Doug's Smoke-free Entertainment Guide [FAQ]

Smoke-free entertainment for you
Because stinking clothes and burning eyes suck.

My personal page of smoke-free entertainment options in the Puget Sound area and beyond. Hopefully, this is a good source of things to do and see for the nonsmoker who doesn't want to be exposed to smoke when they want to enjoy music or meeting friends.

This FAQ (frequently asked questions) is in response to a couple of recent e-mails I received asking me about the Smoke-Free Entertainment Guide and my opinions on related topics.

How did you come up with the idea for the [Smoke-Free Entertainment Guide] site? How did it start?

It was probably five or six years ago and the internet was just coming into its own as something useful, a tool that you could use to find specific information that would not have been published any other way because it wouldn't be cost effective. About that same time I was also deciding that I needed to get out more often but was becoming increasingly intolerant of everything to do with smokers and smoking. Seventy percent of the population were nonsmokers, and I was frustrated by the meaningless bone thrown to us called the "no smoking section".

The only totally smoke-free eating-drinking establishments I knew of were a few brew pubs (pubs affiliated with microbreweries). They were extremely popular and didn't seem to be suffering from what I was told to be "the rule" that entertainment establishments couldn't exist without smoking.

Eventually, I searched the web to see what information I could find about bars, pubs, and restaurants that were totally smoke-free. I found no information that met my criteria, and right then decided to do it myself. I already had a personal web page up and running so it wasn't very hard to add to it and start the "Smoke-Free Entertainment Guide for Puget Sound and Beyond". I made entries on the major search engines to let folks know where to find me, and shortly started getting thirty to forty hits per week. I'm getting between seventy and ninety hits per week now. I consider it a success because of the extremely positive e-mails I get.

From the beginning I wanted it to be a kind of clearing house where everyone could share their reviews and turn people on to smoke-free venues that they may me missing. The majority of the information that goes on the site now is sent in by users of the site. I think that's great.

What do you think about smokers? Do smokers have rights?

There has to be an understanding that a non-smoker can't "not smoke" when a smoker is smoking. I am not a prohibitionist, but I do believe in freedom of choice and that your pursuit of happiness can not interfere with mine. Regrettably though, smokers have chosen a non-discriminating drug delivery system -- Smoking affects everyone in range.

Smokers need to realize that their drug of choice is no longer universally tolerated as it once was, and non-smokers need to put themselves in the hard place that smokers are in. They are addicts and in an increasingly unfavorable societal position. There are a lot of smokers that want to stop that need support, not criticism.

Everyone has rights, but we all need to live together. No one ever said that freedom was anarchy. We all understand that with freedom comes responsibility. If we spent more effort looking at those around us and making sure that they were happy and comfortable; we as individuals would be happier in turn because now your personal happiness is a group effort and not just you, all alone, clawing your way to the top of the heap.

What do you think about the new law in California that prohibits smoking in pubs, bars, restaurants, etc.?

Personally, I don't like it from a citizen point of view. In an ideal world, this is the kind of stuff that should not be legislated, it should be market driven. But much like the Microsoft case, there are instances where a huge entity would suffer from the proper course of supply and demand and it has the power and resources to so subtly and completely revise the history books and "mindshare" as to make their version seem to be the "will of the people". I think the law is too extreme, but it's now closer to the truth.

I just saw [name of pub] go smoke-free and six months later they were out of business. Doesn't this prove that if you serve beer you have to allow smoking?

Businesses fail every day. I have seen places that went smoke-free close because they did not cater to their _new_ clientele. When you go smoke-free, the hard-core smokers will leave. There will usually be a lag in business until the non-smokers find you. You must be ready to accomodate a new type of customer that usually drinks less, stays a shorter amount of time, but will generally be willing to spend more money per visit and not burn holes in the tabletops. If all you have is Bud and Beer Nuts, you will fail.

What do you get out of this? Do the places reviewed on your website pay you, give you free meals?

Nope, I just do this because I think it's a good thing that needs to be done and I can do it. One pub did buy me a free beer once when a friend of mine told them about my web guide. I was pretty pleased with that. I hope it does bring them business, from a selfish perspective, I want them to be alive and thriving when I go out to have a beer and a burger.

Quite a few people have given me a hard time for not "cashing in" on the internet; it's just not my style.

Hey, I live in [insert city], do you know of any smoke-free places where I live, or where I can find information about such things?

Hey, I would like to open a smoke-free pub in [insert city], do you have information about how to do it?

I get one or two e-mails a month like these. Up until recently, the best I could do was to suggest the American Cancer Society. They usually keep up on smoke-free restaurants in most major cities. We also have a Smoke-Free Washington organization that publishes a list here locally. Most of the time a call to a local hospital's information desk can get you some leads.

Just a couple of weeks ago though, I got an e-mail from a nice person at http://www.smokefreeworld.com. She is collecting info worldwide. I salute her. For the most part, she doesn't have reviews, just names and addresses, but it's a great resource.

A resource for those wanting information on starting a smoke-free business should check out the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights web page.

I will always post a review on my site no matter where in the world the smoke-free establishment is. My Smoke-Free Entertainment Guide will become whatever the users make of it.