Anti - anti-smoking rant

This smoking ban thing is getting out of hand. I no longer smoke cigarettes, instead enjoying my pipe tobacco, but have no issue with smoking in public or in privately-owned establishments. It just irks me to no end every time I read of yet another example of local, state, or federal governments over-stepping their bounds and trampling on our rights to make free choices as free-willed adults, and instead treating us like prattling children

While I understand the negative health ramifications associated with smoking, I believe it is our right as a free populace to let our minds and wallets decide what is best. I can understand that someone may not want to bask in the lingering smoke of a Marlboro or Camel, of an Oliva, or of some Dunhill Nightcap while they are trying to appreciate the subtle nuances of their swordfish, lobster, or Filet Mignon. I can even begrudgingly support no smoking in restaurants - and even in bars while the kitchen is open.

With that said, since the beginning of time, smoking and drinking have gone hand-in-hand. When we go to a bar, we are going to an establishment where we can drink, swear, bitch about politics, ogle members of the opposite sex in a very animalistic manner, and even to take our conquest home for the evening without heed of the uncomfortable morning to follow. We are voluntarily engaging in activities that are dangerous, unhealthy, and on the fringe of social acceptance to begin with.

For those that do not wish to be exposed to such nefarious on-goings, the solution is simple: Do not go to those places. Let your wallet do the talking. If there is really such disdain for these locals of ill repute, and they suddenly become vacant caverns populated by only a scant few degenerates, then they will no longer be able to keep their doors open.

For those that do not wish to attend these places, there are countless establishments awaiting to take your hard-earned money to provide you will gallon after gallon of your favorite elixir. You need not go to that dank, dark, smoke-filled bar my uptight friends. You can pickle your liver in the comfort of your home from the comfortable confines of your couch. You need no longer stand to consume your favorite libation. Gone are the days of languishing at a backless chair next to some overly loquacious older gentleman who is attempting to solve all of the world's problems one whiskey at a time. No more waiting in line to relieve yourself of the three pitchers of Coors Light you just wailed back.

Rejoice! For you can enjoy all of the pleasures you seek in the confines of your own slice of paradise. You can pee whenever, and possibly wherever you like. You can drink whatever you choose - and at a far reduced cost I might add. You can recline comfortably on your couch or in your favorite chair.

So leave the bars. Leave them to never come back. Leave the dark recesses of the pubs, taverns, and inns. Leave them to the degenerates who you so openly and unabashedly loathe. Let them wallow away their time in an environment that provides them with a sense of belonging and social interaction, and allows them the opportunity to meet like-minded, unscrupulous characters with whom they will spend their hours talking, laughing, singing, even crying - like the completely mad men and women that they are.

Why would you ever want to expose yourself to such a variety of unpredictable characters? Please, for all that is good and holy, protect yourselves. Stay safe. Stay home. And leave the bars to us sailors, prostitutes, braggarts, barbarians, and sadists. I will gleefully join them. With a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other, I would happily toast to the freedom of choice, to democracy, and to free enterprise.

I have but one last question for my pious friends: If there was such a demand by the people and by the restaurant industry for non-smoking establishments, why were they not in existence before the bans were put into place?

Hear Here! Smoking ciggy's while having drinks go together like shoes and socks, but they're people who want to impose and insist that they have a 'right' to....... wherever they want. I'm sure you already know this, but that mentality is not going to stop at bars. The protectionist mentality has no end because it does not work.

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I have but one last question for my pious friends: If there was such a demand by the people and by the restaurant industry for non-smoking establishments, why were they not in existence before the bans were put into place?

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you're not going to get a real answer to that.

In the UK, people who smoke are becoming few and far between, hardly anyone smokes nowadays.
Why should a minority dictate terms to the majority of folk who want to enjoy an evening in the pub and don't want to come home with clothes stinking like an ashtray?
Both my parents were smokers, both died prematurely from lung cancer after a long debilitating illness. I sat with my mother as she died, fighting to breathe.
Smoke if you want, just do it in the middle of a field and make sure you don't encourage youngsters to copy you.

