News

Cigar bars forge plans after high court's ruling

Thursday, September 4, 2014
Lincoln Journal-Star

Representatives from 11 cigar bars in Nebraska gathered in Omaha Wednesday to brainstorm ways to stall the effects of a recent state Supreme Court ruling banning their patrons from smoking indoors.

Supreme Court judges on Friday declared unconstitutional exemptions for cigar bars and tobacco shops in the state's indoor smoking ban.

Cigar bar owners, such as Jason "Hutch" Hutchison at Jake's Cigars and Spirits in Lincoln, say they'll let their customers light up until their cigar bar licenses expire Oct. 31. After that, it's unclear when, if ever, they'll be allowed to smoke cigars inside the bar again.

But Hutchison and others say they're hopeful legislators will take up the issue in next year's session and breathe new life into their businesses, spread among Lincoln, the Omaha area, Grand Island, South Sioux City and Hastings.

"It’s dim, but there’s a glimmer of hope that hopefully working together as a unified body we’ll be able to make some progress,” Hutchison said.

Nebraska Liquor Control Commission Executive Director Hobert Rupe said the commission won’t renew or issue any new cigar bar licenses.

But the bars will be able to renew their underlying liquor licenses, allowing them to sell liquor onsite and off-sale, Rupe said.

The commission was able to grant those licenses after state lawmakers added a cigar bar exemption in 2009 to the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act.

The 2008 law made it “unlawful for any person to smoke in a place of employment or a public place," with exceptions for hotel guest rooms, indoor areas for research on smoking's health effects, and tobacco retail outlets that sell only tobacco or related products.

In Friday’s split ruling, the judges in the majority said there is no substantial difference in circumstances between cigar bars and other public places or workplaces that justifies treating them differently.

To qualify as a cigar bar, 10 percent of annual revenue needs to come from cigar sales, and the bar needs an on-site humidor.

Earlier this spring, Rich Bar and Lounge owner Lawrence Chatters got a cigar bar permit that he uses to run a hookah bar in Lincoln.

After Friday's ruling, he's looking to dismantle it.

"Within the next week you’ll probably see a 'Hookahs For Sale' sign at Rich," Chatters said.

He's confident he can find homes for the 33 hookahs he bought from a California company, but getting rid of Rich's 40 kilos of different kinds of shisha, the tobacco product smoked in hookahs, will be a tougher endeavor, Chatters said.

The ruling will cost Hutchison as much as 10 percent of his revenue, he said, but cigar sales will continue.

Hutchison had to quell the worries of some customers confused by the ruling, who believed Jake's was going out of business.

That won't be the case, no matter what happens down the road, he said.

"We existed before smoking," he said, "and we’ll exist long after smoking if we don’t get it back."

http://journalstar.com/business/local/cigar-bars-forge-plans-after-high-court-s-ruling/article_3f9e1663-6200-5d6f-b7b0-6caf7e20e017.html

Return to News

Tobacco Free Nebraska • P.O. Box 95026 • Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5026 • Phone: (402) 471-2101