Exhale, fellow smokers - we'll survive the ban

By: Derek Simons

Posted: 4/14/08

The Blue Room at 18th and Vine streets, one of my favorite spots in Kansas City, has had a smoking ban for years. If a jazz club can do it, any place can.

I remember the first time I went there and the reason for the ban was explained to me.

"We have the American Jazz Museum next door," a waitress told me. "It's for the safety of all the famous singers' dresses on display there."

I wanted to rebut that most of those dresses were probably held up by cigarette smoke, had always been around cigarette smoke, and, many of the voices emanating from within were characterized by a life of smoking, but I held my peace.

After all, the smoking ban provided a great way to meet the bands. Most of the musicians would huddle outside during breaks and were happy to chat.

Here on campus, it's tough when it rains. I don't want to annoy the non-smokers going in and out of Royall Hall by forcing them to walk through a cloud formed from the 10 or 12 of us always parked outside the door in bad weather. But if you've ever tried to smoke a soggy cigarette, you'd understand our proximity to the double doors. Might I suggest the university create a few sheltered areas further away from the entrances?

My habit is my habit. And believe it or not non-smokers, I fully understand the health issues - you don't need to lecture me with inane phrases that begin, "I don't know if you've heard, but smoking is bad…"

Nope. You're the first person who has ever told me. Right now, I'm out here smoking, but normally I live in a hermetically-sealed soundproof bubble.

That said, I have no desire to inflict my habit on others. I understand that the dangers of second-hand smoke, while lower than those for active smokers, are nonetheless real. I know non-smokers can smell smoke on my clothes and on my breath, and it's not pleasant for them.

I imagine it provokes the same nauseous sensation I have when someone uses too much perfume. You know - the ones you can smell before they come around the corner. Those who think a 200-yard radius of eau-de-whatever is still not a strong enough statement of their "personality." (My first thought is always, "must not have showered recently.") If it were for me, I would also ban the perfume sections from the first floor of many department stores. It leaves even me, a smoker, gasping for air.

Many things are banned in public places. You are free to curse in your own home all you want, but try cursing loudly and at length in a public restaurant and see how long you last. (Food fights are generally frowned upon too.) If you do something that annoys not one, but many people, it will often become prohibited.

That's the way society works. It's all about compromise. Kansas City voted and the majority spoke. I can live with that.

Alcohol can kill you too, so maybe it's a good thing not having places where you can indulge in the two habits simultaneously. Of course alcohol often precedes sex and cigarettes often follow, so there is always the danger of a decline in the birth rate, but we'll worry about that in another article.

dsimons@unews.com