Designated Smoking Area

Udo Nagel, Hamburg's secretary of the interior, is a tobacco aficionado. That's why he was obviously unhappy on Jan. 1 when his ministry adopted a smoking ban.

The pipe smoker submitted a request to turn his office into a designated smoking area and an employee council went along with the idea, government spokesman Reinhard Fallack in the online edition of the Hamburger Abendsblatt.

Co-workers can drop by the boss' office (assuming he's not in a meeting) and puff away, according to the newspaper.

In order to have his room declared a smoking area, Nagel could no longer claim it was a private office.

The opposition criticized the special rules for the senator, who does not have a party affiliation. The local health policy expert for the Christian Democratic Union called the action "a very quirky interpretation of the law."

Another politician said the action contradicted the "spirit and purpose of the law."