The giant fan on the restaurant's roof filters and replaces the smoke-filled air every half hour

SAN MATEO, California (CNN) -- The Barley & Hopps restaurant and bar has found a technical solution to bypass a new state law that bans smoking in bars: a lounge where a highly effective ventilation system prevents cigarette, pipe and cigar smoke from wafting into the main restaurant section.

The ventilation system, powered by a giant fan on the roof of the restaurant, replaces the air in the lounge every half hour. That airflow creates what is known as negative air pressure and prevents what non-smokers would call the polluted air from flowing back into the main bar.

Watch Ann Kellan's full report VXtreme streaming video (2:30)

To comply with the law, the lounge is also kept off-limits to restaurant employees during operating hours,.

Customers place their orders through a special telephone. The drinks are handed into the lounge through a small window, through which the customers also pay their bills -- unless the greenbacks are blown back into the lounge because of the air draft caused by the negative air pressure.

Negative air pressure created by the room's ventilation system sucks Ann Kellan's money back in as she demonstrates how a smoker would order a drink

"The basic premise of the (California) law is that no employee is to be exposed to second-hand smoke. So we decided to take a portion of our bar, enclose it and make it employee-prohibited," said restaurant owner Tom Halen.

Non-smoking customers told CNN they were pleased with the arrangement.

"My friend here smokes, so I mean, he's able to go in there and get a smoke and I'm not polluted, which is nice," one customer said.

Some non-smokers, though, point out that the separate lounge splits up social groups. "There's some people that have been there all night and we haven't had a chance to talk -- so, that's unfortunate," another customer said.

The smokers themselves are split between those who say they feel "oppressed" and those who say they like having "a nice room" to themselves.

Opinions: What do people think about this smoking bubble?
Smoking customer 49K/5 sec. AIFF/WAV		Non-smoking customer 75K/7 sec. AIFF/WAV		Barley & Hopps employee 56K/5 sec. AIFF/WAV

Restaurant employees appeared to have mixed feelings, too, although for different reasons.

A restaurant employee talks about the lounge's effect on business
	693 K / 16 sec. / 160x120 QuickTime movie
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One waitress told CNN that while she liked going home at the end of her shift not smelling of smoke, she was losing tips from the off-limits lounge patrons.

And there's another twist: Even though the state law was introduced to protect workers, many of them say that, as soon as their shift ends, they head into the lounge for a smoke.

Correspondent Ann Kellan contributed to this report.

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