Boston smoking crackdown ignites debate

(David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Raymond Mansolillo puffed on a stogie at Churchill's Lounge in Boston Tuesday night, as Joe Murphy tended the bar. Public health officials want to close down cigar bars.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Public health advocates seeking to eliminate smoking in Boston faced off against cigar bar owners and smokers' advocates in the first of two public comment sessions today about new tobacco restrictions proposed by the city's Public Health Commission.

The commission wants to ban smoking on outdoor patios of restaurants and other businesses, close down cigar bars, and prohibit the sale of tobacco products on college campuses and by all drug stores in the city.

Medical researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health said today that allowing smoking anywhere in Boston sends the wrong message -- especially to younger people who might take up the deadly habit -- that smoking is OK. Professor Greg Connolly said smoking cigars and cigarettes or a hookah -- a Middle Eastern water pipe with flavored tobacco -- are all health risks and should be banned.

But owners of Cigar Masters, one of four cigar bars in the city, pleaded with the commission to allow it to stay open.

"We're just a mom-and-pop business," co-owner Brett Greenfield said. "“There aren’t people who are in there who are expecting to not be around second-hand smoke.”

City Councilor Michael Ross, who also testified, agreed with Greenfield, saying the bars are thriving neighborhood businesses and asking the commission to reconsider the proposed closure. Ross said he supports the other restrictions and commended the commission for its overall effort to protect public health.

The city of Boston banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2004 but did not include outdoor patios and also exempted cigar bars. The bars do not serve food and must show a good portion of their revenue stems from cigar sales. Besides Cigar Masters, the only other establishments to meet those standards are Stanza Dei Sigari at Caffe Vittoria in the North End, Tangierino in Charlestown, and Churchill's Lounge at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel across from Faneuil Hall.

Barbara Ferrer, director of the Public Health Commission, said before today's session that deaths related to tobacco use remain a leading cause of preventable death in the city and that the new restrictions are needed to "de-normalize" smoking.

"Ideally I'd like to say by 2025 that we don't have anybody smoking," she said.

She added that the proposed cigar bar rule is intended to stave off the growth of hookah bars in the city, which she said appeal to college students. “If there’s anything that the board feels strongly about, it’s making sure that young people don’t take up this addictive habit,” she said.

Another public comment session is scheduled this evening, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Carter Auditorium, 35 Northampton Street.

The commission is expected to make a final decision on the proposed restrictions Nov. 13.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. Globe Correspondent Bina Venkataraman contributed to this report.

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