In general European countries have bans on smoking in public places much stricter than the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans#Smoking_b...

I don't know what the laws are, but the amount of smoking centimeters away from the entrances of buildings in Europe was staggering to me as an American. Both from patrons and employees. I was breathing in smoke plumes pretty much everywhere.

I wasn’t aware of Europe’s laws but I meant outside of Europe too with European expats. Living in Asia currently and second hand smoke is a big part of my social life.

I can't stand the smell of cigarettes, many of them make me feel nauseous. This may be because I'm young enough that public smoking has been banned for most of my life, so I never ever got used to the smell.

Used to be that bars were the place you went in the US to smoke and drink. Since you can't smoke in bars (Note: "pubs" for UK readers) anymore, there's less of a reason to go to them, and it incentivizes drinking at home. Which has led to a lot of bars closing and fewer of them than ever.

I don't think we're trying to solve for maximizing the number of bars

All the bars where I live seam busy as ever. I don't think smoking bans are hurting them at all.

You don't need bars or luck to make friends with European expats.

Europe is the exception here, not the US.