You make a good argument for the need for legislation, especially the, "they can go someplace else part". I do feel sorry that you aren't able to enjoy the bar as much. Maybe someday there will be room for compromise. I do consider the legislative act to remove smoking from restaurants one of the "Finer Things in Life".

Perhaps someday, smokers will start to see a need for greater compromise, particularly in Public establishments.

We get the Government (and hence the legislation) we deserve. And, I am afraid to say that over the past 20 years what we have deserved is a big bubble-wrapped, risk-averse, short-sighted Nanny. Nothing is our own responsibility, everything bad in our lives is someone else's fault, we bleat to the Government about our own special interests and whine like petulant children when it listens to someone else's. What we end up with is knee-jerk politics and a warning-label life. :(

James.

I'm with you on the restaurants bit, because people really are "trapped" with the smoke if they don't want it, the thing that gets me is that they have banned smoking in NYC parks. Yes, outdoors. Insane.

I'm a smoker.

Agree with no smoking in:
Bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants, any enclosed space where people who don't smoke would otherwise be forced to sit with people who have a health damaging habit.

Disagree with no smoking in:
Public open air places with adequate room. although I've thus far only encountered this in the states.

I also disagree with the following idiotic piece of legialsation in the uk. basically that a business if it wishes can have a smoking shelter located (i believe) at least 10ft away from entrance or exits. fair enough. here comes the dumb part. a smoking shelter had to be unenclosed on three sides, otherwise by definition it's an enclosed space and you can't smoke in it... even though it's only smokers who go there. fun in winter in aberdeen, i tell ya..

Smokers tend to be quite thoughtless, I know I was one.

A couple of months ago I was walking to school to pick my kids up and a smoker breathed out a lungful of fowl smelling smoke in my face just as I breathed in, YUK!

As far as parks and suchlike go, I've been down wind from smokers on many occasions for example having family picnics in the park and on the beach, it has meant that I have had to move just because a nicotine junkie needs to feed their addiction and inflict the stench on me and my family. Just try asking them to move and 90% will get argumentative about it.

The fact is second hand smoke kills and personally I think someone who decides to ruin their health smoking (and they have every right in the world to do that) has no right to ruin mine either. It shouldn't be up to me to wear breathing apparatus to avoid it. I grew up in a world where I was always exposed to second hand smoke and to be honest I hated it and the non smokers were basically told just accept it. The tables have turned now and that's a good thing. Sorry if I sound nasty here but that's the way I feel about it. If folks want to smoke they can go outside away from non smokers or restaurants can have smoking sections.

Here in the UK I think the smoking ban is probably the best thing to happen in bars restaurants and clubs in a long age. It provides cleaner air, a nicer atmosphere and protects the health of staff working in these areas. Also I can now taste my food and drink.

I agree however that the limitations on smoking shelters are rediculous. Especially in the bitter Scottish wind lol.

As for the why where there no smoke free bars and clubs and restaurants before the smoking ban, it would seem fairly clear to me that businesses worried about the risk of loosing custom to competitors who where more relaxed about such things, and where not willing to purposely damage trade, but with the ban everyone is on a level playing field as there is no option to go to a different bar and smoke.

Also to the point that we non smokers could sit at home and be safe. i quite like to drink in the company of friends and peers and yes often ogle at the opposite sex, why should I be deprived of that just because you have a habit to feed? A habit that if carried out in my presence leaves me stinking of nicotine and smoke, that leaves me in a room full of acrid smoke and in a position that may well harm my health? You are well within your rights to choose to damage your health, but not mine, and if you choose to damage your health then why can't you do it at home?

Now this argument can go round in circles about your rights to do what you choose, and my right to do what I choose, but the legislation at least here in the UK appears to be based on the health interest of the people.

