Nobody would be surprised to hear that the smoking ban in Irish pubs has improved air quality. However, it seems that the quality of music has also improved, according to a Letter in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this week's issue. Pub sessions are commonplace in Irish pubs. A pub session is where musicians play traditional music. John Garvey and colleagues explain that a number of instruments might be played, including accordions, concertinas, melodeons and Uilleanns bagpipes - all bellows-driven instruments. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the insides of these bellows-driven instruments used to get filled with impurities as a result of the smoky environment when smoking was allowed in pubs. The researchers carried out a telephone survey of all workers involved in the repair, cleaning, maintenance and renovations of accordions throughout the Republic of Ireland. Out of seven such workers they managed to contact six. They all said that a pungent smell of cigarette smoke used to emanate from accordions when smoking was allowed in pubs. The inside of the instrument used to be coated in a soot-like dirt, especially where the air enters the bellows through the air inlet valve and on the reeds. In fact, according to one repairer, the deposition of dirt used to be such that the pitch of the reed was affected. Two other repairers said that it used to be common for players to play in a particular key, depending on the distribution of dirt around the particular reeds. All six repairers said that the instruments are much cleaner since the smoking ban was introduced. "Our results provide further evidence that the smoking ban has improved air quality in Irish bars and its implementation in the face of initial opposition has been music to the ears of the people of Ireland," the authors conclude. "Letter: Confessions of an accordion cleaner" BMJ Volume 335, p 630

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