Have a Cigar...

Spring is back.  The temperature has been steadily rising, the flowers are blooming, and the grass even needs to be mowed.

Unfortunately, it’s raining for the third evening in a row.  And all I want to do is sit outside in my yard and enjoy a cigar. 

But, when it’s raining, no cigar.

Can’t smoke in my house, can’t smoke in my car, can’t smoke at the bar.  I don’t belong to any private clubs that allow smoking.  Where can I smoke a cigar?

Nowhere.

As Americans, we fight in the name of Freedom.  We sent the British packing, stopped Hitler from occupying the world, and most recently took justice on Bin Laden.

We also fight for our rights.

The original charge of the war against smoking in public was to keep families and non-smokers safe from exposure to second-hand smoke in public places.  A noble effort, and eventually very successful.

Now Americans are free to enter any bar or restaurant in Plymouth and not catch a whiff of an unhealthy cigarette.  Nice job.

Unfortunately, that victory painted with such a broad brush, now smokers have nowhere to go. 

What I’m trying to say is that I would love to step into a bar, order a brandy, sit back, stretch out, and light up a cigar, possibly with the company of other cigar smokers.  In layman’s terms, a Cigar Bar.

I smoke two to four cigars a month.  It’s not an addiction or a frequent habit.   It takes an hour to smoke a cigar, so it’s a luxury, almost like going to the spa.  I don’t huff cigars down on coffee breaks or on the sidewalk outside restaurants.  I relax, I get comfortable, and I enjoy.

The war against second hand smoke resulted in a Plymouth bylaw that, to paraphrase, says that smoking is prohibited in all bars and restaurants.

This means you could not have a cigar bar, because it is a bar.

I would like to introduce a petitioned article to Town Meeting to change that slightly, to add something like: “With the exception of a cigar bar, clearly marked to warn patrons, and age restricted to those 21 and older.”  This would allow an establishment to operate for smokers who want to go somewhere to smoke, while making it clear to non-smokers that this is not a place they want to go.

I know I can get the 10 signatures needed to get the article on the warrant, but would I have public support?  Let me know what you think.  Do smokers deserve their rights?