And as an aside I am an ex smoker, however when I did smoke if I happened to be in the company of non smokers I would remove myself from the group if I felt the need.

Geek

When ever I go to the doctor they ask if I smoke? I alway say "no, but I would like to start. Do they keep sart smoking packets with the just quitting pack?"

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Originally Posted by TheGeek

And as an aside I am an ex smoker, however when I did smoke if I happened to be in the company of non smokers I would remove myself from the group if I felt the need.

Geek

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I feel like this epitomizes the necessity for compromise and the respect of individuals who smoke for those who don't. I used to smoke a pack and a half a day - nearly always having a cigarette lit when out at the bars or at the beach or at a party. If I felt that it was not appreciated, I too would step aside to conduct my admittedly foul business. If children were present, I would remove myself to enjoy my smoke, and still to do enjoy my pipe. If someone was walking by on the street, I would blow the other way as an attempt at courtesy.

It is a matter of being a respectful human being and respecting the wishes of those around you. I just wanted to open a topic for discussion, and am glad to see the responses - agree or disagree - that have come about. We are individuals free to choose what we do and where we go.

Geek - I also see your idea of a level playing field and understand it completely as a matter of commerce. But wouldn't that be an indicator of those privately owned business not wanting to exclude a percentage of their patrons? Truly a complex debate, and my intention is no to solve it on this forum. Instead, I just encourage us to not blindly accept what our government(s) tell us to do, and to make these choices for ourselves.

Hmmmm.... I replied once and it didn't appear. Perhaps I clicked the wrong button. In any event, I don't mean to come across as a heartless individual who does not understand the impact of smoking on an individual's health. I have lost two grandfathers and an uncle to health problems directly attributed to smoking. My argument is more for the choice to expose ourselves to these negative factors. It is a long and complex argument that I'm not attempting to solve with one fail swoop of my keyboard on this forum. Instead, I encourage and thank those who have taken the time to read and/or respond, and to agree or disagree, to appreciate the rights of an individual to engage in unhealthy activities -whether it is fast food, smoking, sugar, salt, saturated fat, etc. I have done, and continue to do my best to be respectful of those around me. It is an interesting question - does individual right to engage in activities that displease others outweigh the right of the group who is displeased by these activities?

My purpose was incite conversation and thought - and not to offend. If I have do so, I sincerely apologize.

Generally, when an individual's right conflicts with the rights of a group, the group's rights prevail.

Yes, but where does it stop. Second hand smoke outdoors in a park doesn't hurt people, it's just a nuisance in certain situations. But so is plopping down next to a group of happily chatting people and playing unwanted music on a radio.

I think if they tell people they can't smoke outside, they should also tell people not to drive diesel vehicles, or tell companies to stop polluting our air, because frankly I think that does a lot more damage to society. But is that going to happen? Of course not.

To me this issue is not *really* about second hand smoke and health, it is about persecuting smokers.

Its all about power and subjugation.

If it were about compromise why didnt the non smokers do business in the non smoking establishments? They may have been few, but they were available. I dont think it was the smokers who failed to compromise.

Here in VA bars can still have a smoking area it just has to have its own ventilation system and there are rules regarding entry ways and the like.
Not every establishment can affors this but it is an option.
One of my favorite places with this is in Fredericksburg. There is an entry way with two doors inside of it. One for smoking. One for not smoking. The not smoking side has a decent sized bar and 5-10 tables. The smoking section has a 30ish foot bar, a lot of tables, a dance floor, and billiards tables.
Both sides, however, serve the same amazing chili.

At 62 and up until 10 years ago a non filter Camel smoker for 36 years, pipes for 20 and still at it ..... I have come to respect the right of non-smokers to enjoy clean air. As one of them once exclaimed to me ..."People are breathing."

OTOH, I grew up in a household where everyone smoked. Parents, grandparents and sibling. I began at age 14. I don't believe in second hand smoke being "all of that" because if it was I'd be dead long ago.

