Will the cigarette smoking culture in Germany ever diminish?

I recently traveled to Germany and much to my surprise, found smokers everywhere at all hours of the day. From old people to young, men to women, girls and boys, there was even a baby with a cigarette candy in his mouth for pete's sake- at least I think it's candy- it's more intense than France, the UK and even Ireland.

I think it depends on the city as well. I noticed more smokers in bigger cities like Munich and fewer in the university town of Freiburg.

As for a change, I think it is coming. Italy and Ireland have already banned smoking in public and France put a similar ban in place. The Germans were working on some such ban, but it got squashed in government. I still think it will come back in some form. I certainly hope so.

Once a ban goes into effect it will be interesting to see how the actual culture of smoking develops around it. I would not expect everyone to stop smoking at once; but a few winters of having to stand outside of the warm bar without a beer in the snow to smoke might turn off a bunch of people. I also expect the health system will be happy to help anyone to stop that wants it.

Germany is like a burnt fishstick and no one likes a burnt fishstick.

They will die off by attrition and soon there will be none left.