Nebraska Smoking Ban

[Big Red Husker]

Ok I live in Nebraska. Lincoln and Omaha have had a smoking ban in restraunts and bars for the last 2 years. The statewide ban is going to go into effect this june, which will then affect me. Public never even voted on it, pisses me off. Anyway.

Im trying to find out if the ecigs can get past the Nebraska Smoking Ban. Because I plan to challenge it wherever I go with my new ecig. I plan on vaping in restraunts, bars, hotels.

Anyone have information on how to do this without being thrown out. Screw the antismoker rights, what about mine. I know I need to give up smoking, which I hopefully will eventually with the ecig, but anything has to be better than analogs. But if I want to smoke while driking a beer it's my damn right to. if you don't like it go to another bar or drink at home.

 

[Seraph]

i dont know if we should piss people off with our esmokes ... as it would then make it harder to later get it socialy accepted.

just an opinion.

im unclear as to the details of your bans , but if they ban tabacco smoking .. then yes ... this gear bypasses that.

 

[Programmer]

Greetings from your Iowa neighbor! (I'm originally from Omaha by the way.) Here in IA our statewide ban went into effect just recently, and I feel your pain. I p*ssed me off all to hell as well.

I'm not sure I'd say we have a right to smoke when drinking a beer, but a bar owner definitely should have the right to allow smoking his establishment. Keep the customers happy so he can keep making a living. The nonsmoking customers can go to nonsmoking bars. Again, all up to the bar owner.

Around here, especially this time of year when it's cold, the pubs are noticeably emptier. I don't see how they can stay in business. About the ONLY good thing that has come of it is you can sometimes meet new people while stading outside freezing your *** off, people that you wouldn't necessarily have approached inside.

I do understand your need to openly protest the ban. All I ask though is that you think it through first and pick your battles carefully. I think most rational folks would agree that no amount of quasi "civil disobedience" is going to cause them to rescind the ban now. The time for protests was before the bill was signed into law.

Therefore the possible outcomes are:

1. You just get satisfaction from doing your part to object, and probably get tossed out of some establishments in the process. Fair enough, if it's worth it to you.
2. They amend the law to include e-smoking as well. Not likely, but hey I guess it could happen.
3. The general public gets ticked off by e-smokers because they always seem to be the ones pushing the envelope.
4. Nothing happens, and many businesses could openly welcome the practice.

Just think hard about what final outcome you want, and work to achieve it. What's done is done though; I don't think there's any going back in this policical climate.

If you want a weapon with which to protest the ban I'd half-jokingly recommend a can of spray paint, truck full of manure, or even explosives in lieu of an e-cigarette blown in the faces of nonsmokers. Because we can't necessarily change the law at this late stage but maybe we can work to preserve the few lawful smoking practices we still have without further infringement.

 

[Big Red Husker]

77-4007 Tobacco products, defined. Tobacco products shall mean (1) cigars, (2) cheroots, (3) stogies, (4) periques, (5) granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready rubbed, and other smoking tobacco, (6) snuff, (7) snuff flour, (8) cavendish, (9) plug and twist tobacco, (10) fine cut and other chewing tobacco, (11) shorts, refuse scraps, clippings, cuttings, and sweepings of tobacco, and (12) other kinds and forms of tobacco, prepared in such manner as to be suitable for chewing or smoking in a pipe or otherwise or both for chewing and smoking, except that tobacco products shall not mean cigarettes as defined in section 77-2601.

That's all I can find right now for Nebraska, have not found the actual ban statute. ill keep looking.

 

[Big Red Husker]

well i found it. I can't post the link since I havn't met the requirments to do so however if you google LB 395. it will be the first link. .pdf file excerpt is here. actual document is 2 pages. so maybe somebody else is better at reading legal mumbo jumbo. what's it mean to you?

Sec. 12. Smoke or smoking means the lighting of any cigarette,
cigar, pipe, or other smoking material or the possession of any lighted
cigarette, cigar, pipe, or other smoking material, regardless of its
composition.

 

[Big Red Husker]

a ecig is technically a inhaler is it not. so I think I can get passed it

 

[Programmer]

I read the entire two pages, but what you had already pasted is indeed the only relevant paragraph.

The key word here is "lighted". Even if you took great liberties with the interpretation of the rest of the terms you still couldn't stretch it to include e-cigs. You're fine.

Inhaler is a good definition, as is vaporizer. You're legally in the clear either way, but that really isn't the big picture here. If legality was your only question then I'd say your problem is solved. It's legal. For now.

 

[e-pipeman]

We've had an all-out ban in public places in England for some time. However, you can vape away in places once you have the permission of the proprietor. Sadly there is no such thing (yet) as a "right to vape". It hasn't been banned but it is under investigation from what I can gather.
If you want to vape in a bar, ask the guy who runs it whether he minds or not and be prepared to give a demo. Some may object on the grounds that people might confuse your e-cig with a real one and decide that they can whip out a stogie with impunity. Others will be fine about it.

We don't have the right to vape - they just haven't banned us yet.

 

[Grumpysanta]

We've been suffering this antismoking law in the UK for a few years now and many pubs and clubs have closed because of it. I vape in my local club but that was after approaching the manager and the committee. So my advice to you is to approach the manager / landlord or who ever holds the licence to sell alcohol and show them your e-cig. Get their approval and there won't be any problems, do it without showing them first and chances are you'll get thrown out. So far none of the other customers have said anything about my friend and I vaping inside the club.

 

[Big Red Husker]

Well I have two buddies in lincoln. one owns a bar and another is a manager at a strip club, both places have lost alot of customers especially during the winter from the smoking ban. they are interested in ecigs and said they might be buying some to sell to their customers, or be giving their customers links on how to find information and purchase them. mainly from this site.

anyone want to be their supplier?

 

[UkUsa]

Hey Husker ....... if you want to vap in public when the ban comes in i'd ask the owner of the business.
Recently i went into sports clips, i was told the wait would be 20 minutes. I pulled out my 901 and asked if i could use this while i wait. Took it apart, showed her how it worked. She said "Oh so it's like an inhaler! Go ahead, as long as there is no tobacco then i don't care"

I haven't been into a bar or restaurant since getting the 901 but i'll regularly be walking around the mall, target, or walmart and take a few puffs here and there.

Sounds like your ban has been put in place the same way Iowa's did, no public vote, we're doing it. I believe Iowa's even covers outdoor sporting facilities.
I also think that it should be left up to the bar or restaurant owner to decide. The city of Ames had a smoking ban in restaurants for years before the state of Iowa put one in. Although theirs allowed smoking after 8:00pm.

 

[wv2win]

I had a technical class recently and ask the manager as well as the other participants if they would have a problem with me using my personal vaperizor. I demonstrated it and everyone was fine with it. I also used it in a resturant while waiting for take out after showing it to the person behind the counter. Other people waiting were very intriqued. I plan to use it where ever smoking is not allowed but plan to show the manager of the establishment first.

 

[Idahojo]

I'm a newbie & haven't tried it in public yet. When I do I think it's only right to ask the manager first & demonstrate how it works. Then he/she will have an explanation when people complain or make comments. If we're polite about this I would think it will help us in the long run.