Was The Smoking Ban a Trial Run?

All the same elements are there. Medical experts weighing in; Government taking measures to "protect" the Citizenry, especially the "most vulnerable", and forcing businesses to invoke bans. All under the watchful eyes of an army of nagging Karens. Was the full-fledged effort to ban smoking, while not actually outlawing tobacco or nicotine, a trial run to see how much the Government could get away with with a virus hoax?

 The speed and efficiency with which the smoking ban took effect has nothing on the KungFlu, of course, but one has to figure that a lot was learned by the tactics taken in banning smoking. Getting the public to believe in "second-hand smoke" and then to turn them on their fellow citizens was something that no one could have been certain would work. Getting the sheeple to accept mask-wearing, and even FINES (as with smoking) for NOT wearing one was a relatively simple next phase.(Timeline from the CDC & Timetoast)
 One need only look at the pushback against vaping, which many assert is really coming from the cigarette companies, but which is actually being efforted by Government and the same entities wanting us all masked and/or locked down. Vaping is a way around the smoking bans, in that it allowed freedom fro individuals, and even though the Karens still wagged their fingers when they SAW someone doing something they disapproved of, there was no other way to detect the vaping product, as it results in no lingering trace. Masks also prevent any of that sort of thing, so Karens win once again.