The strip of Forest Street that's home to some of the swankiest restaurants in downtown New Canaan looks more like a ghost town than a dining hotspot on a sunny, breezy, 60-degree day in late October.

But inside Gates Restaurant, a 30-year-old eatery with colorful decor and mouthwatering entrees, tables are packed with ladies who lunch and businessmen ordering salads and sandwiches, some enjoying mid-day beers at the bar.

The air is smoke-free, as it's been in the seven years this month since the state's smoking ban took effect in restaurants (bars and taverns followed in April 2004). But the barren streets of the adorable stretch still begs the question: Where are the smokers?

As it turns out, a lot has changed since the law took effect seven years ago, restauranteurs in New Canaan and other Fairfield County towns tell Patch. For starters, the number of disgruntled patrons who puff has declined — a sharp contrast from when the law took hold, according to Gates co-owner Billy Auer.

"There were a lot of angry people who didn't think it was fair to them and their rights," he said.

According to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, the number of cigarette smokers in the state peaked in 1999 at 22.8 percent. In 2009, the same year that the state cigarette tax was raised from $2 to $3, that number fell to 15.4 percent.

Department spokesman Bill Gerrish said he speculates that a number of factors — such as a weakened economy compounded by cigarette tax and the ban of smoking in bars and restaurants — may have prompted more people to kick their cigarette habits.

Whatever the reason for the decline, Fairfield County bar and restaurant owners said the law has had a mostly positive impact on their bottom lines, as both patrons and workers are happier not breathe in smoky air.

Still, those who were in the food business since before the turn of the century say it wasn't easy.

Auer, a former smoker who quit 15 years ago, said the ban on cigarette air has had immeasurable health benefits.

"I have asthma and I would wheeze more," Auer said. "And now my breathing is considerably better. Not having to deal with ashtrays or the smell of smoke on everything was a pleasant change."

Nicole Griffin, executive director for the Connecticut Restaurant Association in Hartford, told Patch the smoking ban was a big issue seven years ago. Today, bigger issues like the economy and sick pay for full-time employees have eclipsed it.

"The smoking ban is not an issue at all for restaurants," said Griffin, whose organization has 600 members. "When it first passed, restauranteurs were really nervous that once the ban was put into effect people wouldn't come out to eat and drink, and that's not what happened. Seven years later, customers are really happy to go out to bars and to eat and drink and not be in an atmosphere of smoke."

At Portofino Ristorante in Wilton, manager Stephanie Merrill echoed that sentiment.

"The workers find it better because we're not walking in the smoke," Merrill said of the 22-year-old establishment. "It was very smoky on the bar side."

Today, the small restaurant tries to accommodate smokers by putting ashtrays outside by the two exits. However, smoking is not allowed on the outdoor patio.

"Originally some people were cranky about it but over the years it's become accepted," Merrill said. "When you're sitting down and eating food, you don't want to smell soke while you're eating."

But while longtime smokers might have had some adjustments to make, today's 20-something smokers are used to stepping outside.

Claire Jackson, a 28-year-old Stamford resident who works in Norwalk, remembers when the smoking ban went into effect her senior year of college.

"Sometimes I had to go out by myself, but it can also be social," Jackson, who quit smoking in August. "It's easy to talk to people and meet new people when you're doing it. You can ask people for a lighter or a cig."

The ban wasn't so easy for early pioneers, such as Bernard's restaurant in Ridgefield, said Sarah Bouissou, one-half of the culinary husband-and-wife duo that owns the 10-year-old establishment, formerly known as The Inn at Ridgefield. When the Bouissous took over the Inn, which had been around since 1947, some diners were reluctant to change.

"I definitely lost some customers when I turned the restaurant into a nonsmoking restaurant — older customers that had come to the restaurant before it was ours," Bouissou recalled. "Some of the clients who did smoke were in their sixties and seventies and didn't like being told what to do."

Today, it's a non-issue for the restaurant, which expanded in 2008 with the addition of Sarah's Wine Bar, a casual but elegant European-style upstairs eatery that offers wines by the glass, features local artists' work and attracts a "very eclectic" crowd of couples, singles and families.

"I agree with the ban," said Bouissou. "Just because you smoke doesn't mean people have to smell it."