're not even serving food any longer. I am a little worried, to be honest with you."

Mr. Elavsky said the alternative would be to close his kitchen earlier, in order to bring food sales below the 20 percent mark, essentially eliminating part of his profit. He said he'd also be eliminating kitchen and wait staff employees.

While the new law hits some restaurant-bars harder than others, the customers seem to be rolling with the punches.

Theresa Marquard, 21, of Brentwood, was attending a friend's birthday party Thursday night at Nakama Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar on the South Side. After eating, when she wanted a cigarette, she had to step outside.

"I am a big smoker. I'd say a pack a day," she said, as she lit her cigarette. "I love it. [As far as the smoking ban is concerned,] I understand it. I'm not happy with it, but I understand it."

But Thursday was a nice evening. When the weather in Pittsburgh turns bad, stepping outside to smoke won't be as pleasant.

"I'll be going to another bar or I'll be staying at my house," Ms. Marquard said. "If I'm out someplace and it's raining, I'll probably sneak into the bathroom and puff-puff real quick and hope nobody notices.

"I think it's ridiculous, but what can you do? Deal with it and get over it. You can't change it, so you might as well live with it."

"If I can ruin my liver in there, why can't I ruin my lungs?" asked Paige Peltier, 28, of Crafton, who had to step out to the sidewalk in front of the Carson City Saloon. "Honestly, it's my buffer from drinking. If I have a cigarette, I don't drink as much. Actually, [smoking] seems like a better idea."

Rose Collier, 22, of the South Side Slopes, a server at the Beehive Coffeehouse on Carson Street, said she'd already noticed the smoking ban's impact.

"A lot of college kids come in here to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and do their homework," she said. "There's, like, no one in here now. Two people out in the courtyard, that's all."

Those two were Pitt students Steve Walenchok, 23, of Carnegie, and Amanda Owczarczak, 20, of South Oakland, both of whom disagree with the ban.

"They own this place, and I don't think the government has the right to tell them what they can do with their privately owned place," said Mr. Walenchok, who smokes two packs a day. "And the customers have the choice of coming in or not coming in if there's smoking."

Once the weather gets bad, Ms. Owczarczak said, they'll end up going someplace else to do their homework.

But Michelle Ormand, 40, of the South Side, a nonsmoker sitting with her laptop in the Beehive, welcomed the breath of fresh air.

"I'm very happy. I'm glad they did it," she said. "The smoke bothers my eyes. But I have I noticed that it's very dead here tonight."

Amy Lueck, 24, of Shadyside, said she sees an upside to the ban. While attending a poetry reading at the Fuel & Fuddle in Oakland Thursday night, she had to go outside to smoke.

"[The ban] helps me to not smoke as much," she said. "If they allowed smoking in there during the poetry reading, I would have had, like, five cigarettes in the 30 minutes I was there. But I didn't, and I didn't really miss it."

Brandon Smith, general manager of Fuel & Fuddle, said his customers, even the ones sitting at the bar, are happy with the change.

"Everyone loves it," he said. "This place is more of a restaurant than a bar anyway. We haven't seen a change in business. And most of our customers have no problem stepping outside."