What’s the first thing she did as soon as she emerged from Germany's constitutional court? She lit up a cigarette. “I am totally satisfied,” said Sylvia Thimm, after the judges deemed that cigarettes could not be banned from “Eckkneipen,” the German corner cafés.

Thimm, the owner of a bar in Berlin bar called Doors, lodged a complaint against the smoking ban in January, alongside two other restaurant owners.
 
Her bar, 50 square metres in size, has posters on the walls and plays Bob Dylan in the background. When the ban went into effect in January, it was rendered a non-smoking bar, taking a toll on her business and her clients’ satisfaction.

Because her establishment only had one room, she could not designate a separate smoking area, which the law permitted for bars and restaurants with more than one room. In light of what she saw as an injustice, Thimm turned to the experts.

The judges at the Federal Constitutional Court, in the city of Karlsruhe, didn’t disappoint her.  On Wednesday, they decided to recognize the “non-justified differential treatment” between small and large establishments. The court decision further required that 14 out of the 16 states that had implemented the ban revise their legislation by the end of 2009.

But the victory may be short-lived, because the regions could choose to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars, regardless of their size.

In the meantime, ashtrays have repopulated the countertops of Doors, and a “smoking bar” sign is now fixed to the door. Thursday night, Thimm's customers were sitting at the bar waiting for her return, cigarettes in hand.