The air was lighter in Charlie B's on Thursday.

That was just one theory Michael Bragg developed as he and Steve Thorstenson sipped their midafternoon beers at the popular and heretofore smoky bar on North Higgins Avenue.

Neither man smokes, and they were having a good time observing and imagining scenarios wrought by the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act, the 2005 state statute that went into effect at midnight.

"One guy accidentally lit up - twice - a while ago," Bragg said. "It's called behavior autonomy, almost like a heartbeat."

"I've got a lot of friends who wouldn't come in here any more because of the smoke," reflected Thorstenson. He'll welcome them back.

They sat in front of a wall where someone years ago - it's a good guess it was Bragg - used a black marker to draw an arrow pointing to his seat. It was labeled "Mike's Spot."

He pointed at the renowned rows of black-and-white portraits the late Lee Nye produced of Missoula downtown denizens, many of whom made and make it a daily ritual to stop in at the bar for a smoke and a drink.

Take away their smokes, Bragg noted, and "their daily routine has got to really be revamped."

Smoking ban or not, Charlie B's was a buzzing place at 2 p.m., at both the bar end and in the back at the Dinosaur Café.

"It seems like a normal day," said Tanya Cohen, the lone server behind the bar. She said she'd had only one person who seemed upset about the ban.

A man named Dug, another nonsmoker, claimed to be perturbed.

"I just liked the decadence of the place," he said, adding with certainty that new decadences would be found.

The tang of tobacco remained from nearly half a century of cigarettes in Charlie B's and its predecessor, Eddie's Club. The smokes went out with a bang on Wednesday night.

While smoke-free celebrations were held at other venues in Missoula and around Montana, including at the Missoula City-County Health Department, Charlie B's overflowed with what amounted to one last smoke-out.

"It was like a big party," said Bob Hayselden, who quit cigarettes 20 years ago. "I smoked one last night and it was rank."

Across the street and down a block, patrons of the venerable Oxford, congregated outside at the street corner between drinks to light up.

Some were angry.

"You can't smoke in the bars, you can't smoke in the restaurant. What's going to come next? You can't smoke in your house?" said Sherry Morin.

"What the heck is going on with this downtown?" demanded Tammy Henderson. "Russia has more rights than we do."

Others, though disagreeing with the ban, were more reflective.

"Why can't there be a compromise?" wondered Jason Preiss of Portland, Ore., who has been in the Missoula the last four weeks. "They could have nonsmoking bars and smoking bars. I think that's a good compromise.

"They're cutting people out, they're cutting adults out, and I think that's kind of ridiculous. It's like we're being frowned upon because we're addicted."

"The bottom line," argued Justin Morin, "is we're smoking out here so my 18-month-old daughter can be in there eating pancakes."

He said arguments against the smoking ban were "disrespectful to her."

Erica Rollins, head of the health department's Tobacco Free Missoula County, said she had received no complaints about noncompliance Thursday, nor did she anticipate any.

"We were expecting really high compliance," said Rollins. "Before today a lot of bar and casino owners had already come in and talked with me, either in person or over the phone, and asked questions about how this would work."

The majority of Missoula bars had already made the move to smokeless, some shortly after the 2005 Legislature passed the law.

Her department will be making "observational studies" of every bar in the county in the next three months, not as smoke detectives so much as observers and educators. That's part of their contract requirements with the state.

The law is "complaint-driven," said Rollins. The state has a new Internet mechanism called the Clean Air Reporting System, or CARS, on which formal complaints may be lodged. It's found at tobaccofree.mt.gov, where information on the Clean Indoor Air Act can also be found.

"You put in the business name, the day the complaint is observed, and then you describe what the complaint was," Rollins said. Complaints must be signed and contact information included. They're public records, so a business owner can ask to see who lodged the complaint, she added.

Penalties for violations range from "an educational visit" from the health department to a maximum fine of $400.

Complaints from other public establishments where smoking was previously banned have been few, and Rollins said this final step shouldn't change things much.

"There may be a select group, a very small group of establishments, who want to be defiant," she said. "But the majority want to be on an even playing field, and they want to do this together as a team. It's not us against them. It's a community effort."

Reporter Kim Briggeman can be reached at 523-5266 or at kbriggeman@missoulian.com.