Landmark legislation that could stamp out smoking in Virginia's bars and restaurants ignited a fire across Roanoke Valley restaurants on Thursday, where ashtrays line bar counters and replace flower vases as table centerpieces.

On Thursday, Virginia lawmakers crafted a bill that would ban smoking in all state restaurants, except in separate, ventilated rooms.

Though the Roanoke Valley's list of smoke-free restaurants is growing, the proposed smoking law could burn local establishments that rely on patrons who smoke, but have little space and few funds to create a smoker-exclusive area. Footing the cost for a ventilation system could also be a daunting task, especially in slow economic times, restaurateurs said.

"It could very well put me out of business," said David Eckman, owner of Spike's, a Roanoke pub on Memorial Avenue, where at least 70 percent of the regular patrons are smokers.

The approximately 1,000-square-foot Spike's consists of one room with a bar, two pool tables, booths and tables.

On Thursday, Eckman pondered where he could craft a separate area for smokers. Building an expansion onto the back of the pub would cut into a 12-space parking lot for his customers.

"I don't happen to feel that smokers are second-class citizens, but we're treated like we are," Eckman said.

Around the corner from Spike's, Mont Morrow, who manages the Community Inn Restaurant on Grandin Road, studied a back room housing a pool table, video game machines and tables and chairs. It's likely the only space where this Roanoke bar could fashion a separate area for smokers.

But Morrow and other restaurant owners, including Todd Lancaster of Awful Arthur's Seafood Co., want details about how the law defines separate spaces for smoking and what's needed for proper ventilation.

At two Roanoke Valley Awful Arthur's locations, the nonsmoking dining room and the bar, where smoking is allowed, are separate. But at Awful Arthur's in downtown Roanoke, the dining room and bar run together.

"Who's going to build a room within their space to allow somebody to go in and smoke?" Lancaster asked.

To craft an individual smoking room, Morrow speculated that he would have to replace the door to the Community Inn's back room with a glass one and add ventilation equipment. The room already has a smoke filter and ceiling fans.

Still, these changes would send smoking customers, such as Lucian White, to the back room. The retired Roanoke resident goes to the Community Inn several times a week for a beer. He smokes at least one cigarette while he's there.

White said he no longer will frequent the establishment if he cannot smoke at the bar, where he normally perches atop a tall stool.

"The next thing ... they [lawmakers] will stop the smoking in my own house," White said.

Meanwhile, the number of smoke-free restaurants in the Roanoke Valley is swelling. Of the eateries in Roanoke, Roanoke County, Vinton and Salem, 73 percent prohibit smoking, according to the Greater Roanoke Valley Asthma and Air Quality Coalition. In 2007, 50 percent were smoke-free, according to the coalition. The nonprofit group merges its data with the Virginia Department of Health, which also tracks nonsmoking restaurants.

Other local restaurants are altering smoking policies, including designating certain areas and times for lighting up.

If a state smoking ban moves forward, it may not deter all customers who smoke, but it might affect how long they lounge and how much money they spend at local restaurants.

H.C. Smith frequents the Village Grill in Roanoke daily, where smoking is allowed in a side area. Smith, of Roanoke, usually orders a drink and sits down for a long smoke. But if he couldn't light up a cigarette, he said, he'd shorten his stay.

"I'd probably still come and have a drink," he said. Then, "I would have to leave."