A Smoking room is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited.

Smoking rooms can be found in public buildings such as airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

s, and in semi-public buildings such as workplaces. Such rooms are equipped with chairs, ashtrays and ventilation, and usually free to enter although there may be a smoking age

Smoking age

The minimum legal age to purchase cigarettes or tobacco products varies from country to country. Ages range from 14 to 21, but 18 tends to be the most common legal smoking age.-Asia:-Europe:-Australia:...

 restriction (usually 18). A cigarette

Cigarette

A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

 company sometimes sponsors these smoking rooms, displaying its brand names on the room walls and financing the room or its maintenance. Cigarette companies have worked hard to ensure smoking was accommodated in major airports, which are high-profile locations serving many people who are often bored or nervous. Initially providing smoking and no smoking areas was their goal but when that policy failed they fell back on ventilated smoking rooms.

In the U.K. smoking is illegal in any enclosed place where staff are employed, so that smoking rooms cannot be provided and facilities must be outdoors; apart from private homes, almost the only legal exception is for smoking-rooms in tobacconists where customers may sample the wares.

Historical use in private houses

When the Crimean War during the 1850s popularized Turkish tobacco, smoking gained in fashionable popularity but was considered indelicate. After dinner in a large private house, the gentlemen

Gentleman

The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...

 might retreat from the ladies to a smoking room, furnished with velvet curtains and decorated to masculine tastes, and replace his tail coat with a comfortable velvet smoking jacket

Smoking jacket

A smoking jacket is an overgarment designed to be worn while smoking tobacco, usually in the form of pipes and cigars, or for domestic leisure.-Design:The classic smoking jacket is a mid thigh-length jacket made from velvet or silk, or both...

and cap. The velvet was intended to absorb the smoke, to avoid contaminating other rooms and clothes.