AS I sat down to lunch in a small restaurant in Toronto this week, I was reminded of one of the most distinctive differences between Bulgaria and Canada.

It wasn't that I didn't have to dodge roaming street dogs on my way in, nor was it the unmistakable absence of chalga music emanating through the restaurant. No, it wasn't the fact that I understood the menu, or that I could - and it feels good to say this - order my own meal.

The difference was far more glaring, and came in the form of a large sectioned-off, glass-walled area in the back of the establishment. I'm speaking, of course, of the human fish tank otherwise known as the smoking section.

You see, Canada has taken a much more proactive approach to encouraging its population to butt out than a lot of other countries. The only restaurants without fish tanks full of smokers are the ones which have banned the practice all together. Cigarettes here cost more than10 times as much as they do in Bulgaria - most of this attributable to taxes, not economic disparity - and the packaging of the product itself is covered with a wide variety of anti-smoking scare ads.

There's a lot of favourites to choose from in this department, ranging from packs of cigarettes with pictures of cancerous lungs, to advertisements detailing the effects of smoking on pregnancy, to charts of death statistics associated with smoking, to, of course, the fun pictures targeting the always sensitive issue of cigarette-induced impotence. You know, it wasn't always like this in Canada.

It's also a far cry from my memories of Bulgaria, where, if anything, NOT smoking was frowned upon. You know, it won't always be like that there either.

As a last refuge, smokers have gone online to form a great big smokers club in a glassed-off section of cyberspace. My absolute favourite location has to be what you'll find at www.lcolby.com. The site is essentially the contents of a book by Lauren Colby entitled In Defense of Smokers. And what a defence it is. Cigarettes, you should know, do NOT cause lung cancer. Nor do they lead to emphysema or heart attacks. In fact, they're not even addictive. Or, as the author says, if they are, "so are chocolate candies, pies and cakes, etc. Indeed, if "addition" (sic) is defined as dependence upon some chemical, everyone is addicted, to air!"

Two more tidbits for your reading pleasure, courtesy of Mr Colby: "My own bet is that a cigarette without nicotine will probably be almost as satisfying as one with nicotine. The active ingredient in smoke is smoke," and, "Certainly, there is no case whatever for a connection between ETS (second hand smoke) and any disease, nor is there are any case for a connection between cigar and pipe smoking and lung cancer."

Other sites have wisely avoided any sort of scientific discussion of the negatives of smoking and focused instead on things they find enjoyable. At www.smoking-section.com, you'll find the Smokers With Attitude. You'll also find their Smoker's Guide to the Cool Ways to Smoke. On the list are a couple of tricks one can do with a lighter as well as instructions on how to blow smoke rings and how to French inhale - something apparently popularised by the movie Grease.

Smokers are more serious, and organised, over at www.forces.org, a site trying to rid consumers' lives of government interference. They pride themselves on providing information they feel has been missing from mainstream media. Part of their mandate is to prevent the spread of smoking bans throughout the US, and repeal the ones already in effect. Of course, as the site points out, they don't support smoking, but rather the right to do so.

Also of interest for those I may have upset earlier: Forces has recently posted the results of a Norwegian study - presented at the World Sexology Congress in Cuba, no less - that found no correlation between impotence and smoking or drinking.

And, finally, if you're a little tired of sitting at your desk today and are about to head for a smoke, be sure to check out www.cybercigarettebreak.com first. Pick the brand, strength and duration of your smoke and let your monitor join in the fun, as it smokes a virtual cigarette while you're gone. The computer screen also serves as a helpful note to the co-workers left behind who no doubt are wondering where you've gone. Fun for the whole office!

And isn't that what smoking is really all about?