Proposed Ban in Pittsburgh

Michael Moretti
Posted: September 12, 2006

Pennsylvania is one of the last bastions for cigar lovers in the northeast United States, but there are ominous clouds in the distance that could make smoking virtually illegal in one of the state's biggest cities.

Allegheny County Council president Rich Fitzgerald has proposed a smoking ban for his county, where Pittsburgh is located. The bill includes a clause that would limit exemptions only to establishments that get 85 percent of their gross on-site revenues from tobacco sales. This would mean that only specialty tobacco shops could allow smoking indoors and that cigar bars, restaurants and pubs would become smoke-free. By comparison, the exemption clause in New York State's ban requires 10 percent of gross sales and New Jersey's calls for 15 percent.

The Allegheny proposal includes many of the provisions detailed in other smoking bans across the country, such as prohibiting smoking within 15 feet of all public entrances and exits, in all workplaces and in no less than 75 percent of the rooms in all lodging establishments.

Pennsylvania has avoided a statewide smoking ban while neighboring states New York, New Jersey and Delaware have adopted one.

For more on this story, see the upcoming issue of Cigar Insider.