A buddy of mine buys a bar, however I can't go to it

[V. Barbarino]

My buddy buys a bar, a dive bar in Hollywood, I think HW, anyways, great little dive bar, however I went twice, I can no longer go. Since the bar sells under 10% food, you can smoke in the place. I'm not a smoker, never smoked a cig in my life, in fact, smoke makes me sick. (Cig smoke that is) I feel like ass today, I took a shower but I still smell like smoke and now my sinuses are acting up.

I'm not sure how to tell him I won't be going back. I just can't get sick! I never get sick, I made it 3 years without a cold, my steak ended 2 months ago. I lived with 2 smokers for a year, got sick once a month, once I convinced them to smoke outside, never got sick. The smoke was so bad in my old place with them, my suit in a closet in a room they did not smoke in, in a suit bag sealed, smelled like smoke!

I don't know how you people work/hang out in places like this. Do you smokers understand how bad you smell? I can feel the cancer growing in me last night. Any non smoker is nuts to work in a joint like that!

Yes my buddy has the system to take the smoke out of the air, but it's not powerful enough. WE NEED MORE POWER CAPTAIN!

We also need laws, no smoking no matter what % of food you sell.

My rant is done, football is on...

[Guest 00crystal00]

i agree in the small bars it definitely over powering at times, especially on a busy night. maybe just stop by early when its not busy.

we have only been smoke free in restaurants for a few years but i can tell a difference when i go to a state that allows it. visited some friends in Detroit and even though we sat in 'no smoking' i felt like i was eating smoke. ruined a great dinner. they of course knew no difference.

[V. Barbarino]

i agree in the small bars it definitely over powering at times, especially on a busy night. maybe just stop by early when its not busy.

we have only been smoke free in restaurants for a few years but i can tell a difference when i go to a state that allows it. visited some friends in Detroit and even though we sat in 'no smoking' i felt like i was eating smoke. ruined a great dinner. they of course knew no difference.

I think part of the issue is that for about 4 years now, we have been spoiled with the new laws that went into effect in 03. Only once in the last 4 years have I gone to a bar that allows smoking, we left and never went back. Clubs are usually not bad, the high ceilings and massive cooling systems keep it tolerable however once you get into a small bar it's like putting wet leaves on a fire.

I now need to tell my buddy about my problem, he has allergies so hopefully he's feeling it as well and will invest in the money to fix it. I'm sure plenty of non smokers come in and never return. It's an investment he should do, it would pay for it's self.

[Guest JustDade]

I think part of the issue is that for about 4 years now, we have been spoiled with the new laws that went into effect in 03. Only once in the last 4 years have I gone to a bar that allows smoking, we left and never went back. Clubs are usually not bad, the high ceilings and massive cooling systems keep it tolerable however once you get into a small bar it's like putting wet leaves on a fire.

I now need to tell my buddy about my problem, he has allergies so hopefully he's feeling it as well and will invest in the money to fix it. I'm sure plenty of non smokers come in and never return. It's an investment he should do, it would pay for it's self.

I'm sure he'll be all broken up when he finds out that you won't be coming back to mooch free brews off of him anymore.

[Guest ramon]

I would love to see no smoking in clubs/bars here. It's one of the more refreshing things in NY clubbing.

[Guest pod]

Probably the only refreshing thing.

[Guest 029]

a dip in the ocean is refreshing just about now~

[Guest tekniQz]

I personally enjoy having a smoke on the terrace.

Rizzo enjoys having a smoke on the terrace too,just not from the Terror Squad.lol

I think they should ban cigerettes inside clubs though.

[Guest tekniQz]

You could just wear a HAZMAT suit.

That would send a message without offending your friend.

[Guest Sobebeats]

I would love to see no smoking in clubs/bars here. It's one of the more refreshing things in NY clubbing.

+4

[V. Barbarino]

You could just wear a HAZMAT suit.

That would send a message without offending your friend.

I could wear my roommates scuba gear...

[BobbyTrendy]

I could wear my roommates scuba gear...

eww terrible visual..

jk

Non-Smoking restaurants rock! LOVE IT.. I wouldn't mind them banning smoking in bars/clubs either.. I mean HELLO this is Florida - you can go outside for 5 minutes.. its not like the north were its below zero or anything.. lol

[Guest Philip]

ban smoking indoors, definitely

[Guest ramon]

Probably the only refreshing thing.

Cielo is another.

[Guest coach]

Preach on, brudda.

Just tell him that his place smells awful and you aren't going back until he kicks out the smokers.

[Guest speedway]

Business actually goes up at bars/restaurants/clubs when smoking is banned.

The smokers will keep on going out whether there is a smoking ban or not. They'll just have to smoke away outside the venue.

The non-smokers on the other hand are refusing to go to establishments where there is smoking.

It is tough for me to handle any trace of cigarette smoke now whether it is in a rental car, hotel room or bar.

Let's ban cigarette smoking in all public places just like Cali. We'll be better for it.

[Guest DB-CMG]

Business actually goes up at bars/restaurants/clubs when smoking is banned.

The smokers will keep on going out whether there is a smoking ban or not. They'll just have to smoke away outside the venue.

The non-smokers on the other hand are refusing to go to establishments where there is smoking.

It is tough for me to handle any trace of cigarette smoke now whether it is in a rental car, hotel room or bar.

Let's ban cigarette smoking in all public places just like Cali. We'll be better for it.

