A Federal court overturns the challenge to a smoking ban in Austin, so if you want to light up, you better be outside or in your own private home.

"Working the door, people are always trying to walk outside this place with their drinks in their hands so that they can go outside and smoke,” said Pete McPherson, doorman at Ego's Bar.

The Austin city-wide smoking ban was reinstated by the Federal Court of Appeals on Thursday after several years of challenges. Some bars claimed the ban was hurting business, others said it was just inconvenient.

"I think there (are) two sides to the story, people are only looking at one side,” said McPherson.

Opal Divine's at Penn Field went into business just as the smoking ban was passed. It had already incorporated a separate room inside for smokers. Now that room stays relatively empty.

"We have this great patio and this extensive deck out there, so smokers don't really have a problem here, at all, but we have as a result kind of an empty room sitting there. An empty smoking room, now we call it the game room,” said Carol Hickey, manager of Opal Divine's Penn Field.

Soon after voters passed the smoking ban in 2005 about 10 Austin bar owners, including Ego's, filed complaints with the city. According to city officials, a lower district court approved the bar owners' complaints. It ruled that the city couldn't enforce the ban. Establishments only had to post smoking ban signs and remove ash trays, but didn't actually have to ask patrons to stop smoking. So, some smokers were still lighting up.

"I kind of started taking matters into my own hands I kind of just started, after two years I just started lighting it up and waiting for somebody to tell me not to smoke anymore,” said William Gartner, bar patron.

Of course at that time the bars didn't have to speak up. However, the Federal Court of Appeals said the Austin smoking ban followed all constitutional provisions, and reversed the lower court's ruling. Since the ban was passed, city officials say 40 citations have been handed out to individuals and 70 to establishments. The city plans to enforce the smoking ban by giving businesses a voluntary mandate, and investigating an establishment if it sees a pattern of complaints.