Holy smoke, Batman!

I wandered into a local joint the other day to see what band was playing on the weekend, and to have a quick pop. This is a bar and restaurant in my neighborhood that caters to a very broad clientele, including slumming 20-something yuppie types, middle aged bikers, oldster retirees, and just plain alcoholics from every age group. There’s a pull-tab counter in the back, the drinks are strong, and the cigarette smoke lingers like a gray fog at the ceiling, permeating everything and everybody in the joint…

But wait a minute; there was something different at Ye Olde Smokey Dive that day. Then it struck me – no one was smoking! For my first time in the place, I could actually smell women’s’ perfume as I walked by the tables. Usually when I visit, I try to stand by a door or a fan to minimize how bad I reek when I get to my next destination. But this day, even though the club was pretty full of regulars as usual, it didn’t smell like a giant ashtray. What a concept!

This is a result of the recent State-wide ban on smoking in public places, and I think that the new law is a terrific idea. Hopefully, this will encourage music fans that have been staying out of clubs because of the smoke to give it a try again. Will the new law negatively impact the size of the bars’ existing customer base? I dunno, but this place seemed to be jamming right along with a room full of regulars on a week night, just like usual.

You’ve got to feel for the smokers you see huddled outside the bar in the pouring rain getting their fix, though. I believe that the new law requires that smokers have to puff away a minimum of 25 feet from any building entrance. Can you imagine the cops bothering to enforce that requirement? Not gonna happen, baby!!