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Originally Posted by bharner

The not smoking side has a decent sized bar and 5-10 tables. The smoking section has a 30ish foot bar, a lot of tables, a dance floor, and billiards tables.
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Proof that smokers are better people, they have more fun and are worth the capital expenditure. LOL
BTW I quit not too long ago with the aid of e-cigs, I highly recommend these for those who are having a hard time staying on the wagon.

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

In the UK, people who smoke are becoming few and far between, hardly anyone smokes nowadays.
Why should a minority dictate terms to the majority of folk who want to enjoy an evening in the pub and don't want to come home with clothes stinking like an ashtray?
Both my parents were smokers, both died prematurely from lung cancer after a long debilitating illness. I sat with my mother as she died, fighting to breathe.
Smoke if you want, just do it in the middle of a field and make sure you don't encourage youngsters to copy you.

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I'm sorry that you lost your parents in such a harsh manner, but your last statement is just so prejudiced towards anyone who may smoke. More people are morbidly obese than people with lung cancer, but you would never tell someone to make sure they don't encourage youngsters to eat candy bars because they themselves enjoy candy bars. They should also apologize for eating them in public; that just encourages other people to do it.

This is the product of the anti-smoking lobby painting anyone with the habit or hobby of smoking as being the scum of the earth. We smoke, and therefore we're making a concerted effort to make sure the world has cancer. I know that every time I enjoy my pipe, I'm secretly hoping that ten people get cancer from it.

I was smoking in a picnic area and a family sat down several yards away. I moved so that the parents wouldn't be worried about their kids being around the smoke from my pipe. I'm clearly a cancer spreading villain though, hoping the youngsters would be sucking back five packs a day by seeing me for a few seconds.

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Originally Posted by smreno77

I have but one last question for my pious friends: If there was such a demand by the people and by the restaurant industry for non-smoking establishments, why were they not in existence before the bans were put into place?

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Because shop owners always feared losing customers.
Say there are 2 restaurants, one which allowed smoking and one which doesn't.
Many groups include at least one smoker, so the smoking establishment would have an edge over the non smoking one.

Mind you, for a bar I can see your point.

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Originally Posted by WongKonPow

I'm sorry that you lost your parents in such a harsh manner, but your last statement is just so prejudiced towards anyone who may smoke. More people are morbidly obese than people with lung cancer, but you would never tell someone to make sure they don't encourage youngsters to eat candy bars because they themselves enjoy candy bars. They should also apologize for eating them in public; that just encourages other people to do it.

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There is a difference though. You can eat all you want in public and people are not negatively impacted by it.
If you smoke in enclosed spaces, you are harming people around you.
It would not be so bad if it was only an occasional cigar or pipe, but people lighting up cig after cig are just filling the room with smoke.

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I was smoking in a picnic area and a family sat down several yards away. I moved so that the parents wouldn't be worried about their kids being around the smoke from my pipe. I'm clearly a cancer spreading villain though, hoping the youngsters would be sucking back five packs a day by seeing me for a few seconds.

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That's just silly. Smoking outdoors is not an issue, compared to living in a city, near a highway or any of the other places where there is pollution.

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

In the UK, people who smoke are becoming few and far between, hardly anyone smokes nowadays.
Why should a minority dictate terms to the majority of folk who want to enjoy an evening in the pub and don't want to come home with clothes stinking like an ashtray?
Both my parents were smokers, both died prematurely from lung cancer after a long debilitating illness. I sat with my mother as she died, fighting to breathe.
Smoke if you want, just do it in the middle of a field and make sure you don't encourage youngsters to copy you.

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Ultimately, society is nothign more than a majority dictating how things are done. That is why even a constitution gets amended from time to time, and why it gets interpreted. I'm sure the slave owners complained about the government trampling over their constitutional rights. It will always be like that. That doesn't mean it is bad though. time will tell.

