We don't allow anything that LOOKS like smoking.

[pipecleaner]

Went to a Rafferty's restaurant in Etown KY Saturday night. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed a good meal. We sat and talked after dinner. I checked that the wind was blowing toward the parking lot, an old habit from pipe smoking days, and began vaping my E-power with a coffee juice I like after dinner. Vaped for about five minutes when our conversation was interrupted by a manager standing near a table upwind from us. He said they didn't allow smoking. I replied we were good then because i was not smoking. I explained that there's no tobacco, no combustion involved with a personal vaporizer and it's safe for everyone with vapor blowing to the open lot. Whereupon, he said the restaurant doesn't allow anything that looks like smoking. I wrote this company about the incident, but so far no reply.

 

[keyzygirl]

I feel that we have to be somewhat respectful to rules.I have been known to say its an inhaler,or some such bull hockey but always stop if asked.Its just the polite thing to do.I had one woman say I have asthma and have never seen an inhaler like that!!!I said its custom made and very expensive and she stopped bugging me,lol.We dont want to make negative waves.We need to come across as polite non smokers.

 

[FunkyVapes]

I'm very curious to see what comes of this. I had a similar experience here in Canada at a Boston Pizza. The problem with mine was that they assured me it was against the law to let me vape on the patio, regardless of what came out. They claim it is regulated by the fire department.

I carefully lined my palm up with my forehead and gave them the face-palm of the decade, before paying and leaving.

 

[Twisty]

That's why I start vaping as soon as I have ordered my food. If I am asked to stop I politely explain what I am doing and as much about ecigs as he/she will listen to. If they still want me to stop I get up and leave.

Mo has no statewide smoking ban. St. Louis County does but it doesn't include vaping.

 

[brittanyNI]

I agree somewhat with what keyzygirl says in terms of coming across as polite. I also agree that any owner of property has a right to include or exclude any person or practice from that property at his/her sole discretion on any basis whatsoever, even if that basis is stupid. If I owned a restaurant, it would be my right, IMO, to make it only available to left-handed Ethiopian same-sex female couples who vape. I'd probably go out of business in a hurry, but it would be my right.

So yes the restaurant manager has a right to exclude anything that "looks like" smoking.

But along with rights come responsibilities and consequences. In my hypothetical restaurant if I am in the middle of Wyoming where Ethiopians are relatively rare, the consequences to my restrictions would include going out of business. I have the right to be stupid, but also must bear the responsibility of my folly.

I like Twisty's approach -- because it is an approach that very clearly connects rights and responsibilities. If I never show up at a restaurant because I already know they won't appreciate my 808 or 510, they have no idea what they lost. IT allows them to suffer from the illusion that their choice entails no loss.

If, on the other hand, they exercise their choice to prohibit my use of a HARMLESS device -- certainly something less harmful than the carcinogens put in the air from braising a steak -- and I then exercise MY choice to walk out ... then they have connected in their minds an actual customer and an actual sale that is lost.

It is different with analog cigarettes because there is true potential to harm others; but no such potential is known for personal vaporizers. People being "offended" by how it "appears" is no different than their being offended by a hat I happen to be wearing.

So I'm glad the OP sent a letter to management. By all means, be polite. But also, by all means, when nobody else can actually be harmed, I say exercise your right to vote with your feet and make a statement -- an economic statement -- that can be clearly understood.

 

[pipecleaner]

I was not impolite. I was eating outside the restaurant with wind blowing any vapor to the huge shopping center parking lot. I explained what I was using. Yes, I will protest irrational management with my dollars not going there anymore.

 

[pipecleaner]

Heard from Rafferty's today. Guy was good to talk with. Seems the problem is with some of their customers that are not rational and make a lot of noise because they just think someone's smoking. Seems we're both up against problems of this society. I declined his offer of another dinner out there as I no longer want to be around some of his customers. I explained that I'd cook steaks here from now on until they outlaw that. I've decided to just be a hermit.

 

[hippiebrian]

I generally don't vape (unless I sneak a stealth or two) where smoking is not allowed. This is for one reason only. Read my posts, I'm not afraid of confrontation. I just worry about the beligerant, possibly a little drunk, smoker who thinks I'm smoking so it's okay for him/her to do so also. I don't want to deal with that scene, so it's just easier to avoid it all together.

