Local Law Shuts Long Island Cigar Bars

David Savona
Posted: October 5, 2006

New York's state smoking ban has a loophole for cigar bars. But cigar smokers in Long Island's Suffolk County have recently discovered that a local law passed more than three years ago now makes it illegal to smoke even in a cigar bar.

"It's quite disturbing. The people are very, very angry," said Arlene Furer, owner of The Cigar Bar in Sag Harbor, who recently was fined $1,000 for breaking the law. "I now have no-smoking signs all around. It's ridiculous."

In January 2003, the Suffolk County legislature voted to toughen its ban on smoking. Responding to pressure from county bar owners, the lawmakers delayed the start of the ban until 2006. In March 2003, New York State legislators passed a statewide smoking ban that went into effect that July. The tougher state law superceded the local ordinance, banning smoking throughout Suffolk County as well as all of New York.

The state law allowed for smoking in cigar bars, such as Manhattan's Club Macanudo. There is no such exemption in Suffolk County's smoking ban. When that ban went into effect this January, smoking became illegal in The Cigar Bar, as well as in the other cigar bars in Suffolk County.

"They were fine until the implementation of the local law," said Robert Morcerf, senior public health inspector for Suffolk County. "The local [more restrictive] law takes precedence. Now that the new local law is in effect, there's no exemption."

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