Tobacco News and Interesting Information

A happy hour drink in Berlin may now leave you with a baby hangover, as tiny Berliners flood smoke-free bars and restaurants in the city's more fertile neighborhoods. Already on January 2, sitting in a café with a pregnant friend, there was a notable number of babies stopping by, ordering lattés, and flirting with the waitresses. Most were hanging out with grinning fathers, who were happily drinking pilsner and playing patty cake. All in all, they looked as if 2008 and the cigarette ban in bars and restaurants had given them a new lease on life. Peace and goodwill reigned, as neighbors big and small tipped their glasses (and bottles) to one another.

Just a short week later, harmony in the neighborhood began to erode, as the first gang of babies swaggered into the local watering hole, "the office" to the neighborhood's self-employed. Lone over-caffeinated writers and graphic designers sat unsuspecting at rickety tables, scribbling in notebooks and rattling away on laptops. The scene was of solitary contemplation amid the Arab rock and flicker of candlelight. Until ... one of the babies, giving his pals a clever wink, began to scream. Already shaking and frazzled from nicotine deprivation, the lone patrons grew restless -- one raggedly ran his fingers through the hair, another drummed her foot nervously, a third headed outside for a cigarette. That's when the first little guy cajoled his friends to join in on the fun. Cappuccinos and latte macchiatos were knocked back in minutes, laptops were snapped shut, books were rammed into backpacks, and the place was cleared.

Flashback to Brooklyn circa 2002. I'm sitting in my favorite spot in the Tea Lounge on Seventh Avenue. Enter a mother's group of six to eight, with babies in tow. Cute little buggers, drooling and cooing to their friends. That was before things got ugly, the babies grew aggressive, surrounded bookish patrons defenseless in their clutter of newspapers, and snatched at their endeared dog-eared notebooks. They settle in. Coffee tables were heaped with pacifiers, rattles, and pop-up books. The bookish types became invisible; unable to concentrate amid the cacophony, they stumbled over the jumble of diaper bags toward the exit.

How to restore neighborly love and community harmony? Well, one place has opened in Prenzlauer Berg where babies rule supreme, without needing high decibels to compensate for their small size. The new Café Jacques on the corner of Senefelderstrasse and Hiddenseer Strasse was opened with the neighborhood's new families in mind. (There's even a little play room in the back.) It's so oriented to "kids," it has the honor of being (to the best of my knowledge) the first explicitly anti-dog joint in its nook of town. Yes, I know a certain 3.5 kg canine who was not allowed there, wegen den Kindern (because of the children).

Otherwise, dear neighbors, have patience. The babies really do come in peace. So let them learn their social skills from your good example!