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Smoking in New York City

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13:21 / 22.09.03

In a couple of weeks I'm taking a break from London and heading to New York city for a few days. Thing is, I've never been to a place where smoking is so extensively prohibited and I'm wondering what exactly to expect. Is there anywhere you can go to enjoy a drink and a cigarette? It's not a huge deal, obviously, but I'd feel like a plum if there was and I didn't ask. For instance, I'm told that there are some restaurants with separate smoking rooms - is that true? Does anyone know of any?
Basically, any info/advice on the smoking thing from NY based (or NY savvy) Barbeloids would be much appreciated.

13:45 / 22.09.03

Allegedly, there's some loopholes that are being exploited/are nearing exploitation that may allow you to do this in some place. However - let me tell you something. The smoking ban rules. It's the perfect excuse to leave your group and go outside with a friend to gossip or get up to no good. Not that I would do that, of course.

14:11 / 22.09.03

Anything a visiting smoker should know?
Yes. Stop smoking! Its killing you!!!

(A public service announcement by Kegboy.)

"The More You Know..."

14:14 / 22.09.03

And there was i thinking flux would be the first to say that...

14:26 / 22.09.03

Stop smoking! Its killing you!!!

Wh-what?! You'd think they could put some sort of warning on the packet or something!

Todd - I thought it was banned outside in the street too, or am I thinking of California?

14:35 / 22.09.03

I think I can speak for all smokers when I say that I'll continue to believe they're good for me, until I see a picture of a grubby lung on the packet.
I need to cling to something.

14:42 / 22.09.03

i believe you can get those in Canada, smoothly.

Unfortunately the shere variety of health ewwarnings these days has lead to them becoming something of a lethal version of Pokemon -

Emphysema, cancer, death - gotta get 'em all.

14:59 / 22.09.03

sleaze is right canada do indeed show the effects of smoking on the packages. My personal favourite was a close up of an amazingly fucked up mouth with the teeth just hanging into the gum by the merest of root. Not nice when trying to look swauve and sofisticated.

As for New York I have no idea as not been in three years. Although did like the story of Jack Nicolson being done for smoking and turning round to the "cop" (I believe) and stating he earnt more money during the time it took the official to fine him then the official would make in that year.

See smoking can still be stylish if done correctly.

15:14 / 22.09.03

Stylish? That's not stylish. That's being a boor.

Matthew Fluxington

16:04 / 22.09.03

You can smoke outdoors as much as you want, you just can't smoke in a workplace environment.

21:38 / 22.09.03

which, as a smoker, i reckon is the right way to go.

i keep getting flashes of the society of the future looking back at us and wondering why the fuck we were all dumb enough to fight for our right to smoke...

21:42 / 22.09.03

Actually I flash forward a little more to a point where coffee houses have been outlawed...

21:46 / 22.09.03

My friend in Canada (who smokes) says that the Canadians are so blasé about the 'effects of smoking' images on cigarette boxes it's got to the point that when they buy their cigarettes they say "Twenty marlboro, no teeth, no lungs please."

22:01 / 22.09.03

Health Canada Cig Warnings..collect them all.

22:05 / 22.09.03

Joy. Thank you Kegboy. And what do they say about Bailey's cheesecake?!

22:07 / 22.09.03

There should be 16 of them but my webfoo is not working.
AND THEY LOVE BAILEYS CHEESECAKE!!! (as should we all)

Red Cross Iodized Salt

22:13 / 22.09.03

The only bar I know that still has an exemption (since the state-wide ban came in the separately ventilated smoking rooms were closed) is Karma. It's not the worst bar in the city, but its not somewhere that I'd particularly recommend. You're better off just going outside and complaining with the rest of...or else finding a small, friendly place that'll turn a blind eye after midnight.

05:58 / 23.09.03

It may just be a rumour but I heard that you can still smoke in a little back dark corner of DBA, on First Avenue between - I think - 2nd and 3rd streets. Of course, someone told me this while they were drunk, so it's utterly questionable.

If it's not freezing when you get there, your best bet is probably places with backyards and such. DBA has one, but you have to suffer the company of yuppies with cigars on cell phones. Ugh. Boxcar has a cute little yard but no hard alcohol, just wine and beer and a remarkably good sake gimlet. Sidewalk Cafe has street seating and deliciously evil pink lemonade margaritas, two for one in pint glasses at happy hour. And though I'm not a fan of the bar, the Greenpoint Tavern on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg apparently has little coasters that you can put on top of your drink that say you're out smoking, to save your drink and your seat. Just don't tear them up, or you risk the wrath of the bartenders.

There are more courtyards and outdoor seating places, but I can't think of them at the moment...

M

10:58 / 25.09.03

What's worse: bumping your own thread or failing to acknowledge people's help?

Hoping it's the latter.... Thanks all.

12:09 / 25.05.05

*Kabump*

I’m coming to NY tomorrow for a few days and just wonder whether there are any advances on the suggestions offered above. I’m staying in Brooklyn for the most part, if that makes any difference.

PS. I know it’s a filthy habit. I know it’s not good for me…

12:57 / 25.05.05

of course now the streets in nyc are more clouded with smoke than the bars. makes one really want to drink, ah, drinking. that golden boy of addictive behaviors. everybody loves a good drunk. theres something fucked up and big business greedy about banning smoking inside a bar, but there is a logic to it, as long of course as they also manage to make it illegal for someone to throw up on you in a bar. biggest downside is that it's now harder to get high in a bar via one-hitters, since now you still look like you're doing something illegal. crazy.

