FARGO (AP) - Fargo-area bar customers will have to stop puffing, under a smoking ban that takes effect today.

Some bars planned a party for the night before to give smokers one last chance to light up.

The Aquarium and Dempsey's Public House planned a raffle for cartons of smokes. Co-owner Bert Meyers said he might even include the bar's ashtrays in the raffle.

Pat Lipsiea, one of the entertainers scheduled to play at the bar, thinks there's something romantic about being in a bar with a beer and a cigarette "as your only friends."

He said the smoking ban is "like losing a buddy."