Cigarette smokers statewide yesterday converged on the last remaining nooks and crannies where they could still legally indulge following the enactment of the Smokefree Hawai'i Law.

In the crowded Downtown Honolulu business district, where it seems like every spot is within 20 feet of a door or window, smokers flocked to small grassy areas such as Tamarind, Walker and Wilcox parks to have their cigarettes.

The situation was similar at the airport, where a "cabin to curb" prohibition forced smokers to congregate around the few ashtrays that weren't yet covered over with wood or sporting a "no smoking" symbol.

With smoking now banned by state law in public places, workplaces and within 20 feet of any entrance to a smokefree building, smokers were left with few options when they headed outside.

Most smokers, like Jeanette Howard, said they accept the new rules that forced her to smoke on the sidewalk around the corner from the airport's interisland terminal.

However, considering that the rainy season is right around the corner, Howard — who recently moved to the Big Island — said it would be nice to have covered areas to smoke under.

"We're accommodating nonsmokers," she said. "Why not accommodate the smokers? It's only fair."

The law's impact goes beyond individual smokers, however, as businesses looked for ways to accommodate employees who smoke.

Jo-Ann Kaita, human resources manager for Proservice Hawai'i, which outsources administrators to 600 companies, said that several weeks ago they notified their clients of the upcoming changes.

She said that the one-page newsletter included the regulations and warned businesses to post clearly legible signs so that employees would not violate the law.

That's exactly what they did at her office in Hawai'i Kai, where smokers now go downstairs to an open courtyard.

Most workplaces had already banned smoking, but while employees may have been used to going outside, Kaita believes the big change will be having to go 20 feet from the entrance.

The changes seem to be going smoothly, she said. "I've had no complainers," she said. "They understand the law and respect what it's about."

SOME EXPECTED TO QUIT

The new law also was expected to send more smokers searching for ways to quit. For example, the Hawaii Tobacco Quitline expects to get an influx of calls in the next few weeks because of the new law and the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout event yesterday, which encourages smokers to quit, said coordinator Valerie Smalley.

Hawai'i is the 14th state in the nation to adopt a comprehensive no-smoking policy.

In a few weeks, Las Vegas will follow suit. Voters there approved a ballot measure that would ban smoking in most public places, except for casinos.

At a news conference yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle, a former smoker, said although she has received complaints from those who think the law infringes on their rights, "We need to send a clear message that this is not about them. It's about those around that don't smoke and the impact on them by secondhand smoke."

The governor said she hopes that having fewer places to light up will give smokers more incentive to quit the habit.

Smokers at the airport seemed adamant that having to go outside to smoke was not enough to make them give up the habit.

To get sign language interpreter Beverly Bownds to quit, she said, "They'd have to make it illegal."

Bownds said she has no problem with the law, though. She doesn't think people should be smoking in public buildings anyway, and she respects the rights of nonsmokers to not have to breathe in second-hand smoke.

Aloha Airlines cleaner Llewella Akee was less happy about the new restrictions on smokers.

"We're getting pushed back further and further away," she said.

Still, she said she's OK with the law as long as there's somewhere she can smoke, even if it's an unprotected area. If it rains, she says she'll just bring an umbrella, rather than let withdrawal unleash her "bad side."

EDUCATING CLIENTS

Since the law was passed in May, businesses and tour companies have made it a point to educate their clients about the upcoming restrictions.

Gavin Wilson, of H.I.S. Hawai'i Corp., said the tour company told tourists coming in from Japan about the new law months ago. There were no complaints from visitors arriving today, he said.

"They're not bothered by it," he said.

Wilson noted that airports in Japan also prohibit smoking, so the visitors weren't surprised that they had to step away from the building to smoke when they arrived in Hawai'i.

Misty Perez, a lei greeter at the airport, had a lot of complaints. She said the others she smoked with this morning shared similar concerns about having to be outside on a narrow median between the terminal and the parking structure.

She said there is no shade, no security guard to help people cross the street and no protection from the cars that speed around the corner. "It's dangerous," she said. "People are very upset."

Perez said about 25 people were crammed onto the median before 7 a.m., sharing a couple of small ashtrays.

"It's kind of like we aren't American anymore," she said. "It's like our freedoms have been taken away."

She has no intention of quitting. "Me quitting would be like allowing them to change me," she said. "I'm not changing for them."

PHASE-IN FOR LAW

On the first day of the law, airport security guards directed smokers to designated areas without issuing citations and DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said the new law would have an educational phase-in.

Across the state, authorities in general don't expect to give out tons of tickets for illegal smoking. The hope is that businesses and public pressure become a front line of enforcement, said Julian Lipsher, a public health educator with the state Health Department.

Businesses in Hawai'i failing to comply with the law face fines up to $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and up to $500 for each additional violation. Individual violators of the smoking law may be fined up to $50 plus court costs.

More than 126 million Americans are regularly exposed to smokers' fumes, and tens of thousands die each year as a result of that exposure, according to a federal study released earlier this year. The report cited "overwhelming scientific evidence" that secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and other illnesses.

In Hawai'i, about 17 percent of adults smoke, the fourth-lowest rate in the nation, according to the state Health Department.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.