"Hey, Jim, do you smoke?" "Like a train" was the reply.

[JAM]

The Taneytown resident surveyed the place to distinguish smokers and nonsmokers before spotting regular patron James Brown at the other end of the bar. "Hey Jim, do you smoke?" Howard asked. "Like a train," Brown replied, just before lighting up. :thumbup:

They've become a rarity in Maryland bars, but on Tuesday afternoon, the smokers will be lighting up and puffing away without shame or trepidation. :yikes:

Some Maryland pool rooms have waivers which allow smoking.

What's more, seated or standing alongside were nonsmokers, enjoying themselves without fanning away the fumes or complaining about the hazards of secondhand smoke.

With the waiver, business at those pool room has returned to normal levels, he said. The Crossroads hops with smokers and nonsmokers alike - loud banter, lively music and the cracking sound of billiards. And though the pool room has a separate room for nonsmokers, many choose to hang out with the smoking crowd instead.

In fact, the only day that the pool room isn't bustling is on Mondays, when the Crossroads must comply with the smoking ban. The one-day prohibition was enacted at the start of the year, part of the State's plan to phase out smoking at places with waivers. Next year, such venues must designate two or three nonsmoking days.

The owner cringes at the thought of losing another smoking day, and on Mondays he gets a glimpse of what might become of his bar when the waiver expires.

Last Monday afternoon, the Crossroads was as quiet as a morgue. At a time when many people usually pour in after work, only three patrons were present.

On a smoking day, the pool room owner says, his bar can ring up as much as $1,000 in sales. On Monday, receipts totaled $138.

Such gatherings are common at the Crossroads. The Carroll County bar is one of 11 places in Maryland that have been granted a temporary waiver from the state's Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007, which prohibits smoking in virtually all indoor public places.

To receive a waiver, an establishment must show a 15 percent decrease in food and beverage sales over a two-month period compared with the same period during the previous two years. The waivers expire Jan. 31, 2011.

There used to be an ongoing debate about how the smoking bans may have hurt a pool room's survival. I'm not sure how this is going to play out in Maryland, but it looks to me like people want to smoke when they're hanging out, playing pool.

I'm a non-smoker today, and I'm not so sure I'd want to hang out at the pool room with the smoke. However, if you would have asked me this question three or four years ago, my reply would have been quite the opposite. :embarrassed2:

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.ca.nosmoking19apr19,0,3833606.story?page=1 [Retrieved 19 April 2009]

 

[JAM]

There's a new message on the signboard outside of the Crossroads Inn, a roadside tavern that's just a 15-minute drive from the Pennsylvania line.

"THIS IS NOW A SMOKING BAR," the sign reads. "BARTENDERS WANTED."

A cardboard sign at the corner of the parking lot announces that June 18 marked the first day that patrons could smoke tobacco inside.

Here's the owner of Crossroads, Jim Brandenberg.

 

[JAM]

Impeach O'Malley, says the sign. These Marylanders are serious about their smoking in the pool room!

I wouldn't want to tangle with this guy, the owner, either! :grin-square:

 

[JimS]

I used to love it. Smoked for about 49 years. Couldn't make it to the big five oh. I never had any sticktoitiveness going.. just a quitter. It will be 6 years in just a couple weeks.

I sometimes miss getting to have a smoke.

But I do NOT miss having to smoke. At the peak of my addiction I HAD to smoke and it was up to 3 packs a day and working on going to 4 when I got stopped.

 

[JAM]

I used to love it. Smoked for about 49 years. Couldn't make it to the big five oh. I never had any sticktoitiveness going.. just a quitter. It will be 6 years in just a couple weeks.

I sometimes miss getting to have a smoke.

But I do NOT miss having to smoke. At the peak of my addiction I HAD to smoke and it was up to 3 packs a day and working on going to 4 when I got stopped.

I know. It's been a little over a year for me of not smoking. I could never imagine going back.

That said, I remember hanging out in pool rooms at tournaments not so very long ago, and my eyes would get red and burn from the smoke in the pool room. And I was a smoker too. I can't imagine how rough it is on the non-smokers.

