On January 1, I went out to a divey DC bar with some Bureaucrashers to enjoy a final night of legal and post-midnight illegal smoking in the District. (Something I never did before the ban, by the way. Though I do enjoy an occasional cigar, I almost always do so outdoors and in Virginia. I don’t find smoking indoors nearly as appealing as smoking outdoors on a nice afternoon.) It was a fun night of protesting, caught on the Bureaucrash video camera and posted here.
Last night a few friends I went out to another bar for our first night of post-smoking ban revelry. The place was less crowded than normal thanks to smokers heading outside, the air smelled better, and our clothes were odor free when we left. All things considered, we liked the place a lot better now than we did before the ban, which elicited an apt remark from Chad. “This is how I know I’m not a hypocrite. I personally benefit from the ban, but I’m still against it.” (Of course the smokers in the group weren’t nearly so pleased, but their preferences no longer count in DC.)
Finally, check out the SomethingAwful thread spawned by my pizza delivery post for what has to be one of the worst debates about any subject ever.
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, bartender, cocktail consultant, and magician in Portland, Oregon. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in the print or online editions of The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, The Oregonian, and other publications.
