Bans snuff out more than cigarettes

Posted by Jacob on Jan. 19, 2009

One more post about smoking bans and then I’ll move to actual food. Or maybe drinks. But first, this:

Yet as wonderful as the beer is at the Horse Brass, its community revolves around something more: smoking. The bar is notorious among non-smokers for its tobacco haze and its brown walls and ceiling, which people swear were once white. For those who enjoy tobacco, the Horse Brass is a welcome sanctuary in a city where many businesses are already smoke-free. It’s easy to light a cigar, strike up a conversation, and make new friends. Unfortunately, I had only three months to feel at home here: The state legislature decreed that on January 1, 2009 all bars and restaurants in the State of Oregon had to become smoke-free.

That’s from my article at Doublethink today about my favorite bar in Portland and how its culture has been wiped out by the nanny statists in Salem and their brand new smoking ban. At a bar like the Horse Brass, you either get it or you don’t. The busybodies in the state legislature clearly don’t.

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  • generalsn
    After a year, and a harsh winter, the Illinois ban is fading into forgotten history in many small neighborhood bars now that the hoopla and fanfare have worn off, and the lobbyists have moved on to other states. The only complaints have been from neighbors of bars that comply during the summer. A few rural counties with bored cops or officials that need some grandstanding are still making an issue of it.
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