Smoking dips -- and few are complaining

More than two weeks after the smoking ban took effect in North Carolina, there have been no reports of angry mobs of smokers in the throes of withdrawal organizing mass smoke-ins in a show of civil disobedience. All indications are that the change has been pretty smooth.
Philip Melton, the interim director of the Rutherford-Polk-McDowell Health Department, said the phone has been silent, as far as complaints go.
"We haven't had any calls," he said. McDowell businesses covered by the law have been compliant. He said he had been impressed by the state efforts to get both businesses and agencies like his ready for the change.
The state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) sent letters and guides ahead of time, and set up a Web site to explain the law and how to report violations.
No one in McDowell has complained to the DHHS, either through the Web site or on its toll-free tip line, according to the DHHS's weekly "Smoke Free Restaurants and Bars Summary Report." The report includes statistics for that week's calls and e-complaints broken down by county.
Neighboring Buncombe had the most in the region and, with 11 registered complaints, was exceeded only by Mecklenburg, with 15 complaints, and Guilford with 36.
Complaints can be directed to the local health department as well as to the DHHS. Either way, the matter will be investigated by the local agency, which has jurisdiction. There has been some confusion about where the ban applies, Melton said. Does the ban apply to convenience stores that sell food?
"That depends on the store," said Melton. "If they are subject to environmental health inspections and have a sanitation grade," then that store is under the health department's jurisdiction and the ban applies.
That means that if a convenience store sells hot food -- hot dogs or chili or pizza, for example -- the ban would apply. Otherwise, customers can smoke all they like, subject to local ordinances or the store's own policy, of course.
Customers ignoring the law can face $50 fines, while repeat business offenders can be penalized $200 a day.
DHHS Health Director Dr. Jeffrey Engel told The Associated Press the law's effects on North Carolina citizens will be evaluated. About 24,000 bars and restaurants are required to follow the ban, by the AP's calculations. Cigar bars and nonprofit private clubs are exempt if they meet standards.
The ban leaves some wiggle room for restaurateurs and bar owners to have smoking outside. The language of the legislation forbids smoking in the facility's "enclosed structures." The DHHS defines an enclosed structure as having a roof and at least three sides walled.
A patio with a roof and two walls could be used as a smoking section. If it had three walls, using it as a smoking area would be illegal.
As previously reported in The McDowell News, the law makes exception for "cigar bars." The bar must generate at least 60 percent of its revenues from the sale of alcohol and at least 25 percent from the sale of cigars, and must report those revenues quarterly. It must have a humidor on site.
As smoothly as the ban has gone in McDowell, there has been controversy generated because the law is not clear about the status of so-called "hookah bars." Popular in big cities, hookah bars allow patrons to smoke tobacco and flavored mixtures through a hookah, a large pipe that heats the material with hot coals rather than fire, and cools the smoke with water.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that operators of hookah bars are maintaining their hookahs don't meet the law's definition of "a lighted tobacco product."
As of last year, North Carolina had about 20 hookah bars or lounges. Most serve alcohol. Hookah supporters say that, technically, the tobacco used in hookah smoking is never actually lit. It is heated by charcoal, but a small metal screen or piece of foil provides a physical barrier between the coals and the tobacco.
An attorney for the N.C. Division of Public Health countered that hookahs would fall under the "lighted pipe" definition.
State Rep. Hugh Holliman, the chief sponsor of the smoking ban, said it was never the legislature's intent to cripple hookah bars. He said that when he proposed the bill, he had never even heard of hookah smoking.
"It's not our intent to penalize hookah bars. We just don't want to start making exceptions that are adverse to healthy consequences," said Holliman, D-Davidson, and the majority leader in the N.C. House.
Still, Holliman said it was possible that the legislature would revisit the issue later this year to see if a solution could be found with regard to hookah smoking.
"I would be willing to take a look at that and see if we could work a compromise," he said.

Winston-Salem Journal Reporter James Romoser contributed to this story.