Indoor smoking restrictions were a novelty in South Carolina when Sullivan's Island banned lighting up in bars in 2006.

Now, workplace smoking bans are common, and prohibitions on outdoor smoking and vaping are spreading quickly.

“I think it’s something we’re going see more and more of," said Isle of Palms Mayor Jimmy Carroll. "Times have changed."

A ban on smoking or vaping on Isle of Palms beaches and access paths took effect in January. On neighboring Sullivan's Island, a smoking ban on beaches and town properties — including parks — was approved in January. It takes effect Feb. 21.

Some of the newer restrictions have been driven by complaints about litter because thousands of cigarette butts are regularly collected during beach cleanup events. Second-hand smoke has also played a role in the regulations, as have concerns about young people getting addicted to nicotine through vaping electronic cigarettes.

Just 14 years ago, before Sullivan's Island banned smoking in bars, smokers could light up most places in South Carolina, limited mainly in elevators and public schools.

Pat O'Neil, mayor of the barrier island town, was one of two council members who voted against banning smoking in bars back in 2006.

“At the time, I thought it was regulatory overkill, and I struggled with it personally," he said. “I’m not a believer in passing a regulation every time someone gets upset about something."

In January, O'Neil joined the unanimous vote to expand Sullivan's Island's smoking ban to beaches and parks.

“Norms and mores change over time," O'Neil said. "Try picturing yourself making an argument in favor of people smoking on the beach.”

He doesn't recall anyone speaking in opposition to the restrictions. Unlike the workplace smoking bans — which were opposed by some bars and resulted in litigation — there are no businesses on beaches or in public parks that fear losing customers if smoking's prohibited.

Tobacco growers, however, oppose the increasing limits.

“As a tobacco farmer, I am opposed to any legislation that will hamper smoking in an outside setting," said Ben Teal, a Chesterfield County member of the South Carolina Tobacco Board.

Gerald Breland Jr., a Colleton County farmer who is also on the state Tobacco Board, said he doesn't smoke but is concerned that it feels "like our rights are being taken away, little by little."

"To tell you the truth, I don’t want to be around people smoking, either, but it just seems like more of our rights are being taken away because (smokers) are in the minority," he said. “The next time, it might be that you can’t bring a newspaper onto the beach. Next it might be soft drinks, or hamburgers."

Sullivan's Island's 2006 smoking ordinance survived a court challenge, as did a ban approved the same year in Greenville, and then smoking restrictions snowballed across the state. Many towns, cities and counties banned smoking in bars and restaurants in the mid-2000s.

More recently, town and cities expanded their bans to include workplaces and public spaces such as parks and beaches. Universities and hospitals banned smoking on their campuses. And, increasingly, the smoking bans aren't limited to the burning of tobacco, but also restrict vaping.

For example, when the city of Charleston in 2013 banned smoking on streets and sidewalks near MUSC and Roper Hospital on the peninsula, smoking was defined as "the inhaling, exhaling, burning, lighting or carrying of a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe or similar device or any other lighted tobacco product."

Five years later, when the city banned smoking in parks and playgrounds — rules that took effect in 2019 — the definition of smoking also included e-cigarettes and "the release of any smoke, mist or vapor."

Electronic cigarettes, or vapes, use battery power to turn a gel or liquid containing nicotine into an aerosol for the user to inhale. A disposable vape cartridge, or pod, can hold the nicotine equivalent of a pack of cigarettes or more.

"We do find pods (on the beach)," Carroll said.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control counts 16 municipalities with smoking bans that include e-cigarettes.

Isle of Palms' ban on smoking includes vaping, as does Sullivan's Island's ban. The city of Columbia added vaping to an existing smoking ban last year and expanded the prohibition to all city properties.

Columbia Councilman Howard Duvall led that city's effort to ban vaping in public places. On his City Council page, he described vaping as the "new threat to our youth."

Unlike neighboring North Carolina, South Carolina does not prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants statewide, leaving the decision in local hands. At the start of 2019, 41 percent of South Carolina residents lived in places with smoking bans, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, and that number has increased during the past year.

Public pressure and consumer preferences have gone hand-in-hand with local bans. Folly Beach, for example, has no ordinances banning smoking, but restaurants and bars on the island don't allow it.

"City Council believed the businesses should decide," said Administrator Spencer Wetmore. "The only remaining establishment allowing smoking is the Sand Dollar Social Club."

By the end of 2018, 65 towns, cities and counties in the state had smoking bans in place for restaurants, bars, most workplaces or some combination of all three, according to DHEC. That includes nine of South Carolina's 10 largest towns and cities: Charleston, Columbia, Mount Pleasant, Rock Hill, Greenville, Summerville, Goose Creek, Sumter and Hilton Head Island.

North Charleston, the state's third-largest city, is the exception.

"It remains a private business decision," city spokesman Ryan Johnson said.

In November the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that cigarette smoking reached an all-time low of 13.7 percent of U.S. adults in 2018. That year, more than 55 percent of cigarette smokers attempted to quit, but only 7.5 percent succeeded, the CDC said.