‘Santa the Magnificent’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Merry Christmas Virginia.
For the majority of its residents, Virginia becomes a better, healthier and down right less stinky place to live tomorrow. Starting Tuesday, December 1st (i.e. TOMORROW), smoking will no longer be allowed in Virginia bars and restaurants. There are some exceptions that do make sense and I’m sure there will be a handful of bars that put in the work to provide for a completely separate smoking area that is ventilated, etc., but for the most part, all bars and restaurants in Arlington, Alexandria and beyond will be smoke-free starting tomorrow. Virginia joins DC and 23 other states in banning smoking in bars and restaurants. After the jump, you can even see my top ten list!
People who hate smelling like crap, killing themselves slowly with second-hand smoke and having to take a shower and dry clean their suit just because they stopped by for a quick beer shall rejoice all across the commonwealth (and especially in this area). Just like in DC, smokers will probably head outside the bars for smoke breaks. But if you don’t smoke, you can stay warmly-put in the bar and enjoy your beverages all night long while your lungs breathe a giant sigh of relief!
If you want to see all of the details about the smoking ban and the exceptions that allow some establishments to allow for smoking if they meet certain criteria, see the VA FAQ here.
To celebrate, I present to you:
Karl’s Top Ten Reasons to Be Happy on 12/1
10. Your eyes will no longer be dried out and screaming in pain after hanging out at a bar full of smokers.
9. Women no longer need to spray Febreze in their hair if they are going from a smoking bar to another event to mask the stench of awesomeness.
8. Your bed sheets and pillow won’t smell for days after you crash in your bed at 3am from a long night out.
7. If you are a smoker, you will smoke much less. Especially if you are a “social smoker” because your smoking friends won’t light up with every drink. There are also plenty of vaporizers with a vape kettle australia available, it’s a better alternative to smoking cigarettes.
6. Your jackass friends won’t be able to blow smoke in your face when you give them crap about smoking beside you.
5. You can wear something to a bar without having to wash it immediately after – you can wear that sweater or suit MORE THAN ONCE. And jackets? Woah my god…my jackets will not stink ALL THE TIME.
4. You will no longer pick up your jeans off the floor in the morning to give them the smell test and fall over backwards after taking a deep breath – determining that they can indeed NOT be worn again in good conscience.
3. You can hang out in Arlington again!
2. You will be able to breathe without swallowing mouthful after mouthful of nasty, toxic ridden smoke, thereby prolonging your life, health and happiness.
1. YOU WON’T SMELL LIKE SHIT!
And then you’ll guzzle that cocktail/wine/beer of yours which is oh so healthy. :)
Hey now, studies show red wine is good for you, or something.
Dear Virginia:
Welcome to 2009. It’s better hanging with the rest of civilization…
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Woo Hoo! I wonder if this would have been avoided if the no-smoking areas of bars and restaurants were DEVOID of smoke – instead of being a ghetto where the smokers could laugh at the non smokers.
And yes to returning to arlington. Arlington has some of my fav bars that I dont go to – bc of the smoke.
You’re all a bunch of sissies. Seriously, you don’t go to a specific bar strictly because people smoke there? You really just shouldn’t go to bars then.
Yes, smoking is bar for you. But, we’re creating a society of p*ssies. We can’t handle this, we can’t take that, etc, etc, etc…
You folks that love Arlington need to get out of the metro area and hit a good dive bar.
Yes, restrictive government fiats are soooo “in” this year!
Congratulations Virginia on going “Green” about the dreaded leaf. When you sit down calmly and think about it; rolling together a few dried leaves, sticking one end in your mouth and then setting fire to it is a pretty daft thing to do. Why not stick it in your ear or some other opening…..
When I go to a bar, I just want to slightly poison my liver, not smell like ass. If I wanted to smell like ass, I’d go swimming in the sewage treatment plant.
“And then you’ll guzzle that cocktail/wine/beer of yours which is oh so healthy.”
You are totally missing the point here which is that while you can drink all you want – unlike smoke, the drink STAYS INSIDE OF YOU rather than spreading its nastiness to other people!
I think the smoking ban in completely outrageous. Come on people, we are letting the government change all of these rules. What is a bar without smoking? What the hell has our nation become? How is it that this democrat Kaine can make something completly legal to do make it illegal inside a bar. Good job VA
Justin, you have no constitutional right to smoke. Get over it. You are also not allowed to carry a gun into a bar. Are you going to get on that soap box too?
More than anything, smoking in confined places is a public health issue. If you smoke and find a way to make all that smoke stay inside your body and not effect the health of other citizens, then nobody is going to stop you. Until then, this is no different than going into a bar and slipping little bits of poison into everyone’s drinks every time you go. That’s definitely not legal, why should smoking be?
Don’t even get me started on the ENORMOUS cost to every tax payer because of individual’s decisions to smoke. Do you have any idea how much cheaper health insurance would be in this country (public and private) if nobody smoked? But that falls outside the realms of this discussion…except that hopefully this ban cuts down on “social smokers”, thereby reducing our tax burden and health costs over the longterm.
I’m definitely excited about this! I don’t mind if people want to smoke, I just hate the smell, how it lingers with you, and worst of all, dry eyes! My contacts will be happy the next time I go out.
I think this law is badly written; a more sensible way to do this would be to set some aggressive air handling standards and if an establishment wants to do what’s necessary to properly clean the air, let em.
However if the choices are doing it this way or doing nothing I think this is the better way. The reality is that municipalities that did it the ‘better’ way had very few places, if any, opt to invest in what it takes to meet those air standards to protect the non-smokers.
The law does sort of provide for that. If a bar wants to have a separately ventilated room to allow for smoking, they can. I hear that Hard Times in Clarendon is already doing this. There are a lot of specifics around how that room has to not be the primary entrance into the bar, it cannot use the same vents as the non-smoking area, etc…but it does allow for a good amount of exceptions (including “clubs”).
I think I’ll plant tobacco next year to celebrate.
I guess now all the bars in Virginia will shut down too, just like they did in DC and Maryland when they enacted smoking bans.
Thanks for adding the web link to Febreze in your top 10 list, Karl. Many people may think that this post provided no value and was nothing but a completely unfunny rant (more like whining, really) about hating smoking. But they’re wrong. There was some value. It linked to Febreze.
Oh, and “toxic ridden smoke” (number 2) should be hyphenated.