Smoking versus non-smoking: It may not be as glamorous as rivalries such as Coke versus Pepsi, but it is one that may be contested a softer in some municipalities.

In July, the village of Skokie enacted an anti-smoking ban in all restaurants except those that provide a separate room completely enclosed with an independent ventilation system.

Bans, or proposals for bans on smoking, are popping up all around the nation, including California, New York and Illinois.

Robin Moremen, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in sociology, said the amount of smoking bans has increased gradually over the years, with renewed intensity recently.

“This has been a progressive social trend over the last couple decades,” Moremen said.

She pointed to federal regulations mandating all flights within the continental United States be smoke-free, as well as NIU’s smoke-free environment.

“More and more today, you are seeing restaurants that are non-smoking. If you want to smoke, you have to go outside,” she said.

One of the non-smoking restaurants is Tom & Jerry’s, 215 W. Lincoln Highway.

Sarah Wilkins, general manager of Tom & Jerry’s, said the restaurant changed from a smoking/non-smoking split, to all non-smoking in February.

“I was receiving a lot of complaints from non-smoking customers about customers who were smoking, and the environment it created because we’re such a small restaurant,” Wilkins said.

Before the change, the front of the restaurant was considered non-smoking. The smoking section was cordoned off by a wall with doorways, but there were no doors, leaving an opening for the smoke to come through.

Other restaurants find it possible to welcome both smokers and non-smokers.

Ruby Tuesday, 2370 Sycamore Road, has a smoking section separated from non-smoking by a six-foot wall and an air purifying system, bar manager Dan Soto said.

Soto said he had not heard any complaints from non-smokers about smelling smoke.