I do agree with not encouraging children.
Recently there was a tobacco company which filed a request for a new additive which would give the cig smoke an interesting color. They wanted to do this to draw more young people to smoking in an effort to halt the decline in their sales.
So far the chances for approval look slim. But it makes me wonder at what sort of person could steep so low as to actively try to get kids to smoke.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Proof that smokers are better people, they have more fun and are worth the capital expenditure. LOL
BTW I quit not too long ago with the aid of e-cigs, I highly recommend these for those who are having a hard time staying on the wagon.

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I see this a lot. I think there is about a 3 to 1 ratio, smokers outnumbering the non-smokers. I would think all the extra smoke in the room would be an added benefit, you could light up less and still enjoy the smoke from others. On my own I would guess that it would be the other way around, but maybe there is a correlation to bars and smoking. After all, I'm running in the evening.

I really miss pipe smoking though, and the smell of a pipe anywhere in the room is intoxicating.

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Originally Posted by smreno77

With that said, since the beginning of time, smoking and drinking have gone hand-in-hand. When we go to a bar, we are going to an establishment where we can drink, swear, bitch about politics, ogle members of the opposite sex in a very animalistic manner, and even to take our conquest home for the evening without heed of the uncomfortable morning to follow. We are voluntarily engaging in activities that are dangerous, unhealthy, and on the fringe of social acceptance to begin with.

For those that do not wish to be exposed to such nefarious on-goings, the solution is simple: Do not go to those places. Let your wallet do the talking. If there is really such disdain for these locals of ill repute, and they suddenly become vacant caverns populated by only a scant few degenerates, then they will no longer be able to keep their doors open.

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What about those who want all such "nefarious" activities...but not to smell like an ashtray?

There would be no place left for them to go simply because like Bruno said...most groups contain at least ONE smoker that would complain because of his lack of ability to feed his addiction at a place that doesn't allow it.

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Originally Posted by WongKonPow

I'm sorry that you lost your parents in such a harsh manner, but your last statement is just so prejudiced towards anyone who may smoke. More people are morbidly obese than people with lung cancer, but you would never tell someone to make sure they don't encourage youngsters to eat candy bars because they themselves enjoy candy bars. They should also apologize for eating them in public; that just encourages other people to do it.

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Well the food/fatness analogy has never worked. With smoking you can just stop doing it and you will survive, if you stop eating you won't. There does need to be an attitude shift with the over consumption of sugary and fatty foods much as there has been over the last 30 years with smoking, but the main thing is that a thin person in the presence of an obese person who is eating a candy bar does not generally find it unpleasant as where as a non smoker in the presence of someone who is smoking does.

Lets face it the smokers desire is that when they want to feed their addiction, they want to do so wherever and whenever they want. Make no mistake that, that is what is being done when I smoked I thought I did it for all sorts if reasons, to relax, to cope with stress, to wake up and to concentrate etc. In reality nicotine is a stimulant so how can it help you do anything other than be stimulated? Drugs can not perform differently the situation you find yourself in! The truth is that the relaxation or ability to think comes form removing the body's nagging want for the drug, cravings, people see smoking as a pleasure but its more like hurting yourself so that its nice when you stop.

Virginia happens to be the home to the largest manufacturers of cigarettes, the taxes paid by that company to the state of Virginia are staggering. To me the whole issue boils down to the government telling a business owner how he can run his establishment. There are plenty of regulations that a restaurant or bar owner has to deal with, they certainly don't need this one. If non-smokers don't like that an establishment allows smoking, then go to one that is smoke free. All other things being equal, and non-smokers being in the majority, shouldn't the smoke free establishment be making more money than the smoking establishment? This used to be the land of the free, unfortunately that changed long ago. The loan from the french to finance the Revolutionary War was backed by tobacco. If not for tobacco we would still be an English colony.

