What's the Point of Going to a Bar ...

if you can't smoke?

[ducks and runs]

Comments

[norbizness]

And no one has addressed my primary.. er.. tertiary point, either on my small comment thread or on Amanda's behemoth thread: you wouldn't be able to spark up and be relatively inconspicuous at concerts with a smoking ban. So feh!

[Jennifer]

One of the benefits of living in Winston-Salem - we'll smokin' til the end on Tobacco Road. And eating doughnuts.

[Alex]

This is one of my pet causes... I think "liberals" pushing smoking bans could easily turn into the sort of culture wars-ish bullshit that makes those faux-populist conservatives salivate. There's a growing class division between smokers and non-smokers, and this seems like legislation of the behavior of the working class "for their own good."

Lapham had a really good piece on this months and months ago. Maybe I'll dig it up and post it.

[Amanda]

Heh. Thanks. I shall now pontificate on why I think 12 year olds should be able to be Uzis.

[Fred Vincy]

You hit the nail on the head -- the difference is between restaurants, where one smoker can make a meal unpleasant for a large number of people, and bars, where the harm caused by the ban way exceeds the benefits. I'd go further and say that bars should have the option of allowing cigars....

[patrick]

Flame war beginning in 10....9...8....7....6...

[Kat]

I'm a non-smoker and I think smoking bans in bars are the stupidest thing in the world.

[Amanda]

*I meant "buy Uzis".

[Lauren]

Why ban smoking in a place where people go to pour alcohol down their gullets? How about a ban on beer bongs?

[Sue]

If dear, darling, national-treasure Amanda wants to jump off a fucking ship tied to an anvil, why should the rest of us be required to be chained to her?

Smoke outside, honey. It doesn't even get that cold in Austin.

[Alex]

Sue's right! And those loud, hearing-destroying "rock bands" should take it outside too! Bars are dangerously noisy!

[BenA]

As a friend of mine wrote in exasperation when the folks in charge of our graduate school bar asked for comments on a proposed policy to ban smoking there: "IT'S A BAR!!!"

I'm a lifelong nonsmoker, and even I think you should be allowed to smoke in a bar. I'm all in favor of smoking bans in restaurants, btw.

[Me4President]

I usually only go to bars that have no smoking policies or places like Old Chicago with a nonsmoking section. Besides the smell and the haze over everything, smoke doesn't really agree with my asthma and I always end up with a sore throat or losing my voice.

[ms. jared]

as i said on amanda's post, we all freaked out in SF when they passed the ban and we had all the same arguments she and norbiz stated. we said the bars would close down and that it was stupid to not allow smoking because all the assholes who have a problem with smoking should just stay home. etc. etc. stupid yuppies stay in palo alto. etc. etc.

they didn't enforce the law for at least a year though so there were lots of bars that would still hand you an ashtray or let you smoke if you stayed out of the line of vision from the door, but eventually they started getting busted and started enforcing the ban.

i remember when we were busted at our favorite bar, the kilowatt, by our favorite bartender. he was all, "hey, you can't smoke in here." and we were all, "no shit, phredd, anyway..." and continued to smoke. and then he said, "no, seriously, we got busted last weekend and we can't afford to keep getting citations." we couldn't believe it. BUT IT WAS US!!! his regulars. his FAVORITES! how could he treat us this way?

we were sure business would suffer due to the enforcement and we were bummed we had to look for another bar to smoke in. we moved to lucky 13 because they have a patio but i still happen into the kilowatt now and then and business is as booming as ever. and all of the bartenders i've talked to about it except one prefer the smoking ban coz it's easier to clean up at night and the place smells better.

i know you all don't believe me, but it's really not going to be as bad as you think. for the bar owners or the patrons. the smokers, maybe, but even all of us preferred smoking outside to going home with stinky clothes once we were used to it.

seriously. it won't be as bad as you think!
xoxo, jared

[evelyn]

What's the point of going to a bar if you can't smoke?

Easy: to drink, to hang out with friends, to talk with strangers, to listen to live music, to hear comedy, to get some cheap food in a casual atmosphere.

The key thing about a bar is not the cigarettes, its the alcohol and the socialising. With a smoking ban pubs, bars and clubs become more pleasant places to be. All the people who avoid them because the smoke makes it so repulsive are able to go out.

[Lalock]

Some college buddies of mine wanted to get together this weekend to wath basketball at a bar and they are all giddy about the just-passed smoking ban in Minneapolis in all bars. You know, it's not the smoking ban that upsets me--it's the sanctimony of people like my "friends." I'm a smoker. I wonder if they masterbate when they think about my arthritis, too, or any other things that make my life suck just a little worse.

Lalock. King of the Mole People.

[matt]

Great post, this is why the bar business has collapsed everywhere bans have been enacted.

[halle]

um matt, the bar business has taken off everywhere the smoking ban was enacted. it's the whole freakin state of California and guess what, as noted above, the kilowatt in SF does just dandy, as does everywhere else. we all had the same arguments when the ban took effect, and many smokers are supporters too -- their eyes burned and clothes stank too, but no longer. NYers and MA folks somehow manage and they have actual cold weather there. but maybe Texans are just all talk but can't take a little weather.