A society which respects the rights and freedoms of its members will respect the rights of non-smokers to have a smoke free atmosphere. The choice to smoke is taken with the full knowledge that it is extremely harmful to the health of individuals, expensive and polluting. 

Whether to smoke or not is a choice. For those who chose not to smoke there will be many reasons, from the difficulty some people have breathing easily if they encounter smoke, those with asthma for example, to a decisive move to improve their health from someone who has become addicted to tobacco and struggled to give up. In the later case there can be some pressure on the will power and needs of the individual to maintain their abstinence. In both these cases smoking in front of them is unkind at the least. 

While to smoke may seem to be a personal choice for the smokers, something which does not interfere with others, this is not the case.  Smoke seeps into the atmosphere, however carefully smokers exhale or guard their cigarettes.  It is absorbed by clothes and in the hair and taints the breath. Cigarette buts litter the ground and ashtrays are unpleasant to see and smell foul. 

For these reasons alone, to smoke in front of non-smokers is a disrespectful act.  Vegetarians expect to be given meat free meals, even when catered for by meat eaters, and so non-smokers should be able to expect their environment to be free of the smell of smoke and the detritus of smoking. 

The laws which ban smoking inside buildings usually safeguards the internal ambiance for non-smokers but as soon as they go outside, where smokers can puff away, there are difficulties.  The pleasure and experience of eating, or just having a drink, in outside restaurants can be spoiled for non-smokers because someone at a neighboring table lights up. The taste and smell of the air is polluted by the cigarette smoke and the thickness of the pollutants makes breathing uncomfortable and unpleasant for a non-smoker. The smoke interferes with the taste and smell of the food and drinks the non-smoker is ingesting. For those who take pleasure in these experiences this is invasive. 

Respect is about treating others as you would wish to be treated. When you know an activity is offensive and disliked by another group of people, it is rude and unkind to continue to do it. Smoking in front of non-smokers is disrespectful.