Public Smoking Ban

[UQKenny]

It's such a shame that they will be banning shisha as well in the summer, but saying that, a lot of friends do suffer from second hand smoke, even from shisha, so I guess it would be better for them. Guess I will have to enjoy smoking in shisha bar for the last few months, then have regular parties at my place instead.

[Scheetz]

NC is threatening a similar bar/rest. ban on smoking. I'm not sure a state that has Tobacco as it's #1 legal cash crop is going to go that far. But I'm changing Smoketsackers into Hookah Bliss and cutting out the sandwiches in anticipation that such a ban will eventually pass. Or that the Town of chapel hill, which already has strickers ordinances than any other place in NC will enact it's own local ban.

So Hookah Bliss is going to be a lounge/retail shop with a little food, lots of beer, and lots of hookahs.

Yeah, thats what I thought too with Maryland. Huge tobacco state and they have banned smoking in cities now the state is pushing it. At least there are alot of exemptions for us.

[Gaara]

Ouch. Sucks for you guys.

In my area (DC, USA) there is also a public smoking ban but it doesn't apply to Hookah cafe's.

NC is threatening a similar bar/rest. ban on smoking. I'm not sure a state that has Tobacco as it's #1 legal cash crop is going to go that far. But I'm changing Smoketsackers into Hookah Bliss and cutting out the sandwiches in anticipation that such a ban will eventually pass. Or that the Town of chapel hill, which already has strickers ordinances than any other place in NC will enact it's own local ban.

So Hookah Bliss is going to be a lounge/retail shop with a little food, lots of beer, and lots of hookahs.

Yeah, thats what I thought too with Maryland. Huge tobacco state and they have banned smoking in cities now the state is pushing it. At least there are alot of exemptions for us.

Live in Maryland by the way but I reckon it'll be like DC. They'll make a special exception to Hookah's. Edited March 27, 2007 by Gaara

[Scheetz]

Ouch. Sucks for you guys.

In my area (DC, USA) there is also a public smoking ban but it doesn't apply to Hookah cafe's.

Yes it does.

[Gaara]

Ouch. Sucks for you guys.

In my area (DC, USA) there is also a public smoking ban but it doesn't apply to Hookah cafe's.

Yes it does.

D.C. Smoking Ban Approved
Mayor Weighs Veto Despite 11-1 Council Vote
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 5, 2006; A01


The D.C. Council gave final approval yesterday to a broad ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places, voting 11 to 1 to add the nation's capital to a growing list of smoke-free cities and states.

Although Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) continued to voice concerns about the measure's effect on small businesses and the city's hospitality industry, the overwhelming support on the council suggested that the ban's proponents have enough votes to override a mayoral veto.

The District's smoking ban, modeled closely on New York City's, would apply immediately to all restaurant dining rooms and would be extended to bars, nightclubs, taverns and the bar areas of restaurants in January 2007.

National anti-smoking activists hailed the vote, saying that having the nation's capital go smoke-free carries great symbolic importance. "It puts an exclamation point on what we see as a national trend," said Daniel Smith, vice president of government affairs for the American Cancer Society.

Several bar owners and employees reacted with dismay.

"Oh, man, it's gonna hurt," said Rob Klein, the bartender at Chief Ike's Mambo Room, a bar in Adams Morgan. "It's going to take people away from my bar stools, and that's how I pay my rent."

Geoff Tracy, owner of Chef Geoff's, said that the dining areas in his two District restaurants have always been smoke-free but that he expects his bar business to drop by 5 to 10 percent when the full ban goes into effect.

A New York government study showed that the city's bar and restaurant industry was thriving one year after its ban was enacted in March 2003. And in Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Public Health found little or no change in bar and restaurant patronage or tax collections after that state's ban was put in place in July 2004.

Williams has 10 days to decide whether to veto the bill. He said yesterday that he is considering a veto, despite the likelihood that the council would override it. "You're talking about a lot of people's livelihoods, and I don't think we should take that for granted," he said.

Bans are in place in at least 10 states, including California and New York. Locally, Montgomery and Prince George's counties have bans, and Howard County Council members voted this week to prohibit smoking in new restaurants and bars.

The District bill would include exemptions for outdoor areas, hotel rooms, retail tobacco outlets and cigar bars. The measure also would provide an economic-hardship waiver for businesses that demonstrate a "significant negative impact."

Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) cast the dissenting vote. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) was absent.

Schwartz said the issue was personal choice and freedom. "Don't make me out that I like smoking, because I don't," said Schwartz, an ex-smoker. "Bar and restaurant workers have a choice of where to work, and patrons have a choice of where to patronize."

The council debated amendments to the bill for more than four hours, rejecting several that supporters warned would weaken the measure, such as exempting businesses of 750 square feet or less.

It also voted down amendments proposed by Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) that would have moved up full implementation to July and tightened the rules for waivers.

The longest debate was over whether to exempt the city's eight hookah bars, where people smoke tobacco out of a shared pipe. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) argued that hookah bars should be exempt because tobacco use is the central focus of their business.

