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

[CreeDo]

Congrats to all those who managed to quit. I feel out of place in this thread, I never once set a cig in my mouth and I feel lucky I avoided the temptation. Actually I never felt particularly tempted but whatever.

I used to feel very strongly about smoking and would say without reservation "ban it. Period. Every pool hall."

If that were to happen I'd be fine with the decision, but now I'm a little more relaxed. If a change in smoking laws killed so much business that a pool hall was in danger of closing... I'd rather they make an exception at that pool hall than have it close due to lack of customers. We don't need any more closed pool halls.

However our state has been smoke free for a while and I see pool halls doing well. I think the trick is... you get the whole state used to being smoke free in any indoor area... and after a few years of it, nobody feels like they're "missing" something. Stepping outside to smoke is just a normal fact of life and smoking inside somewhere feels a bit weird, like you're getting away with something.

I've heard more than 1 smoker say with true sincerity they'd rather the pool hall be smoke free because even their own eyes can get irritated by it and they don't want anything affecting their shooting. When I occasionally shoot at an elk's lodge or legion hall I have a hard time dealing with it (they can still smoke inside there)... my eyes water and the edges of the balls get a little blurry, and I am no longer a favorite to make a long thin cut. I can't put into words how irritating it is to be staring at a tough shot, shake your head and blink, blink some more, open your eyes wider hoping to force them to focus, then squint when they start stinging... and finally you stroke the ball and hit it really bad.

 

[JAM]

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!

Now, that's funny. I can just picture Larry doing that. LOL!

 

[JAM]

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

I know. That's exactly the way I feel today.

It was only a short time ago, I was standing outside in the FREEZING COLD at Orange Billiards in Maryland, puffing on a cigarette. It was a no-smoking pool room.

It was so damn cold, like below FREEZING, but I had to go out and get a nicotine fix. My fingers would be ice cold, trying to light up. Sometimes I would take one or two puffs and then put out the cigarette, throwing it away, because I couldn't take the FREEZING COLD weather. LOL!

And here's the worst of the worse for me. I definitely went through my trash can in my office looking for large cigarette butts when I ran out. It's disgusting to think about today, but as a smoker, I did it. I cannot tell a lie.

I do wonder if the ban on smoking has harmed pool rooms, or maybe it could be that since the popularity of pool is waning in the States, the pool rooms have followed suit and are today a rarity.

I long to hang out at a real pool room, one filled with action, where I can sit back and sweat a one-pocket contest between two warriors. I don't even care about the side betting. I truly used to really enjoy sweating the games.

What in the hell is so exciting about it, I haven't figured it out yet, but for me, it's where I'd most rather be, than sitting at this damn computer, the way I do today, 24/7.

 

[Dave Nelson]

Jam

Thanks for the compliment. Yep, 82, actually closer to 83 now, however, since only the good die young and since I am an Atheist and therefore bad I'm planning on being around for awhile yet.

Dave

 

[JAM]

Congrats to all those who managed to quit. I feel out of place in this thread, I never once set a cig in my mouth...

I'll bet you have fresh breath! :wink:

I've heard more than 1 smoker say with true sincerity they'd rather the pool hall be smoke free because even their own eyes can get irritated by it and they don't want anything affecting their shooting. When I occasionally shoot at an elk's lodge or legion hall I have a hard time dealing with it (they can still smoke inside there)... my eyes water and the edges of the balls get a little blurry, and I am no longer a favorite to make a long thin cut. I can't put into words how irritating it is to be staring at a tough shot, shake your head and blink, blink some more, open your eyes wider hoping to force them to focus, then squint when they start stinging... and finally you stroke the ball and hit it really bad.

Man, this is really so true. I have seen the burning eyes myself in pool rooms, even from the smokers. They'll be getting ready to fire at a shot, with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, as the smokes flows right on up into their eyeballs. Ouch! :embarrassed2:

I don't know how I feel about a smoking pool room today. I haven't been to a pool room since I quit smoking. It will be interesting to see how long I can hang with the smoke. And believe me, when me and my "crew" goes to a pool room, we usually close the place down, getting in action and playing pool all night long, even until sunrise sometimes. :angry:

 

[JAM]

Jam

Thanks for the compliment. Yep, 82, actually closer to 83 now, however, since only the good die young and since I am an Atheist and therefore bad I'm planning on being around for awhile yet.

