I may be alone in this, but I don't criticise the Captain.
Perhaps he took the viewthat he had more important things to do than deal with this trivial matter. Sure it's against the rules, but no more. IMHO it's the rule which might cause danger because instead of smoking in the seats which used to be allowed, pax might be tempted to go off to the lats for a quick fag.
Smoking on board may cause discomfort to other pax, but it does not in my view endanger the a/c. People did it for years without problem.
Edit
I'm not Italian, and gave up smoking when I was 21, many many years ago!
[ 22 October 2001: Message edited by: virgin ]