Schwartz then jumped on Graham. "If it's all in the guise of protecting worker health, why would you want to kill off the hookah bar workers?" she said to laughs in the packed council chambers. "The hypocrisy is just astounding."

The council approved the hookah bar exemption, as well as an amendment by Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) to exempt any business that can show that it gets 10 percent or more of its annual revenue from tobacco sales, excluding cigarette machines.

Some ban proponents said Barry's proposal would encourage bars to push tobacco sales to get an exemption. But David A. Catania (I-At Large), who sponsored the bill, said the 10 percent threshold would be very hard to meet.

News of the bill's passage drew sighs of resignation in the polished-wood bar at McCormick & Schmick's restaurant on K Street NW. But even those who grumbled said such bans seem the wave of the future.

Bartender Mark Genberg, a smoker, estimated that three of 10 people who sidle up on an average night are smokers, down from six in 10 a decade ago. Once the ban takes effect, he said, those customers will simply shuttle between the bar and the sidewalk.

Robert Hall Jr., unfiltered cigarette in hand, said he was worried about the ban's effect on plans to double the size of the bar at Olives restaurant, at 16th and K streets NW, where he works as a manager.

"It reminds me of the stories I've heard about Prohibition in the 1930s," he said. "Are we going down a slippery slope, where cigarettes will be completely illegal in this country in 10, 15 years?"

Jon Brothers, 32, a smoker, said he was ambivalent about the ban. "Don't get me wrong. I love to walk into a dive bar and people are smoking cigarettes or whatever," he said. "But I think it's a good idea. It's not going to stop you from going somewhere. I'll have no problem going outside for a cigarette."

- Washington Post


------------------------

....hence why the ban is already in effect but the bars are still running.

[Scheetz]

Ouch. Sucks for you guys.

In my area (DC, USA) there is also a public smoking ban but it doesn't apply to Hookah cafe's.

Yes it does.

------------------------

....hence why the ban is already in effect but the bars are still running.

I am aware of what it says. I have a hard copy of that file in my desk. It still effects hookah lounges, thats why they wrote an exemption for it. Pretty much every state that is banning smoking in public places is writing an exemption for hookah lounges/other tobacco lounges.

The exemption still effects them though.

[Gaara]

Ouch. Sucks for you guys.

In my area (DC, USA) there is also a public smoking ban but it doesn't apply to Hookah cafe's.

Yes it does.

------------------------

....hence why the ban is already in effect but the bars are still running.

I am aware of what it says. I have a hard copy of that file in my desk. It still effects hookah lounges, thats why they wrote an exemption for it. Pretty much every state that is banning smoking in public places is writing an exemption for hookah lounges/other tobacco lounges.

The exemption still effects them though.

Sorry for being ignorant. Care to enlighten?

[aldonb1]

basically they law makers aren't complete assholes... so like if you can "prove" that your establishment suffers due to the smoking ban you can file for an exemption. This applies to most hookah bars. And the extent to which u have to prove is different for each state. (prove = a certain % of ur revenue must come from ppl that smoke at your establishment)

[ghostofdavid]

basically they law makers aren't complete assholes... so like if you can "prove" that your establishment suffers due to the smoking ban you can file for an exemption. This applies to most hookah bars. And the extent to which u have to prove is different for each state. (prove = a certain % of ur revenue must come from ppl that smoke at your establishment)

But they are being assholes. Government has no business in telling you if you can or cannot allow smoking because it should be your right to do what you please with your business and not have a nanny twisting your ear when you decide you want smoking.

[The King]

It really doesn't bother me, all the hookah bars remain open.

[DrShisha]

I dont know how edgeware road will survive without shisha smoke places, i really dont, its the living hub of the middle eastern society of england, theres turkery, jordan, syria, iraq, iran and lebanon all on one street. Its criminal, robbing people of what their culture is. I cant comprehend that all chill out sheesha cafes be that wilmslow road in manchester uk aswell will jus diwndle away into dust. Cant believe it man . I have to see my locals shut down with a byebye before i start believe this shit.

[armour]

Couldn't the bars have memberships so it's a private place rather than a public one? A £1 fee for the card and everyones happy, or would that not work?

[cypherkk]

just start goosestepping now, that way it'll be easier to fall in step with the rest of the crowd.

[Scheetz]

Sorry for being ignorant. Care to enlighten?

It still effects them because an exemption had to be written. If they change what they are selling at the Lounges (not just in tobacco but anything they add) it will move them to different categories. So while they have nothing to worry about right now, if they decided down the road to do something different they will be effected. Its still a lingering skeleton in the closet for them.

[sabsz]

Canada is a bitch for this too.

[Gaara]

Sorry for being ignorant. Care to enlighten?

It still effects them because an exemption had to be written. If they change what they are selling at the Lounges (not just in tobacco but anything they add) it will move them to different categories. So while they have nothing to worry about right now, if they decided down the road to do something different they will be effected. Its still a lingering skeleton in the closet for them.

Even if they change their ideas for the lounges, surely a Hookah cafe can easily manage to get that 10% sales from Shisha?