Cigar bars and sheesha cafes to be finally banned?

Im pretty sure the person who works at a cigar bar has more health problems due to car smoke than cigar smoke

These bars already have stringent ventilation rules, so the impact on workers approaches nil.

Not. The failure of even high flow air handlers to remove environmental tobacco smoke from indoor areas is well known in the public health community, and much of the reason why "smoking rooms" have been considered a failure.

Even with the best ventilation systems available, one or two cigaretts turns any room into instant Beijing. Yes, this is research done in Boston (I'll dig the link soon - it was published through an open-access journal).

I peer-reviewed several abstracts during this past year for a conference that measured outdoor smoking impacts in narrow streets with sidewalk cafes in Europe. I also peer-rated an article submitted to a public health journal that dealt with measurements of cotinine (a biological marker of tobacco smoke exposure)in workers in outdoor cafes that permitted smoking. It isn't yet published (as is typical, the author is working on refinements suggested by the reviewers), but it was an eye opener how much cigarette smoke even OUTDOOR service staff get around smokers.

Personally, if it were not for the workers who generally have far less latitude than you think to take and keep a job that entails such exposures at the cost of their health, I wouldn't think twice about places for people to smoke with smokers. I do think the owner-staffed bars should be allowed to run, and that the industry should possibly pool money for research into much more effective air handling systems.

EDIT: Here is the FULL-TEXT ARTICLE that I mentioned above, with pre- and post-smoking ban measurements and ventilation assessments.

I spent a night at The Millennium Bostonian Hotel a few months ago. Upon checking in, I was informed that there was a very strict rule against smoking in the hotel that carried with it a steep $200 cleanup charge. That's fine with me, since I don't smoke. When I opened the door to the hotel room, it reeked of musty ashtray. When I left the hotel and headed for the North End, I noticed the hotel's cigar bar situated right underneath my hotel room. The smoke most likely travels up through the HVAC and into the 'strictly non-smoking' hotel room. I can't say I was terribly pleased to discover this after the stern warning / no smoking lecture from the hotel staff.

I don't support the ban on cigar bars, however there were certainly no 'stringent ventilation rules' being enforced at this cigar bar.

I'm very reluctant to post this comment - I don't want to start a flame war here -

I just honestly don't understand why an adult should not be able to buy a cigar at a business that sells cigars, then enjoy that cigar at a business that explicitly states that they sell and allow customers to smoke cigars.

Also, I don't understand why an adult cannot decide to work at a business that sells cigars and allows the patrons to smoke their cigars in the same place.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I just don't understand why it should be against the law to buy a cigar, have a drink, and smoke that cigar in the same place? Is there absolutely no possible way to have this sort of establishment without annoying someone?

Look - just figure out some sort of compromise! If smoking a cigar at a cigar shop is against the law, why can't we make burning incense at an incense bar illegal? Why can't we make perfume samples at a perfume bar illegal? Why can't we make sushi at a sushi bar illegal? Why can't we make 1/4 pound burgers illegal at a burger bar? (now I'm hungry!)

In the end, I just wonder what could be next - that's my greatest fear. Once you allow the government to dictate what's healthy for you, I think you've lost too much of your own liberty.
/end hyperbole

Again, as Howie Carr says: This town needs an enema.