They cannot forclose or kick people out.
They can by voting to impose a fine of say $1,000 per day. Then when a month or two goes by they sue and forclose.
Again, if you agreed to that upfront, fine. I think it is a bad decision but definitely not the end of the world. The problem comes when you are the target of a personal vandetta and these tactics are used against you to make you pay for a personal grudge. If there are enough people in the clique then the rules start to change specifically to target the percieved enemy. Thank GOD this hasn't happened to you but it could if you piss off the right nosey old busy body.
As far as smoking goes, outside in the open air or in your own home are completely acceptable. You breathe more harmful substances when you clean your bathroom than when a guy next to you lights up for 5 minutes.
Smokers should be considerate and not smoke in a dense crowd or around a bunch of kids. Also, a simlple "do you mind that smoke is bothering me" is a lot more reasonable than leveraging the force of government to ban the use of a legal and heavily taxed product.
HOA/s cannot impose fines. All they can do is go to court and ask a judge to enforce the rules.
The smoking issue started with the HOA changing the rules because the building leaked smoke from one apt to another. Someone said "call the builder",,,that doesn't happen when you live in an old building. The owner are the condo association and apparently the expense of smoke proofing apartments must have precluded doing it.
The assumption that HOA's are used for "biddies" and "vendettas" is alien to me. I have for 35 years lived in areas with HOA'a and have never seen that. The only power they have are enforcing rules and that is hard, I have seen it go on for years before something is corrected.