The Boston Health Commission unanimously passed new, anti-smoking regulations which will eventually mean the end of cigar bars in the city.
Despite receiving hundreds of messages against the regulations and especially against the closure of cigar bars – where minors are not allowed and where patrons understand full well the atmosphere will contain cigar smoke – the Commission’s only reprieve was to change the sunset period for cigar (and hookah) bars from five years to 10. After that, any of the six cigar bars or five hookah bars still operating in the city may apply to the Commission for an extension of an additional ten years, which will be granted or denied based on the evidence of harm from secondhand smoke at that time.
Importantly, however, no new cigar bars may be opened; in fact, the new regulations state “The operation of a smoking bar is prohibited in the City of Boston.” And for those six existing cigar bars, the exemption will not apply to any of the existing business if the permit is transferred from the current ownership, making these business essentially unsalable. Moreover, the exemption language requires them not to allow persons under 18 to enter plus a rather humiliating requirement that each establishment must post signs “warning patrons of the dangers of environmental smoke in the manner and form specified by the Executive Director at all entrances and on all menus.”
The Commission also banned the sale of tobacco products from pharmacies and colleges in the city, prohibited the sale of “blunt wraps” completely and prohibited smoking in the outdoor areas of bars and restaurants.
Retail tobacco shops were completely exempted from these regulations and will end up being the only public venue for cigar smoking other than the six cigar bars. The new rules apply immediately, but enforcement is expected to begin in 60 days.
A strong effort against these regulations was made, especially by cigar smokers, including help from the newly-organized Cigar Rights of America organization. But the Public Health Commission did the absolute least it could to respond to the public’s view. Harold Cox, a Commission member who is also an associate dean at the Boston University School of Public Health, told the Boston Globe, “Cigarettes are bad, they’re harmful to people, there’s a need for us to change the social norms around cigarettes. Our responsibility as governmental officials is to protect people.” For Cox and the Commission, the differences between cigarettes and cigars seems to have escaped them.
Look for cigar smokers to escape Boston and find other, more accommodating municipalities nearby.
