Updated Mar 22, 2008 - 9:17 am

Cigar Bars Try to Sneak Past Smoking Ban

Comments (0) |

Print this |

E-mail this |

Tweet this |

digg this

Zoom

By RACHEL BELLE
710 KIRO Reporter

Listen to this report

A Seattle martini bar is trying to sneak cigars past the state's smoking ban.

"A cigar is a celebration. It's something you sit down and enjoy." Tini Bigs' owner Keith Robbins, says cigar smokers enjoyed their lounge for 10 years until the smoking ban killed business. He says, "In the first 3 months of the smoking ban, we were down over 40 percent and for the year we were down over 30 percent, and it hasn't come back."

Robbins is creating an initiative, "We're asking for a narrow exemption for cigar bars, tobacco retailers, and private clubs."

American Lung Association spokeswoman Carrie Neeson is surprised to see the initiative. She says, "It does much more than just allow cigar smoking inside cigar bars. It really has the potential to create a loophole you could drive a semi-truck through because of the private club exemption. A restaurant or a bar could charge a membership of a dollar and declare themselves a private club and allow smoking, which would really under-mind the intent of the initiative."

She doesn't know if the public will vote for it. Neeson says, "The voters of Washington spoke strongly when they went to the polls that November and we're really supportive of the ban. It is kind of a shock."

Robbins says cigar smokers need a place to puff; they can't just go outside for a few minutes like cigarette smokers. He says, "We're asking for a very narrow exemption. Oregon and New Jersey both have exemptions for cigar bars."

Comments (0) |

Print this |

E-mail this |

Tweet this |

digg this

More headlines...