Secret smoking dens are appearing in Seattle as smokers seek an indoor space where they can puff, drink, and socialize, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported May 31.

Sometimes, bar owners wink and late-night patrons light up after most other customers leave; the signal to start is when the ashtrays appear on the bar. Curtains are drawn as smokers light up.

Information on which bars allow regulars to smoke in the wee hours is spread by word-of-mouth, along with a pledge to keep it on the low-down.

Bartenders keep a vigilant eye out for nonsmokers before giving the all-clear to smokers. Some bar owners take a backdoor approach to delivering the high sign: "State law prohibits smoking in public spaces," one announces as he puts a oversized jar on the bar. "But if I catch you smoking, you better be putting your butts into this jar."

Most of these latter-day speakeasies tend to be in neighborhood bars with regular clients. "Smoking is part of dive-bar culture. It's like people drinking PBR," said smoker Zack Brown, who slips into the smoker-friendly downstairs of a bar where lighting up is prohibited above street level. "Smokers are so ostracized these days. It's nice to be able to smoke and be left alone, even if we have to sit here in the basement."

Some smokeasy owners urge their clients to quit even as they allow smoking out of fear of losing their regular clients. "I think I ought to be able to decide whether there's smoking or not in my own bar," said one. "There has to be some personal responsibility ... If you don't like to be around smoke, don't go to a bar where there's smoke."

At other bars, outdoor patios have become the unofficial smoking areas, even if the law prohibits smoking in these areas, as well. Patios are not equipped with ashtrays, but nor does staff ask smokers to stub their butts. "It's sort of like don't ask, don't tell," said one waiter.