14:39 / 25.05.05

it's also a good excuse to go outside to make out in a random neighboring hallway. though if you care at all about being smooth about it, it helps if you actually smoke.

ONLY NICE THINGS

16:18 / 25.05.05

Although did like the story of Jack Nicolson being done for smoking and turning round to the "cop" (I believe) and stating he earnt more money during the time it took the official to fine him then the official would make in that year.

The act of a washed-up tool, I fear.

18:14 / 25.05.05

Have NY pubs opted for small grotto like alcoves, shed like constructs with face melty heaters to smoke in ,like in Ireland, or do you just basically just have to stand in the street?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:45 / 25.05.05

Are there no smoking bars left at all, then? I've only been there once, about 18 months ago, and we did find one.

My only concern when they bring this in in the UK is that I like drinking alone... surely if I go out for a cigarette someone'll nick all my stuff, or if I don't leave it on a chair, they'll nick my chair? How does this affect any of you NYCers (or indeed anywhere else-ers where there's a smoking ban?)

19:15 / 25.05.05

People always tell me that they found places with smoker-friendly facilities (courtyards, extensions and so on that circumvent the laws) or appear to operate essentially as speakeasies. But they can never remember the name or exactly where it was.
Of course it's not the end of the world if we don't find anywhere, but having to leave every time you want a ciggie just takes the edge off a night out.
Isn't there some dispensation for 'cigar bars'? Are they awful? Do you have to smoke *cigars*? Does the law extend to private members' clubs? Hasn't a compromise been found?
A bit like Stoatie, I find it hard to get my head round how smokers put up with it. Has there been a huge increase in people entertaining at home?

19:36 / 25.05.05

theres something fucked up and big business greedy about banning smoking inside a bar, but there is a logic to it, as long of course as they also manage to make it illegal for someone to throw up on you in a bar

Or, for a more accurate analogy, forcefully tipping their drinks down your throat. Which some might well like.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:57 / 25.05.05

Surely forcefully tipping their vom down your throat would be even more accurate?

I must admit, I'd find a smoking ban irksome. But I don't really have any justification for being opposed to one. I just don't want someone nicking all my stuff while I'm having a fag.

20:08 / 25.05.05

Surely forcefully tipping their vom down your throat would be even more accurate?

Probably a mixture, since one tends to passively inhale others' smoke directly from the cigarette and pre-breathed.

21:05 / 25.05.05

I feel reasonably justified in opposing these smoking bans. I certainly think there's a stronger public health case for banning *drinking* in public places. But, yeah, I'm probably on pretty dodgy ground trying to get round the laws of a city I'm a guest in. When in Rome do as the Romanians do, eh.

Tryphena Absent

21:11 / 25.05.05

Dude, hate to break this to you but drinking does not effect the bodies of the people around you. Trust me, I'm allergic to alcohol and I don't get a headache from other people's consumption. I've also never been attacked by a random drunk person, I'd remember that since I haven't been drunk for 2 years and then it was few and far between. There's just no way that there's a better case for banning alcohol, I know you're involved emotionally but it's best not to make illogical claims just because you want to smoke. Those cigarettes are killing you (and me and a lot of our friends) and it's okay for us to murder ourselves and hey, people don't have to go into smoking areas but to say it's not harming them, that an alcohol ban is more justifiable, that's just shit.

21:46 / 25.05.05

Hate to break it to you, dude, but the fact that *you've* never been hurt by a drunk person doesn't sew up your case. *I've* never been hurt by someone's smoke. In fact there's not a great deal of evidence to show that *anyone*'s been hurt by someone else's smoke. A link between passive smoking and cancer is far from established, you realise. It's certainly nothing like as clear as the link between drinking and violence, or drinking and insanly dangerous driving.

And I appreciate your concern for me Nina, I really do, but loads of things are killing me.

03:06 / 26.05.05

By MICHAEL PLATT, CALGARY SUN Thu, May 12, 2005

If Keith Richards needs a smoke to keep him happy when the Rolling Stones play the Saddledome this fall, he'll get all the satisfaction he needs.

City bylaw boss Bill Bruce -- who's seen the Stones three times -- said anyone on stage can light up as many cigarettes as they want, despite city rules against smoking in the 'Dome.

"We consider it part of the performance -- Keith Richards smoking is no different than when Theatre Calgary uses a lit pipe as a prop on stage," said Bruce. "If he wants to smoke, fair enough."

The Stones' guitar players, who are booked to play Calgary Oct. 28 -- tickets go on sale this Saturday -- are no strangers to the odd Marlboro on stage.

Both Richards and co-axe man Ron Wood are often seen with cigarettes dangling from the mouth as the band plays.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:03 / 26.05.05

Smoking's not gonna kill Keef, is it?

Actually, that's another annoying thing... I remember seeing Nick Cave at the Barbican once... he was smoking, and by golly did I want a cigarette. Once again, Daily Mail, it's one rule for blah blah fishsmokes.

10:57 / 26.05.05

The worst part of the anti-smoking ban is that many scofflaws still smoke in back corners in nightclubs, and the security dudes have taken to carrying tasers specifically for enforcement of the smoking rules. It's really very sadistic. They could just ask people to put their cigarettes out, you know? But the law supports the sadistic bouncers, not the poor smokers.

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