Posh steakhouse Morton's, with restaurants in north Scottsdale and the upscale Biltmore area of Phoenix, has always been cigar-friendly. But a year ago, when it became illegal to smoke inside restaurants in Arizona, Morton's moved the stogie lovers outside onto "tented, misted, heated" patios. And business hasn't suffered a bit, said John Simich, Morton's spokesman.

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Cigar dinners still attract as many attendees, and the regular patrons are happier dining in clear air, Simich said.

"We haven't had a complaint about cigar smoke in a year," he said.

The statewide smoking ban has been in effect since May 1, 2007, and the law is getting mixed reviews from local bar and restaurant owners. Not all have fared as well as Morton's.

"We don't have a patio, and we've noticed a big drop in business. We're just trying to hang on by our fingers," said Connie Jacobs, owner of Famous Sam's in Mesa. Jacobs and her husband also owned a Famous Sam's in Apache Junction, but had to close that location to keep the Mesa sports bar solvent, she said. Jacobs said the bar business has been slammed during the past year by three major events that chased customers away.

"The smoking ban started it, the economy finished it off," she said. Then in January, tougher drunken-driving laws "made people afraid to have even one beer. That's worse than the smoking ban," she said. "It used to be that on football Sundays it was standing room only. Now you can shoot a cannon off in here."

Cindy Earl, who has owned the Mesquite Bar & Grill in Gilbert for 15 years, said the same.

Earl is careful about over-serving and offers a ride home or to call a taxi for a patron who has over-imbibed. "But the DUI laws scare everybody," she said. "Back-to-back with the smoking ban, it's hard. People just don't come in as often. It's sad. It's hurt a lot of small businesses."

Other bar and restaurant owners said the smoking ban hasn't hurt, and may even have helped business, attracting people who previously wouldn't dine out because of secondhand smoke.

Some eateries banned butts before the state did.

The Landmark restaurant in Mesa went smoke-free more than a decade ago, said owner Don Ellis.

"I remember people screaming at us that they'd never come back," Ellis said. "But we're very happy we did it. It probably helped more than it hurt us."

And for 8-year-old Scottsdale-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, whose restaurants around the state include Bloom, North, Sauce, Greene House and Olive & Ivy, all eateries have always been smoke-free except for the large outdoor patio at Olive & Ivy, said Mike Wilcox, director of operations.

"The most important thing to us is the guest experience, and smoke takes away from the experience," Wilcox said. He doesn't think Fox's self-imposed smoking ban or the year-old law have in any way deterred business.

And at least one local bar owner said the ban has been a boost, keeping smokers and nonsmokers apart and content.

"It has positively affected our restaurant business, bringing us a different clientele," said Trevor Kingston, managing partner of three Valley bar/restaurants - Fibber Magees in Chandler, Skeptical Chymist in Scottsdale and Tim Finnegan's Irish Pub in Phoenix.

"The average diner is not a smoker, so before diners stayed away," Kingston said. They apparently thought they would be surrounded by smoke in an Irish bar he said, but the irony is Ireland banned smoking in pubs two years ago.

And Kingston, who still keeps in touch with family and friends in his homeland, said that when Ireland snuffed out the smoke, pub business slacked off significantly at first, but it all came back.

"People realized it is a social gathering spot," he said.

Kingston has patios at his bars, so those who want a puff or two can do so, and that may make the difference in his business.

Others, like Earl and Jacobs, don't have outdoor space to smoke. But Kingston does have something in common with the patio-less watering holes - worries about the drinking laws.

"The DUI laws impacted all of us," Kingston said. "I don't think people consume less or more because of them. It's just in their minds now. It has scared people."