When I look at people smoking cigarettes today, I kind of feel sorry for them, knowing how difficult it was for me to make the decision to quit. For whatever reason, the smokers that still smoke today don't want to quit. My boyfriend is one of those. I can't force him to quit, but he does smoke outside now and not in the house! :grin-square:

 

[JAM]

The only place you can smoke and play pool in my area today is Virginia. Good old Virginia, the tobacco State!

However, now it looks like on certain days of the week, one can go to some pool rooms in Maryland on certain days and smoke, if the joint has a waiver. :grin:

Article after article on the smoking ban has stretched from coast to coast.

Here's a cute article title from Dallas: Dallas smoking ban set to drag away an era of smoky pool halls

"Drag away an era of smoky pool halls." How flattering, as if pool is a long-gone era sport. Sheesh, not to mention they're dragging away the pool halls themselves as well. We don't have any "real" pool rooms in my area anymore. They all seem like sports bars to me with loud music.

Here's a funny colloquy from the Dallas article:

Back at the bar, two regulars are arguing about growing corn, a debate that's raged between them for years. Michael Kimball, a Boston native who moved to Dallas 30 years ago, insists he's seen 12-foot cornstalks growing on Cape Cod. "They use seaweed as fertilizer," says Kimball, a gourmet chef.

Roy Crumley isn't buying it. A retired security guard, Crumley remembers corn growing to a height of 15 feet in his native Georgia.

Kimball, who quit smoking 10 years ago and Crumley, who has never smoked, do agree on one thing. Make that two.

They think the smoking ban is, in the words of Crumley, "foolish." And they plan to continue arguing about corn, or whatever, right here at their regular bar as long as they can.

But it won't be the same old, smoky hole-in-the-wall: That Ship's has sailed.

"Smoky hole-in-the-wall." LOL! :blush:

 

[BlowFish]

In HK, the patrons ignore the ban. Pool Hall owners have put up non-smoking signs, but turn a blind eye when patrons smoke. Pool halls are raided and ones the police leaves the smoking continues.

I've stopped smoking since Sept 29, 2007.

 

[JAM]

In HK, the patrons ignore the ban. Pool Hall owners have put up non-smoking signs, but turn a blind eye when patrons smoke. Pool halls are raided and ones the police leaves the smoking continues.

I've stopped smoking since Sept 29, 2007.

Congratulations on quitting. I quit February 16th, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., EST.

How much are cigarettes in Hong Kong today? They are a little over 7 bucks a pack in my area. I remember when I first started smoking as a teenager, they were 27 cents a pack. Now they're almost 40 cents for one cigarette.

I guess raising the price of cigarettes will be a deterrent for some to quit, but I know a guy who works at a local gas station in my area who smokes 4 packs a day. He told me he was trying to cut down, and now he's only smoking 3 packs a day. ONLY? :embarrassed2:

 

[JAM]

Will Prout -- why does this name sound familiar to me? -- the owner of Omaha pool hall, has in keeping Big John's Billiard's Inc. a smoke-friendly pool hall. Last week, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected his appeal, claiming that a pool hall that serves liquor and food as well as sells pool equipment and merchandise, must meet with the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act and to allocate a smoke-free area.

Owner of Big John's Billiard's Inc. has tried to exclude its asset from the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act that requires owners of bars, restaurants and retail shops to provide a room for non smokers within their area. Arguing that renovating the 13,000 square-foot pool hall in his ownership would be too difficult, Mr. Prout proffered to publicize his venue as a "smoker-friendly" pool room and warn employees from the dangers involved in passive smoking.

Following the pool hall owner failed attempt, Omaha officials decided to tighten the Clean Indoor Air Act and passed an ordinance banning smoking in public places that serve food and alcohol.

Source: http://www.pool-table-rules.com/pool_association/pool_halls/billiard-hall-smoking-ban.html [Retrieved 19 April 2009]

 

[JAM]

North Carolina Now Poised for Smoking Ban!

Holy smokes -- PUN INTENDED! :grin-square: -- North Carolina, another tobacco State, has joined in the smoking ban! :yes:

In an April 2, 2009, article:

In Durham, Michael Dearing says he hears the same thing repeatedly about the Green Room, the Durham pool hall he co-owns: Great place. Too smoky.

This year the Green Room decided to make Wednesdays smoke-free. The change led to some new faces in the pool room. The business will also be smoke-free on Saturdays. Dearing has never smoked.

"It's incredible to be able to have a full bar and you can see from the front to the back of the place," he said.

The House voted Wednesday to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and restaurants in North Carolina, a move the ban's champion called a historic moment for a state built on tobacco.

Folks, tobacco made this state," Cole said. "What tobacco's done for this state, put it where it is. While it's decreasing, we don't need to be kicking them in the teeth."

People are never forced to breathe smoke in the workplace, he argued. "You're never told you have to work anywhere," Cole said.

Tobacco companies have supported excluding bars and nightclubs from public smoking bans.

"In those sorts of venues, we believe the business owners should have the right to set whatever policy works for their clientele," said Maura Payne, a spokeswoman for Winston-Salem based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, the nation's second-largest tobacco company.

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1468137.html [Retrieved 19 April 2009]

Picture of smoker in Durham at Green Room! Wow, check out that Shuffle Board. I ain't seen one of those in a long time!

 

[BlowFish]

Thanx... It's been a longtime coming, but I always fail. I keep telling myself and friends that I will stop soon and will do it cutting down slowly. I was not a big smoker on a regular day, but when I'm down at the bar or the poolhall, I can smoke a pack or 2 on any given nite. One day, I just stopped cold turkey, never told anyone. It worked. It just takes a lot of determination.

I have smoked since I was 14. I already forgot how much they cost as I didn't buy them. I just took them from my dad and moms supply. When they bought cigs, they buy by the large carton. 50 small cartons per 1 large carton. My mom was a casual smoker, but my dad was a heavy one. He smoked at least 3 packs a day.

Cigarettes cost about $6.50/pack and above. Depending on the brand. The tax on cigarettes was recently increased 50% and then the government made wine tax-free.

Congratulations on quitting. I quit February 16th, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., EST.

How much are cigarettes in Hong Kong today? They are a little over 7 bucks a pack in my area. I remember when I first started smoking as a teenager, they were 27 cents a pack. Now they're almost 40 cents for one cigarette.

I guess raising the price of cigarettes will be a deterrent for some to quit, but I know a guy who works at a local gas station in my area who smokes 4 packs a day. He told me he was trying to cut down, and now he's only smoking 3 packs a day. ONLY? :embarrassed2:

 

[Dave Nelson]

I'm 82. I quit smoking when I was 22, and then I don't think I ever smoked more than half a pack a day.

I walked out of the pool room a little over 2 months ago. As I stood on the sidewalk I realised that my eyes stung, I was coughing, my throat was dry and I stank. My friend Larry, another non-smoker, walked out with me. We had had a good game of straight pool, he won. I said, Larry, that's it, I'm not going into another pool room unless it's non-smoking, and I haven't.

The nearest non-smoking room is Legends in Waukegan,Ill. I'ts 24 miles, about a 40 minute drive. I played in an 8 ball tournament there a couple of months ago. I'll give them a visit one of these days.

Dave Nelson

 

[scottyr44]

i miss not being able to smoke in a pool hall being in korea where you can smoke just about anywhere you please. i went from smoking maybe 6 or 7 cig's a day to a pack when i go play. I kinda enjoy the social aspects of walking out after a game to smoke and joke about the previous set or something of that nature. Although i learned a little trick from a korean bar owner when he shoots with a lit cig he puts it in his ear canal funny as hell but he shoots damn good.

 

[JAM]

i miss not being able to smoke in a pool hall being in korea where you can smoke just about anywhere you please. i went from smoking maybe 6 or 7 cig's a day to a pack when i go play. I kinda enjoy the social aspects of walking out after a game to smoke and joke about the previous set or something of that nature. Although i learned a little trick from a korean bar owner when he shoots with a lit cig he puts it in his ear canal funny as hell but he shoots damn good.

OMG, that is so funny, a cigarette placed in the ear. :grin-square:

Years ago in American culture, smoking was considered sexy.

Oh, blue eyes, there will never be another Paul, just like there will never be another pool movie with him in it. He is sure missed.

Wow, check out those six-pack abs. YIKES!

 

[JAM]

I'm 82. I quit smoking when I was 22, and then I don't think I ever smoked more than half a pack a day.

I walked out of the pool room a little over 2 months ago. As I stood on the sidewalk I realised that my eyes stung, I was coughing, my throat was dry and I stank. My friend Larry, another non-smoker, walked out with me. We had had a good game of straight pool, he won. I said, Larry, that's it, I'm not going into another pool room unless it's non-smoking, and I haven't.

The nearest non-smoking room is Legends in Waukegan,Ill. I'ts 24 miles, about a 40 minute drive. I played in an 8 ball tournament there a couple of months ago. I'll give them a visit one of these days.

Dave Nelson

You're 82, Dave? I would have never guessed that, by your writings on this forum. You're a young 82.

My best friend -- well, one of them -- who works with me will be 80 years old this year. She just quit smoking 2 years ago because she experienced breathing problems at Disney in Florida with her grandchildren. She just decided to give it up out of fear.

I quit one year later after she did. Last year, I quit smoking. This year, I intend to get me some six-pack abs like Paul Newman. I have changed my whole daily routine to revolve around exercise. I really hate it so far, but I'm going to stick with it. I am hoping by the end of summer, my abs may look like Paul's?

Well, I can dream, can't I?! :thumbup:

 

[JAM]

Hey, I am getting one of these for my boyfriend. Now that cigarettes cost 40 cents apiece, this little doodad will come in handy: a cigarette saver. :grin-square:

When you have to go outside to smoke a cigarette at the pool room, you can take a few puffs, put it out, and smoke it again, saving money. This is actually a brilliant idea for smokers.

 

[Neil]

.............

 

[TX Poolnut]

These were the only cigs I ever smoked.

 

[jay helfert]

i miss not being able to smoke in a pool hall being in korea where you can smoke just about anywhere you please. i went from smoking maybe 6 or 7 cig's a day to a pack when i go play. I kinda enjoy the social aspects of walking out after a game to smoke and joke about the previous set or something of that nature. Although i learned a little trick from a korean bar owner when he shoots with a lit cig he puts it in his ear canal funny as hell but he shoots damn good.

That brings back some memories of Larry Lisciotti, who used to do the same thing while running out another rack. It looked so funny to see him hustling around the table with that cig stuck in his ear. It never fell out either. I can also remember him finishing a rack and looking around for his cigarette. He forgot it was in his ear. Too funny!

 

[JimS]

I know. It's been a little over a year for me of not smoking. I could never imagine going back.

That said, I remember hanging out in pool rooms at tournaments not so very long ago, and my eyes would get red and burn from the smoke in the pool room. And I was a smoker too. I can't imagine how rough it is on the non-smokers.

When I look at people smoking cigarettes today, I kind of feel sorry for them, knowing how difficult it was for me to make the decision to quit. For whatever reason, the smokers that still smoke today don't want to quit. My boyfriend is one of those. I can't force him to quit, but he does smoke outside now and not in the house! :grin-square:

At his age I didn't want to stop either but the last couple years of smoking, when I was 59/60, it was really getting to me.

We moved to this house, the nicest house I'd ever lived in, when I was 56 and for about 5 years I always went outside to smoke. I had made up my mind that I was absolutely not going to have yellow film all over everything including my first ever pool table.

First thing in the morning, 15 degrees below zero, and there I was putting on my artic parka so I could go outside to smoke. It was then that I first realized that I really did HAVE to smoke. I even bought a pair of those shooters mittens so I could have a couple of fingers free to hold the cig.

The combination of short of breath, coughing more, feeling tired a lot, the increased cost and knowing I had no choice.... I HAD to smoke (which pissed me off), got me to the point where I wanted to stop... and the war was on.

It took a couple years of trying before I got stopped for several days and after several days there was no way I was going to start again and have to do it all over. Nope! No way! Not on your life! Not me! Hail no! Sheeeeeeeeet!

I see'm standing outside the resturants, the pool hall, the bars, puffing away. That's when I'm grateful.