I’d put money on that being due to the popularity of “snus”, a type of moist tobacco used orally. If you factor that in to a tobacco usage survey I would expect to see Sweden far ahead of many European countries. Snus has the added danger that it is not socially unacceptable, people rarely even notice someone snusing. For that reason people happily have a snus in their mouth most of the day, including when sitting at their desk (or whatever) at work.
That may be the intent, but I saw people smoking pretty much everywhere. On top of that, it seemed like there were ashtrays all over the place, and not just in areas that were in any way separated from the rest of the terminal.
All-in-all, it was quite a surprise to someone coming from the U.S., where the airports are almost completely smoke-free. The designated smoking areas in U.S. airports, if there are any, consist of a few closed-off rooms. At some airports, you’re not even allowed to smoke at certain places outside, in the passenger pick-up and drop-off areas!
I have flown many times for work and pleasure. The scariest flight I ever had was from Gatwick to Dublin. It was dark, it was windy, and it was raining, all three of these things were raised too an extreme. We were in one of those turboprops that are notorious for crashing in bad weather. I think we were flying upside down for awhile, but I can’t really prove that fact. When we landed we hit the runway at about a 45 degree angle, I mean the plane was coming in sideways bucking the storm. After we pulled up to the airport (we still had to depart outside in the wind and rain), people were gathering their belongings and stumbling out the door. I found a small wall decoration in the overhead that said, “God Bless Us Everyone”, I asked around and no one claimed it. That sign still hangs over my bed to this day.
Back to the OP, smoking. I especially liked those big cigarettes people smoke in selective coffee shops in Amsterdam 
My recent experience includes Denmark, France, Switzerland, Germany and Poland. Of these, Denmark probably takes the prize for the most smoke. The extreme was probably a scene in one of those tiny elevators (3 is max capacity). The doors opened and there, underneath a “No Smoking” sign, were 2 guys puffing away.
But the other 4 are scarcely what you’d call smoke-free. There were plenty of smokers not far from the no-smoking signs in the Zurich airport. The designated smoking areas have no discernable ventilation scheme.
There is no smoking in Schiphol except in the designated areas. Mostly, people smoke outside… that’s where you see most of the ashtrays. Of course, you can smoke freely in the casino in the airport.
That is so cool… a CASINO in an airport!! I love Schiphol!
Just to clarify a little. “Snus” is smokeless tobacco, also known as “snuff” in the US, but specifically snuff that is sold in tea-bag-like sachels which you place between your gum and lips. It’s sold in the US, as far as I remember, but surprisingly it seems to be illegal in many EU countries (for example, Germany. At least that’s what they told me when I tried to find it there. If anyone could tell me why, I’d be interested to hear.)
I’ve never been to Scandinavia, but it’s interesting to hear that it’s not socially acceptable, as a large portion of Scandis here in Budapest do snus on a regular basis.
Whoops. That was me not previewing! I blame a hard day of decorating my flat. What I meant to say is that it is socially acceptable because it doesn’t intefere with people in the same way that smoke does. I have sat in business meetings where people have sneakily slipped snus into their mouth.
The difference between Denmark and Norway on this issue is remarkable (and in my experience, Sweden is very similar to Norway here). In Norway, there are more regulations about where smoking is permitted, and the regulations are both more widely enforced and more widely respected than in Denmark. I don’t really know why.
I’m a Franco-British smoker, and I’ve never felt that anyone in either the UK or France considered smoking unacceptable. I mean, they may not like cigarette smoke, but as long as you’re considerate about it, nobody lectures you about smoking or considers it unacceptable in the way that they might think that expressing Fascist views or going to the pub naked is unacceptable.
I find the widespread American attitude towards smoking unpleasantly puritanical. Banning smoking outside an airport is ridiculous. Who the hell minds if you light up outside for goodness sake? The recent ban on smoking pretty much anywhere in New York is a stunningly illiberal piece of legislation. I hope that the New Yorkers are making a point of flaunting it.
I quite like the Southern European practise of standing underneath the “No smoking” sign to have a cigarette: it shows a healthy disrespect for the rules, something that you don’t see much of in the UK. A friend of mine was in Rome recently, and whilst waiting for his aeroplane asked a carabinieri where he could smoke in the airport. The guy just directed him to the big “No smoking” sign that was hidden by people smoking.
I lived in Zuerich for a while and Switzerland is the best place in Europe to be a smoker. Apart from in the office, there is pretty much nowhere where you can’t smoke. Films in the cinema have a 10 minute smoke break in the middle, and they advertisements for Parisienne cigarettes showing lots of beautiful young trendy people surfing onto the beach and lighting up in the waves. Kids: smoking Parisienne will make you a sun-kissed supercool surf-god.
As for the enormous new health warnings, my friend and I have a system. I give her the one that says “Smoking can cause impotence” and she gives me “Smoking while pregnant can harm your baby” in exchange: everyone’s happy.
That said, it’s a bloody stupid habit.
Here in France things are pretty lax these days and probably due to the French attitude to laws than a love of smoking. A pack of 20 is pretty cheap (3€) and a large percentage smoke.
Where I work, in a building of 500, if all the people in the same office are smokers then they all smoke, in the office, something never to be seen in Ireland, where I come from originally.
And there was me thinking you fitted all those fifty million people onto a small island the size of a postage stamp.
Since the health insurance system in Germany, which is quite different from the US, is very expensive, they need a lot of money. This they get from tobacco taxes… If noone smoked anymore, the health system would collapse immediately. You could argue that it would pay off because you don’t have to treat smoking related diseases anymore. But then people simply die of another cause.
Actually some folks claim that a smoker is beneficial for society because he dies earlier. No pensions to be paid, no nursing home…