CWNews
Advocating for Traveling Smokers
By Christopher Elliott
Travel columnist
msnbc.com contributor
updated 9:55 a.m. CT, Mon., June 22, 2009
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Haven’t smokers suffered enough already? You can’t help but wonder when you talk with someone like Efrin Knight, a French professor from Miami who enjoys an occasional cigar. “It’s more and more difficult to get out of my home because of the tyranny of nonsmokers,” he says.
Knight doesn’t want to light up a Cuban on a plane or bus, or even in a hotel room. He’d settle for outdoors. “I find it extremely difficult to have an espresso once I’ve turned on my cigar, except in places like Miami’s Little Havana,” he says.
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Here’s why we need to lighten up when it comes to smoking.
1. There are lots of smokers.
About 1 in 4 adults — roughly 47 million people — smoke in the United States, according to the American Council for Drug Education. The number of adolescents is even higher — about one-third of young people smoke. At the beginning of the antismoking crackdown in the United States, smokers were said to command $1 trillion in annual purchasing power, but today they are treated as if they are invisible and impecunious.
About 1 in 4 adults — roughly 47 million people — smoke in the United States, according to the American Council for Drug Education. The number of adolescents is even higher — about one-third of young people smoke. At the beginning of the antismoking crackdown in the United States, smokers were said to command $1 trillion in annual purchasing power, but today they are treated as if they are invisible and impecunious.
2. They feel unwelcome.
Smokers are treated like second-class citizens when they travel, says Jacob Grier, a bartender who lives in Portland, Ore. Local antismoking ordinances are so strict that he can’t even light up in his own apartment. “Guests have to take an elevator down four stories and walk outside to a sidewalk on a busy street to light up, even though I have an outdoor balcony,” he says. “I can understand forbidding smoking inside the apartment, but this is just bad hospitality.” Grier’s experience is not uncommon for travelers. Whether it’s a smoke-free hotel or restaurant, the needs of smokers are rarely taken into consideration these days.
Smokers are treated like second-class citizens when they travel, says Jacob Grier, a bartender who lives in Portland, Ore. Local antismoking ordinances are so strict that he can’t even light up in his own apartment. “Guests have to take an elevator down four stories and walk outside to a sidewalk on a busy street to light up, even though I have an outdoor balcony,” he says. “I can understand forbidding smoking inside the apartment, but this is just bad hospitality.” Grier’s experience is not uncommon for travelers. Whether it’s a smoke-free hotel or restaurant, the needs of smokers are rarely taken into consideration these days.
3. They have nowhere to go.
Communities are moving beyond reasonable indoor smoking bans, and trying to stamp out smoking altogether. Some of the most restrictive laws forbid smoking just about everywhere. Lighting up on the verandah or by the pool is no longer possible. Zak McCune has a front-row seat to the aftershocks of such restrictive nonsmoking laws in Japan. “It used to be a smoker’s paradise,” he says. “Now they’ve enacted laws that take away the smoker’s safe zones.” Those include fewer smoking cars on the bullet train and the elimination of smoking areas on train platforms. McCune, who teaches English, says Japanese reaction to the new laws is disbelief.
Communities are moving beyond reasonable indoor smoking bans, and trying to stamp out smoking altogether. Some of the most restrictive laws forbid smoking just about everywhere. Lighting up on the verandah or by the pool is no longer possible. Zak McCune has a front-row seat to the aftershocks of such restrictive nonsmoking laws in Japan. “It used to be a smoker’s paradise,” he says. “Now they’ve enacted laws that take away the smoker’s safe zones.” Those include fewer smoking cars on the bullet train and the elimination of smoking areas on train platforms. McCune, who teaches English, says Japanese reaction to the new laws is disbelief.
Is the travel industry turning its back on a quarter of its customers? Some of it is, some isn’t.
Cruise lines may be the sole bright spot for smokers, even though their effort to accommodate smokers is often alienating the other three-quarters of customers. At least that’s how Barbara Hershberg sees it. She just returned from a cruise from Portugal to Italy, and reports they were overwhelmed by second-hand smoke. “Cigarette and cigar odors permeated so many areas, and for some reason, seemed to linger in the stairwells, even though there was no indoor smoking except at the casino,” she says.
Should the travel industry try to turn back the clock, pushing for laws that permit smoking in hotels, planes and restaurants?
No. The dangers of secondhand smoke are indisputable. But shouldn’t smokers be allowed to enjoy a cigarette, cigar or pipe when they aren’t exposing anyone else to the dangerous carcinogens to which they’re addicted? As long as smoking is legal in America, the answer to that question ought to be: “yes.”
Even ardent nonsmokers like Bill Armstrong, a consultant based in Calgary, concede that smokers should have a place in this world. “In my opinion, a smoking area in a hotel should be away from where guests normally go,” he says. “The smoke from the smoking area should not blow into the hotel, pool or rooms.” I agree. I think just as we used to allow smokers to indiscriminately consume tobacco products anywhere, we’ve now gone too far in the other direction. Maybe it’s time for a little balance.
