Team ANR/F has been on high alert, primed to take action as the cigar industry ‘culture vultures’ circle around long standing, popular smokefree laws looking for a chance to eke out broad and vague exemptions at the state and local level. In states that lack 100% protections, the industry is looking to peck out loopholes and carveouts to maintain indoor smoking.
INDOOR CIGAR SMOKING, A FLAWED CONCEPT
The entire concept pitched by the industry is not a true reflection of the products consumed and the spaces where smoking is still allowed. Cigars, promoted as premium products only consumed by adults in venues meant exclusively for cigar consumption, can seem reasonable to a lawmaker. However, in reality, we find that the threshold for meeting the definition of cigar can be extremely weak. This could be a cigarette simply wrapped in brown paper, which is very popular among young people. And rather than purely a smoking-style lounge as pitched in the main terminal of the Detroit Wayne County Airport, these are often full service entertainment destinations with whiskey or wine pairings, bougie bites, and even live music.
CO-OPTING CULTURE
The cigar and tobacco industries are on a perpetual mission to rebrand their image, reshaping consumers’ views around smoking, including new and emerging trends that embrace marijuana, vaping products, hookah, and cigars as activities “for the culture.” While tobacco industry interference to smokefree laws is not new, the industry has refined its tactics to exploit how groups identify and represent their culture. The industry’s alignment with cultural identity and its promotion of trends such as “cigar culture” or “hookah culture” or even “cowboy culture” as we saw in Montana not only increase its appeal among vulnerable populations, but they also minimize the stigma around smoking and raise the social acceptability of exposure to secondhand smoke. Consequently, vulnerable populations are more willing to ignore health concerns in favor of popular social and pseudo-cultural trends.
In the Field
A litany of poorly worded legislation has been flooding the field. The Louisville (KY) Metro Council rushed to pass a cigar bar exemption from their strong local law before the “Call to the Post” (as Louisville is home to famed the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs) to ensure the bourbon and cigar tourism culture could be enjoyed. Fortunately, advocates prevented a statewide law from advancing on the same issue. Indiana approved a sweeping, confusing, and vague cigar exemption to their statewide law as part of a larger and popular alcoholic beverage bill making input from the public extremely difficult. Neighbors in Ohio were able to thwart similar language from advancing but will be on the lookout for new threats in the upcoming session. Wisconsin is in the throes of a battle right now to push back on “tobacco bars” that will be licensed rather than exempted from the smokefree law, making the law preemptive in nature. Despite months of speaking out, the Detroit Wayne County Airport Authority has determined they will advance an RFP for a cigar lounge vendor to open in the main terminal of the airport. We celebrate 20 years of the Montana statewide smokefree law and applaud the efforts of their coalition and lawmakers to protect the integrity of the law from recent threats for a cigar bar rollback.
An Economic Growth Smokescreen
The tobacco industry is crafty and will frame its profits-over-people business model however necessary to win approval. Leveraging arguments to encourage Black entrepreneurship and economic growth in neighborhoods that need quality jobs, the industry co-opts decision makers of color, compromising their commitments to health and wellness through exemptions for cigar and hookah lounges that undermine those very principles. Furthermore, it should be noted that cigar bars rarely turn a profit as intended, create few jobs, and expose everyone to toxic secondhand smoke.
What’s Next
If you know ANR, you know we will not sit idly by while the network of our popular, effective smokefree laws that protect nearly 70% of the US population is under attack from the tobacco, cigar, and marijuana industries. We are committed as ever to staying organized, responding nimbly, and activating coalitions. We need strong decision maker champions to call out these venues for what they are and flex their power and prioritize smokefree air.
Resources
If you are a tobacco prevention advocate, a coalition member, or work in public health, join us for an upcoming Cigar Secondhand Smoke Office Hours to talk through strategy and connect with colleagues across the country. Take action: sign the petition to keep DTW smokefree!
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