In Canada, I don’t recall exactly when cigarette vending machines disappeared - but if the cashier thought you were too young, find a handy vending machine. Ontario law IIRC said no sales to anyone under 18, but until the late 80’s it was not that big a deal.
the place I worked at allowed smoking at the desk until the early 90’s, and only banned smoking in the lunchroom just before 2000. I remember going into my office, shared with 3 others, who smoked. The area had been carved out of another office and given electric heat but no ventilation other than the door. A weekend of baking used ashtrays did not enhance the smell of the place.
The bosses had always hemm’ed and haw’ed about the decision “people will complain, it’s cold outside…”; there were discussions about ventilation and where exhaust went, who could smell the second-hand smoke… until one cranky new boss simply decided “No smoking in the building”. He didn’t give a damn who complained.
Eventually, they fulfilled my joking prediction - I said someday they’ll paint a semicircle around the doors, and no smoking in the crease. (Hockey joke). Sure enough, a few years later, no smoking within 20 feet of the doors.
But yes, in the 60’s smoking was everywhere. Remember the joke that making an ashtray for mom or dad was a common childhood shop or pottery project?
By the 70’s, they were trying to curtail smoking in some areas - the student lounge in college was “no smoking”, the high school smoking room was turned into the teachers’ lounge and students had to smoke outside the north door. No smoking in residence rooms. No smoking in the lecture rooms. No smoking in the hallways either in some buildings.
I remember seeing a confrontation in a shopping mall in the mid-80’s where some woman was complaining another had brushed her expensive coat with a lit cigarette in passing. Smoking in public areas of a mall seemed normal at the time.
*Alien *(Second movie) came out in the late 80’s, and the attitude had changed enough in the few years it was in development that much of the audience groaned (“Good grief. She’s smoking”)when an opening scene showed Ripley smoking.
When the provinces first started restricting smoking in restaurants, people chimed in that it would destroy the restaurant business. Separate non-smoking areas were established. then they banned smoking - despite predictions, that did not have any impact on the restaurant business. Banning smoking in bars, would of course kill the bar and nightclub business - and did nothing of the kind. I remember bars where by the end of the night, the smoke would sting your eyes. I think a lot of people preferred no smoking. IIRC, smoking had been up to 60% (males) and 40% (females). By the mid-90’s nonsmokers were the majority and there were more women than men smoking.
Born in '55, I don’t recall any negative comments about not smoking. I got a lot of grief about not drinking, but none for not smoking. But then, I never complained about smoke.
IIRC, most of the hype about second-hand smoke, like the hype about drinking while pregnant, is seriously overblown. the only study I saw that confirmed any real danger of second hand smoke was with the wives of Japanese heavy smokers. Confined in a tiny apartment with poor ventilation with a partner who smoked like a chimney did have statistically significant effects on the spouse’s health. But… at those concentrations, you might as well be a smoker.