“Depressing” is one word used to describe the cigar-smoking situation in England, where a ban in indoor smoking – except for tobacco shops – went into effect in June.

Neil Clark, writing in the Spectator, however, found that elements within the 800,000-strong cigar-smoking population are not only not resigned to defeat, but beginning an offensive:

“Popping outside for a quick Marlboro Light on the pavement is one thing, smoking a Montecristo in such circumstances is something else altogether. Cigars are meant to be savoured, not rushed: something which the ban makes almost impossible outside of one’s own home. Gentlemen’s clubs have been badly hit. The ban has completely changed club culture as the post-prandial smoke is no longer to be enjoyed. I think it makes it much more difficult to really get to know someone,” bemoans Piers Russell-Cobb, managing director of Media Fund. For female cigar smokers, the situation is even worse. “In the past I’ve had to get used to the fact that some people see cigar smoking as unfeminine,” says Sallyann Everett, a tobacconist. “Now, I’m worried that whenever I light a cigar I might be committing a crime. The ban has made me feel paranoid.”

“However, all is not lost. After a depressing four months in which smokers, in the words of Sallyann, have been made to feel ‘like third-class citizens’, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The fightback against New Labour’s particularly noxious brand of killjoy illiberalism is being led by the charismatic figure of Ranald Macdonald, elder son of the 24th Captain of Clanranald. Macdonald has worked tirelessly, over 19 years, to build his wonderfully cosy Belgravia club/restaurant Boisdale into an oasis for cigar smokers. Boisdale has the largest selection of cigars you’ll find in such an establishment (19 brands and over 120 different sizes and vintages). But the ban has hit business hard. ‘My sales were 15 per cent down in September,’ Macdonald told me over a Hoyo de Monterrey smoked on the little seated area outside his restaurant. “The evening trade has been badly affected. We have live jazz every night and jazz and cigars go together. You can listen to jazz without a cigar, but it’s somehow not quite the same.”

Macdonald’s assault is two-pronged. On 1 November, Boisdale opened Britain’s first cigar terrace, a 6 x 9 metre roof area, where patrons will, once again, be able to smoke their stogies legally. At the same time, Macdonald, together with fellow cigar aficionado Jemma Freeman, managing director of Hunters & Frankau, Britain’s exclusive distributor for many cigars, is launching a new single-purpose campaign to gain exemptions from the ban for bars, pubs and clubs. “Seventy-four per cent of the population in Scotland favour exemptions,” says Macdonald. “It’s a question of convincing the politicians that such a move would have public support. The lie put out by the pro-ban lobby was that Britain was only following the European example in imposing a total ban. It wasn’t. Other countries have worked out compromise solutions.” Macdonald prefers to use the phrase “bully state” to describe the sort of country Britain has become: “nanny state sounds too middle-class”. “We’ve certainly become a lot less tolerant than we were 30 years ago. I’m afraid there are a lot more unhappy people out there who seem to derive pleasure in telling people what not to do.”

Hunters & Frankau has led the fight for exemptions to the law and has done significant work to encourage restaurant and pubs to – if possible – create what it calls a “Cozy Outdoor Smoking Area” or “COSA.” The Boisdale example is a template which can be followed if the right outdoor space is available.

If the concept catches on, a national network of such patio cigar bars could be created. It would have to be called, of course, the “COSA Nostra.”