Augusta leaders are looking to exempt cigar bars or lounges from the city’s smoke-free ordinance. The move would create a golden small-business opportunity, one owner said, while health advocates oppose lifting any restrictions on smoking.
Tuesday, an Augusta Commission committee vote to amend the smoke-free ordinance failed 2-2, meaning it goes to the full commission without a recommendation.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson, who put the item on Tuesday’s meeting agenda, said he’d received many messages of opposition, some claiming Augusta was revoking its ban on smoking indoors in public places.
“What we’re attempting to do is not reverse our smoke-free ordinance. This body did a great job putting a mandate like that in place,” Johnson said.
Rather, Augusta’s growth demands it keep up with entertainment trends, he said.
“We’re not just this retirement town with a golf tournament every year,” Johnson said. “If you go to any city the size of Augusta or slightly larger, you will find cigar lounges.”
The exemption would apply to “new establishments” only, while smoking would remain off-limits in restaurants, he said.
City Planning Director Rob Sherman – who rescinded his resignation Tuesday – said the city could amend the smoking ordinance to include an “indoor air certificate of exemption” for establishments that gross a certain minimum percentage of sales from tobacco, don’t allow patrons under age 21 and pay a regulatory fee.
The Georgia chapter of the American Lung Association issued a statement that Augusta was unwisely weakening its smoke-free ordinance.
“The amendment, introduced by Commissioner Jordan Johnson, is the first attempt to roll back ordinance protections from secondhand smoke in public places and in workplaces,” said June Deen, senior Georgia advocacy director for the Lung Association. “Passage of this amendment would be a huge setback for this city.”
Deen cited the CDC’s estimate of secondhand smoke killing more than 41,000 Americans per year, its being a known cause of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke and its tendency to cause or aggravate respiratory infections and asthma.
Russell Wilder, owner of Top Shelf Cigar in Martinez, said the code change would create an immediate business opportunity.
“Since I can’t do it in Columbia County, I’d do it. It’s a hot trend,” Wilder said.
Columbia County’s smoke-free ordinance, in effect since 2005, makes an exception for tobacco retailers such as Top Shelf and allows smoking inside. But the county’s ban on establishments that serve primarily alcohol makes combining alcohol and cigars a near impossibility, Wilder said.
The growing premium cigar industry has saturated the Atlanta market, Wilder said, while over the last three years much of the growth has been among African-American cigar enthusiasts, he said.
Commissioner Sammie Sias, who voted against the amendment, said the city had worked too hard on the smoke-free ordinance to change it.
“It took a long time. Having gotten all those concerns answered I supported it,” Sias said. An amendment is “going backward” and opens the door to “more and more exceptions.”
Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Williams said while he doesn’t smoke cigarettes or cigars, he supports allowing cigar bars, if they are clearly marked as such.
Out-of-town visitors often ask to go “drink some bourbon and smoke cigars,” said Williams, who doesn’t serve on the committee.
Commissioners John Clarke and Catherine Smith McKnight voted in favor, while Sias and Commissioner Sean Frantom were opposed.
“Every major city has cigar bars and lounges,” Clarke said. “It’s not just a man thing anymore. Ladies also partake of cigars, and they enjoy it.”
Clarke said he understood the health organizations want to protect the public, “but at the same time we have to be guardians of our own health, of our own bodies.”
“I’m well aware that we’re opening the door for a lot of flak for supporting this but so be it,” he said.
Commissioner Dennis Williams, who smokes cigars, said anyone who wants to smoke a cigar can drive to one of the venues in Martinez or North Augusta.
“I smoke cigars, and just based on what I spend on cigars the city is losing a lot of revenue,” he said.
McKnight said she’d received several requests to allow cigar bars, while Augusta hasn’t actually eliminated smoking in all venues.
Frantom said on this issue, health takes priority.
“As someone who is heavily involved in the smoking ordinance, this issue comes to me as health over revenue,” Frantom said. “Once you open it up, it becomes tough to govern. If we support this … we will see a loud outcry throughout the community.”
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