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Originally Posted by bharner

Here in VA bars can still have a smoking area it just has to have its own ventilation system and there are rules regarding entry ways and the like.
Not every establishment can affors this but it is an option.
One of my favorite places with this is in Fredericksburg. There is an entry way with two doors inside of it. One for smoking. One for not smoking. The not smoking side has a decent sized bar and 5-10 tables. The smoking section has a 30ish foot bar, a lot of tables, a dance floor, and billiards tables.
Both sides, however, serve the same amazing chili.

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Don't worry, the nanny state advocates will be going after the obese next. The only satisfaction I have is knowing that they, the nanny staters, will die of something. If it ain't one thing it will be something else.

I smoked for 14 years. Thank God I quit. All my heros as a kid smoked. all the cool uncles, cousins etc. would always have a pack of smokes and would let me "puff" when I would be out of eye sight of my Mom. I grew to be a smoker (killed my grandfather and broke my Mom's heart to see me smoke). My 2 brothers smoke as well. I enjoyed it till I took that last smoke. Loved every minute of it. Although the bloody coughs and hacking till I threw up was a bit uncool. I still could not stand it while I was eating though. Would always opt to eat in the non smoking section. The wife could never stand it either, and I never lived anywhere where I smoked indoors. Always out side. It is horrible for you, expensive, and annoying to others. They knew all about the dangers of smoking in the 30s, and yet we continue on....

We in Minnesota rejoice in having our legislators realize that if it's a good idea, it deserves to become the law. Smoking is not good for ones health, so we are slowly outlawing it every where. But we are also very concerned about hurting the feelings of the genereal public so nothing so far is being foisted upon the obese. They continue to waddle down the sidewalks the smokers can no longer use for their unhealthy behavior.

I don't know about it being a majority decision to ban smoking...more a VERY VOCAL MINORITY....Where are all these non smokers who want a smoke free everywhere?.....Here in the UK they're certainly not flocking to the pubs in droves as they said they would.....They've driven the smokers out of the pubs to drink supermarket beer at home ...and the pubs are shutting at a rate of several a week..every town has several boarded up derelict pubs..what an eyesore...........So come on.... all of you righteous Non smokers?.....where are you?

And whilst we're at it...Don't get complacent all of you Fatties...and Drinkers...and polluting car drivers and people with bald heads or big noses....sometime soon you'll be next on the do-gooders hit list.....

If we get a vote on banning anything else...............my vote goes for a cull on busy body do-gooders....And do I smoke?....No I don't...gave up my pipe years ago.....

I'm a occasional cigar smoker, but I understand the smoking ban in some instances. But it the case of bars and pubs I like indiana's law, you can smoke in a bar/pub/restaurant if there is a separate smoking section that is divided (by walls and doors not just some lattice work) and running off its own ventilation system.

I had to stop smoking, the cigarettes were getting soggy as I lathered up, still it's only for 5 minutes.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

At 62 and up until 10 years ago a non filter Camel smoker for 36 years, pipes for 20 and still at it ..... I have come to respect the right of non-smokers to enjoy clean air. As one of them once exclaimed to me ..."People are breathing."

OTOH, I grew up in a household where everyone smoked. Parents, grandparents and sibling. I began at age 14. I don't believe in second hand smoke being "all of that" because if it was I'd be dead long ago.

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It's all about genes Jimmy. My dad worked his entire life as a painter and sprayer and was exposed to chemicals that now have big cancer warning signs on them. In those days if you got oil based paint on you the only way to clean it off was with benzene or turpentine and my dad practically bathed in the stuff. He always reeked of it. He should have died from cancer a long time ago. The fact is he's 96 and doin just fine. My point is if you have good genes you can smoke 2 packs a day and drink a fifth of whiskey every day and nothing will kill you. The problem is most folks don't have genes like that and though people always point to folks like my dad to tell themselves nothing bad will happen to them the fact is they forget about all the people who die because of their habits or vocations. I guess that's human nature.

For most of us with average genes these lifestyle factors really do affect you and of course if you have bad genes even if you seal yourself in a sealed room all your life you'll probably still die from some cancer or other disease.

