The James Dean puff-and-pass

In response to smoking restrictions sweeping its motherland, European tobacco giant Altadis has created an exclusive online haven that valorizes the glamour and individualism associated with taking a drag.

Altadis' products include Spain's Fortuna brand and France's Gauloises. The brands are closely associated with their countrymen; Gauloises in particular were used as partial forms of payment for military conscripts in the '70s.

At Le Lab, Altadis' internal website/secret society, the firm's brand managers can revel in images of smoking models and actors — including Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood and Brad Pitt — and watch videos about others' "first time."

Video artist Vincent Gagliostro also produced 12 videos, illustrating smoking's quiet pleasures, for Le Lab.

"I want the films to clarify and educate," explained Gagliostro of his Le Lab oeuvres.

"In some ways it's like reintroducing smoking and what I came up with is responsible smoking. Responsible smoking is about co-existing really. It's about dialogue between smokers and nonsmokers." Of smokers, he adds, "These people are not evil or the devil."

Le Labs' introductory video deluges viewers with puffing celebrities before posing the question: "And your thoughts on the smoking ban?"

In response, a sultry blonde invades the camera eye and replies, "It's brilliant because people will stop smoking as a habit … If you smoke, it's for pleasure."

O7, the French agency responsible for Le Labs, divulged plans for a blog-style forum and a European travel column.

Le Labs' videos are currently exclusive to select employees, and only via live stream. These efforts are intended to curb discrete uploads onto YouTube or other video-sharing sites.

The effort is considered unique among tobacco giants. Others, including Philip Morris, have not toyed with the unrestricted visual opportunities proffered by online video.

The International Herald Tribune describes Altadis as "a hybrid of old state French and Spanish tobacco monopolies." Its exclusive online world is interpreted as a cool assault on smoking bans in public places that have passed in Sweden, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

This January, France will follow suit.