Windy City Bans Smoking... Sort of.

The Windy City, Chi-Town, Second City, Chicago, a cigar smoker’s paradise, now faced with a smoking ban to go into effect on January 16, sort-of.

The ruling passed yesterday for a blanket smoking ban across the city which bans smoking within fifteen feet of the entrance and inside of a prohibited enclosed area which includes restaurants, convention facilities, sports arenas, government vehicles used for city business, and the lobbies, hallways and other common areas in apartment buildings and condominiums; however this blanket is full of holes.

According to an article posted by Cigar Aficionado, “The law does allow for smoking in cigar stores, hotel and motel rooms, private clubs and lodges, and bars, taverns and restaurant bars. Smoking in bars and restaurant bars will be allowed until July 1, 2008”.

There is also a provision that states “If the owner of a place of employment can demonstrate that its air filtration is sufficiently powerful—the wording suggests the air quality must be made the same as the air outside the establishment—to the satisfaction of the city commissioner of public health and the commissioner of the environment,” they’ll have an exception to the ban.

Either way, this spells a certain doom for cigar smokers and the enjoyment and pleasure of the city, as we know it today.