The Dirt Cowboy Cafe, one of the last indoor havens for cigarette puffers, banned smoking as of Jan. 4.
Tom Guerra, the owner of the Dirt Cowboy, said he snuffed out smoking mainly to change the atmosphere in the cafe.
"It's something that I've been wanting to do for quite a while," he said.
The cafe, which started serving fresh baked goods in the fall, now does all baking on cafe premises. Guerra said smoke is detrimental to the freshness of muffins and pastries.
Guerra said about 80 percent of the customers who come in to the cafe after 8 p.m. are students. He said many students would come in, order one cup of coffee and smoke four or five cigarettes, while occupying one of the cafe's 25 seats for an hour or more.
"We started having a reputation as a smoking place," Guerra said.
Middle aged patrons who came in after 8 p.m. would see the amount of smoke in the cafe and would be without a seat, Guerra said. This would cause many of them to order coffee to go.
Since the non-smoking policy was implemented, Guerra said he has noticed an increase in the quality of the air in the cafe, a faster turn-around time for the tables and more middle-aged customers ordering cappuccinos and pastries.
And Guerra said many of the cafe's patrons are still coming despite the non-smoking policy.
"I was pleasantly surprised that students who came when there was smoking are coming back," Guerra said. "I thought I would lose more than I did."