As far as the argument that smokers have their rights the answer to that is your rights end when they impact on others in a negative fashion.

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Originally Posted by whavens

To me the whole issue boils down to the government telling a business owner how he can run his establishment.

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Wrong argument. If it is a health issue, there are plenty of grounds for the government to tell you what you can and cannot do. And while the people involved generally don't like it, it is usually for the better.

This is pesky government interference like not allowing people to store toxins in leaky barrels, not allowing companies to burn whatever the hell they want, mandating fire exits in restaurants, demanding foodstuff to come with a list of ingredients, etc.

I can understand smoking bans in restaurants (though I would prefer to see a means by which a business owner could accomodate it's customers - such as a separate enclosed area for smokers, with its own ventilation system)... I have a hard time with the state not allowing smoking in structures specifically designated for that purpose, or not allowing smoking in establishments specifically for that purpose. For instance, there used to be a cigar lounge in a town not far from here - there would have been no reason for a non-smoker to be there.
At best, sweeping bans don't allow for sensible solutions to problems. At the worst they "solve" problems that don't exist at the expense of individual rights.

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Originally Posted by HNSB

I can understand smoking bans in restaurants (though I would prefer to see a means by which a business owner could accomodate it's customers - such as a separate enclosed area for smokers, with its own ventilation system

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Isn't that allowed? It is over here.
Smoking is also allowed in private clubs, cigar clubs, outdoors, etc. Those are not classified as 'public places' and thus not subject to the same regulations.

No.

This explains the areas that smoking is banned statewide (note that some municipalities have even more strict anti-smoking laws)

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Subd. 1a. Indoor area. "Indoor area" means all space between a floor and a ceiling that is
bounded by walls, doorways, or windows, whether open or closed, covering more than 50
percent of the combined surface area of the vertical planes constituting the perimeter of the area.
A wall includes any retractable divider, garage door, or other physical barrier, whether temporary
or permanent. A 0.011 gauge window screen with an 18 by 16 mesh count is not a wall.
Subd. 1b. Place of employment. "Place of employment" means any indoor area at which
two or more individuals perform any type of a service for consideration of payment under any
type of contractual relationship, including, but not limited to, an employment relationship with or
for a private corporation, partnership, individual, or government agency. Place of employment
includes any indoor area where two or more individuals gratuitously perform services for which
individuals are ordinarily paid. A place of employment includes, but is not limited to, public
conveyances, factories, warehouses, offices, retail stores, restaurants, bars, banquet facilities,
theaters, food stores, banks, financial institutions, employee cafeterias, lounges, auditoriums,
gymnasiums, restrooms, elevators, hallways, museums, libraries, bowling establishments,
employee medical facilities, and rooms or areas containing photocopying equipment or other
office equipment used in common. Vehicles used in whole or in part for work purposes are
places of employment during hours of operation if more than one person is present. An area in
which work is performed in a private residence is a place of employment during hours of
operation if:
(1) the homeowner uses the area exclusively and regularly as a principal place of business
and has one or more on-site employees; or
(2) the homeowner uses the area exclusively and regularly as a place to meet or deal with
patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of the homeowner's trade or business.
Subd. 2. Public place. "Public place" means any enclosed, indoor area used by the general
public, including, but not limited to, restaurants; bars; any other food or liquor establishment;
retail stores and other commercial establishments; educational facilities other than public
schools, as defined in section 120A.05, subdivisions 9, 11, subdivision 13; hospitals; nursing
homes; auditoriums; arenas; meeting rooms; and common areas of rental apartment buildings.

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IIRC there is a town in Kalifornia that banned smoking within the city limits. I agree that I shouldn't be free to impose my smoke on someone else, but I don't agree that someone else should deny my right to smoke my pipe in an environment where I am not so imposing on others. There is a mindset amongst a certain segment of our society that calls itself 'liberal' but is in reality totalitarian.

This is the last place I thought I would see the Minnesota Statutes. It's official, I'm not safe anywhere anymore!