smoking ban and the effect on poolhalls??

[ScottW]

also, since the bans, ive gone back to chewing during tournaments so i dont have to take smoke breaks. I cant even count how many non smokers wish there wasnt a smoking ban then so they didnt have to see the spit in the bottle.

Chewing tobacco only affects the chewer. Unless, of course, you spit on the next guy over.

Frankly, I wish these statewide bans allowed separate smoking areas. Most (if any) don't - they ban it completely.

I live near Boulder, CO - and Boulder had a local smoking ordinance like that - where the main area of a bar/restaurant/etc. had to be non-smoking, but if the venue had a separate room (walled off with doors/glass/whatever), it could be the smoking area. It worked great - the smokers could hang in there, the non-smokers could hang in the main area, everyone was happy. Then Colorado passed its statewide ban nearly a year ago, and that overrode the local ordinance. Now the separate smoking rooms are non-smoking as well.

I know one gal who got bit by this - she had a smallish room (about eight or so bar tables), which were all in one room. She leased out another space in the same little retail property her existing room was in - built it out with a separate smoking room - and moved her business. Not a year or so later, the Colorado ban hit and now her smoking room is non-smoking. Point is, she spent a fair bit of cash to accomodate the local ordinance and her smoking clientele, which was all for naught not long after.

Now, her smoking customers simply step out front and smoke. They grumble about it sometimes but they don't make a big fuss. I do feel for'em during the winter months.