Dave

Hey, are you married? Do I have a gal for you if you're single!

If your heart belongs to another, then I won't play Cupid!

 

[Dave Nelson]

Jam

Yep, I married a Catholic girl Jan.20, 1949. The Priest that performed the ceremony explained to me that the rules of the church required him to do this but that this marriage hadn't a chance of lasting. That priest is dead and burried and I'm still married to that same girl, but she isn't Catholic anymore.
she quit the church shortly after our youngest son was born 42 years ago. Since I was an airline pilot at the time I wasn't always home on Sunday so I guess it might have been a few weeks before I noticed. When I did I asked her why she wasn't going to church any more and she said, none of your business, and that's all I know about it to this day. She seems to get along without religion just as well as I do now.


Dave

 

[pwd72s]

FWIW, ALL of the people's republic of Oregon is now pretty much a "no smoking" state...no smoking allowed in any building open to the public. This includes bars.

reminds me of an old joke:

"Do you smoke after sex?"

"Gee, I don't know. I've never looked."

 

[Brian in VA]

Hey JAM! Congrats on kicking the habit! And on wanting to change more of your lifestyle, too!

You may not know it but the VA legislature passed a smoking ban here, too. In the most recent session, a ban was passed but the bill is so convoluted that they set it up not take effect until December 1st instead of the usual July 1st. Allegedly, the owner can make a separate room for smokers or they can make the room a private club to get off the hook.

Based on the tight fists of most of the owners around here, I'm guessing they'll become private clubs of some type in order to continue allowing smoking.

I quit July4th, 2000 after about 25 years of smoking. At the end, I was about 1 and 1/2 packs a day. Every once in a while, I'll catch a whiff of one and it smells good but I haven't given in and besides, I'm tired of coming home smelling like I caught fire at some point during the night's play. I know how hard it is to quit; it took me about 15 tries. I have a friend that quit 20 years ago and he still has dreams about it, wakes up thinking he had a smoke and desperately wanting another one.

Brian in VA

 

[jcommie]

I don't like people smoking around me when Im shooting pool. It's distracting and irritates my eyes.

I don't have anything against smoking though. I cut down to a pack a week(sometimes half a pack. It really depends as some days I just forget that I want one.), but I do get the good stuff as consolation.

 

[jasonlaus]

JAM, Keep up the good work. Congrats:thumbup:

 

[thebigdog]

I have never been a smoker, but my dad owned a poolhall which I all but lived in for 5 years. I probobly was sucking up as much smoke as a two pack a day smoker back then. It's so nice to go into bars, restraunts, and pool halls now and not come out with my clothes and hair stinking like smoke.

 

[Bamacues]

I have never been a smoker, but it never really bothered me that other people smoked, for the most part. My how the times have changed....

When I was in school, kids could smoke at high school if they had a note from their parents.

When I went into the service after high school, cigarettes could be bought at the PX for $.10/pack or $1.00/carton. C-rations used to have a 4-pack in them, along with matches.

When I went to college, smoking was allowed inside the classroom during "stressful" exams. That was what bothered me more than anything...trying to remember formulas for a Stats exam while the guys on each side of me chain-smoked.

I traveled a lot. Smoking was allowed on airlines then, also.

Joe

 

[gunzby]

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!

I was pretty surprised to see that my home state is banning smoking. I think they're going to allow it in bars, but it will have to be bars that do not allow minors into which would not include pool halls.

I'm a non-smoker and while I will enjoy going to my usual pool hall not navigating through a massive cloud of smoke (no exhaust fans in there....it is incredibly smoky) I still don't like government imposing it's will on business owners. I hope they are able to write off the losses on their taxes next year.

 

[dkrager]

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.

Here's my doodad. It’s called the electronic cigarette. Why go outside? LOL :thumbup: