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If, on the other hand, it is obvious that they are defiantly smoking fully aware that it is a non-smoking area, just daring anyone to confront them for their violation (some of the more militant smokers appear to take great pleasure in this)

Could you give us some examples of where this has taken place - the give and take, so to speak?

You know, what you said and what they said?

A few examples per your request:

Place - local grocery store, city ordinance prohibits smoking inside most indoor shopping areas except in designated smoking areas. Smoker lights up cigarette just inside the door (right beside ordinance notice sign). After being informed that smoking inside the store is prohibited, the smoker blows smoke in the person's face and continues to smoke. When another individual (store employee) advised the smoker that she needed to extinguish the cigarette, she gave the employee the finger and said in effect "F-you, I'll smoke wherever I want to." A policeman was in the store, and someone summoned him to the scene where he issued a citation for the violation of the smoking ordinance. That was about a $250 cigarette. I saw this incident but was not personally involved.

At a family restaurant, in the Non-Smoking section, as my family was having dinner, a smoker decided to stop right by our table and visit with someone while continuing his smoke. My mother, who had severe allergies and was very sensitive to cigarette smoke, politely informed him that he was in a non-smoking section and requested that he take the cigarette elsewhere. He responded with a very sarcastic and hateful "Oh thank you for being so helpful and informative." He then looked around for an ashtray (surprisingly there were no ashtrays in the non-smoking section) before finally going off and getting rid of his cigarette. He then returned to finish his visit with his friend. After finishing his visit, he turned to my mother and said "This world would be a nicer place with fewer helpful people like you in it." It took tremendous restraint not to say something to this @$$hole about how it would be nicer if people didn't smoke in non-smoking sections.

Final example (is 3 enough): I take my sons to Six Flags several times each year. The city of Arlington has an ordinance that prohibits smoking in waiting lines. The ordinance is posted at the entrance to EVERY ride. However, invariably there are smokers (usually teenagers or very young adults) that appear to deliberately smoke in line to flout the ordinance. For some of the rides where the lines are outdoors this is not a problem, but where the lines are enclosed, it becomes a problem especially for my son whose eyes react negatively to the smoke.