+1

[Guest coach]

Business actually goes up at bars/restaurants/clubs when smoking is banned.

The smokers will keep on going out whether there is a smoking ban or not. They'll just have to smoke away outside the venue.

The non-smokers on the other hand are refusing to go to establishments where there is smoking.

It is tough for me to handle any trace of cigarette smoke now whether it is in a rental car, hotel room or bar.

Let's ban cigarette smoking in all public places just like Cali. We'll be better for it.

This is only true if it is a city-wide ordinance. In general, if one venue tries to ban smoking, it will lose business to others that do not. However, it is true that city/county/state-wide bans do not hurt business, and may even increase it.

[Guest pod]

Twilo, when it was open, had a smoking ban, but it wasn't enforced after awhile.

[Guest Dj_Peace]

This is only true if it is a city-wide ordinance. In general, if one venue tries to ban smoking, it will lose business to others that do not. However, it is true that city/county/state-wide bans do not hurt business, and may even increase it.

One of my research projects for Amreican Journal of Public Administration was based on the California smoking ban and , in the immediate aftermath, revenue dipped slightly but in the ensuing months adn subsequent years, the revenue has increased across the board -restaurants, night clubs, etc... because non-smokersbegan to frequent spots more regularly once the ban was implemented and smokers continued to go just opting to step outside for their smoke as the need took over

Me, I cannot stand the smoke so I ususally stay in the booth and bring a small fan forthose venues that allow smoking indoors to blow back out towards the patrons.

[Guest slamminshaun]

In general, if one venue tries to ban smoking, it will lose business to others that do not.

Why is this the case? If people hate smoking as much as you all say they do, wouldn't forward-thinking, non-smoking establishments be booming if nobody else does it???

[Guest coach]

Why is this the case? If people hate smoking as much as you all say they do, wouldn't forward-thinking, non-smoking establishments be booming if nobody else does it???

Somewhere around 15%-20% of the general public smokes. A sizable minority. Now, if you are the first club to ban smoking, you immediately cut off almost 20% of your customer base.

But that is not the bigger picture. Some of those smokers have non-smoking friends. Actually, many smokers have several non-smoking friends. So, if you, as the non-smoking friends, want to go somewhere that is inclusive of your smoking friend, then the non-smoking venue loses more than 1 customer for every smoker they turn away.

I think that given time, you could get some segregated venues that would do quite well going smokeless. Given time, enough of the non-smoking populace would realize how much of a difference going out without being inundated with smoke makes in the morning. However, it would take a heavy PR campaign to promote it, something that clubs seem to SUCK at. And it would take time to rebuild your customer base.

Look at it this way. When you ban smoking, you *immediately* lose 20%-30% of your customers. It is likely that you could *eventually* increase your business by more than that, 30%-50%. But, the question is, can you survive the months needed to rebuild that base?

[Guest slamminshaun]

Somewhere around 15%-20% of the general public smokes. A sizable minority. Now, if you are the first club to ban smoking, you immediately cut off almost 20% of your customer base.

But that is not the bigger picture. Some of those smokers have non-smoking friends. Actually, many smokers have several non-smoking friends. So, if you, as the non-smoking friends, want to go somewhere that is inclusive of your smoking friend, then the non-smoking venue loses more than 1 customer for every smoker they turn away.

I think that given time, you could get some segregated venues that would do quite well going smokeless. Given time, enough of the non-smoking populace would realize how much of a difference going out without being inundated with smoke makes in the morning. However, it would take a heavy PR campaign to promote it, something that clubs seem to SUCK at. And it would take time to rebuild your customer base.

Look at it this way. When you ban smoking, you *immediately* lose 20%-30% of your customers. It is likely that you could *eventually* increase your business by more than that, 30%-50%. But, the question is, can you survive the months needed to rebuild that base?

Again, this makes no sense. You're assuming people will tolerate smoke even though they know they can drink at a smokeless bar nearby. If people can't stand smoke as much as you say they do, it should be the other way around. You'd think that every other bar in town would immediately lose 80% of their business (non-smokers) to the smokeless bar....

[Guest coach]

Again, this makes no sense. You're assuming people will tolerate smoke even though they know they can drink at a smokeless bar nearby. If people can't stand smoke as much as you say they do, it should be the other way around. You'd think that every other bar in town would immediately lose 80% of their business (non-smokers) to the smokeless bar....

You have 3 faulty assumptions. (1) You assume that people make sense. (2) You assume that all of the 80% of people who do not smoke hate smoke. (3) You assume that I am making assumptions.

I am making NO assumptions. What I am stating is what has been shown to be the truth through experience. Business is my business and I have read a number of articles and studies on this. Going smokeless at 1 venue in a city has been tried numurous times and has never, to my knowledge, worked. If you understand the reasons for this better than I do, please elaborate.

I never said that all non-smokers can't stand smoke. Please highlight where I said that. Many non-smokers would have a preference for a non-smoking environment, if they did not have to give up too much else to do so.

I am pretty sure I explained why individual non-smoking establishments do not work rather plainly, but maybe not. If you know of any cases where non-smoking clubs/bars are doing booming business, please let me know. I'd be very interested to see how they are doing it. All of the cases that I have read about do not work out.

[Guest BAEZ]

I would love to see no smoking in clubs/bars here. It's one of the more refreshing things in NY clubbing.

I like when girls come up to ask for ciggs. (Hot ones) saves me the energy to actually start a conversation