 

[Krisb]

Until vaping is more widely recognized and understood, I choose to not vape where the majority of people will be offended (like restaurants) because of their lack of exposure, seeing someone vape/smoke will just cause closed minds. It is not their fault they don't know about them, I wouldn't either if I hadn't sought out a way to quit smoking. People will be more open to learning about them if they are exposed in a more neutral area...a park, outdoor shopping area. I personally hated smoking in restaurants so I can understand their concern, a non smoker and children should not have to eat smelling a cigarette. If I didn't know what they were and were at a restaurant with my kids, I'd be a bit peeved thinking someone lit a cigarette. We shouldn't turn this into a war with picket signs and I don't give a damn I'll do whatever I want attitudes, education and exposure is the only thing that can change opinions.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[Puffadder]

+ 1 KrisB and hippybrian

Vaping may be our right in our own cars and homes but when you enter another persons home or business you should consider it a privilege. Also consider that perception is reality. If someone perceives your vaping to be a threat than that is their reality. When it happens to me I try to explain it to them as best I can. If it works than great one more person is educated, if not tha when in public they have just as much a right to be there as I do.

The OP was offended because he was still told no after explaining it to the manager but it's his fellow diners that would need the explanation as well. Would you want to spend you dinner going table to table to explain it to each and every patron there plus anyone else who walks in the door? If you were a non vapor would you want your dinner interrupted by some stranger trying to explain something to you that you care little about?

 

[Uncle Willie]

As my state has a complete ban on analog smoking in a business / public space / etc , I'm used to it .. although we may feel like we have the right to toke our e-cigs anywhere and everywhere, all we're really doing is asking for that tech to be banned as well .. matters not what what it is, the e-cig produces smoke and thus the ire of any citizen that simply assumes it's tobacco .. it's not gonna change any time soon .. and by insisting it's OK, all we're doing is asking for regulation ..

I'm waiting for someone to report they have been fined .. then the courts may get involved .. and that could be good, or bad ..

 

[joeyazzz]

i was on an airplane to china it was a very long flight. and i was getting heart burn from my nicotine gum, (btw nicotine gum sucks and i never use it anymore) after an hour of playing angry birds on my iPhone i pull out my silver bullet and start vapeing, the flight attendant came over and ask me what it was, i told her what is was and she said if you put in away now she wont make it a huge problem. i pulled out 650 ¥ = 100 dollars and put in in her pocket she walked off and i didn't have a problem the whole flight.

 

[Uncle Willie]

The universal language of money does work in many cases ..

 

[pipecleaner]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. I'm just not into spending a lot of time exploring a bunch of alternate realities and that does seem to be the problem. The only solution I see is to stay here. My choice this week was dinner or Campfire coffee, London, and Managua. I'm lovin these vapes!

 

[Koman]

I rarely do it in public.

 

[Aunt Cranky]

A business has the right to make up whatever rules they want when it comes to whether or not they're going to allow you to vape on premises. I agree that their decision is going to have a lot to do with whether or not they have fussy customers who complain about what they think you might be up to.

I still treat my PV like an analog and will do it outside with the analog puffers.

Until or unless there is a specific "rule" in an establishment that says they're "vape friendly" I'm going to assume that they're not, and not make any waves.

 

[hairball]

In the goofiest voice I can muster up, I say "Sorry it's my meds." That usually gets them to leave me alone. When walking out, I ask to speak to the manager and tell him/her what it really is. I generally get a shocked reply because no one complained about it....LOL.

 

[wv2win]

Heard from Rafferty's today. Guy was good to talk with. Seems the problem is with some of their customers that are not rational and make a lot of noise because they just think someone's smoking. Seems we're both up against problems of this society. I declined his offer of another dinner out there as I no longer want to be around some of his customers. I explained that I'd cook steaks here from now on until they outlaw that. I've decided to just be a hermit.

Not that this would have made a difference in your situation, but I do believe the more the look of our PV's gets away from the "cigarette look" the better it will be for all of us. Now that I vape on a Darwin, I rarely have an issue vaping in public.

Thank you for going the extra mile and writing the company.

 

[wv2win]

As my state has a complete ban on analog smoking in a business / public space / etc , I'm used to it .. although we may feel like we have the right to toke our e-cigs anywhere and everywhere, all we're really doing is asking for that tech to be banned as well .. matters not what what it is, the e-cig produces smoke and thus the ire of any citizen that simply assumes it's tobacco .. it's not gonna change any time soon .. and by insisting it's OK, all we're doing is asking for regulation ..

I'm waiting for someone to report they have been fined .. then the courts may get involved .. and that could be good, or bad ..

A PV produces "vapor" derived mostly from water and PG or VG - no "smoke". The more we educate the general public in an intelligent, polite but open way, the better it will be for all of us.

 

[wv2win]

A business has the right to make up whatever rules they want when it comes to whether or not they're going to allow you to vape on premises. I agree that their decision is going to have a lot to do with whether or not they have fussy customers who complain about what they think you might be up to.

I still treat my PV like an analog and will do it outside with the analog puffers.

Until or unless there is a specific "rule" in an establishment that says they're "vape friendly" I'm going to assume that they're not, and not make any waves.

And if we all follow this direction, then vaping will never be understood, accepted or allowed anywhere. Perception is reality and if the perception that we as vapers present is that vaping is dangerous to others, then it will be deemed dangerous and rightfully banned everywhere.