Mr. CityAtlantic is here to answer all your questions about Atlantic City. Don't know where to go, what to do or how to get it done? Mr. CityAtlantic knows and he wants to help.
Peter asks: "I am an avid cigar smoker and enjoy visiting AC once a year. With the new smoking ban, what bars and restaurants in AC still accommodate cigar smokers and comply with the NJ ban?"
 A:Ahh, Peter. Don't most of us, at least a few times a year, enjoy a good slow smoke? Whether it's celebrating a job well done or an 8-iron well placed, cigars are an expensive but simple pleasure. Not so in the People's Republic of New Jersey. The Smoke-Free Air Act has really made no provision for the "cigar club" or smoke room that you might be thinking of. The motive behind the law was to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, without thought for anyone who might enjoy a stogie with dinner, even if it was a walled off airport-style smoker's tank. No loophole in the law that favors restaurants or bars is the reason that the fine folks at Unsuited Entertainment did the Atlantic City Cigar Gala outdoors and tented at Bernie Robbins Stadium. Any food- or liquor-serving indoor establishment would have been illegal. Those guys at Unsuited are geniuses - use an open-air stadium and stick it to the man. Having said this, your hopes are not snuffed out. Because of the caveat in the law that exempts casino floors, here are a few bars left that luckily border casino floors or have some form of gaming themselves and are exempt from the smoking ban. While some would read that as upside, the downside is that these bars are for the most part of the larger and louder variety and therefore not suitable for that slow comfortable smoke. These bars include Xhibition at Harrah's, the B Bar at Borgata, Mountain Bar at Wild Wild West, 25 Hours at Resorts, and Swingers at Sands. All other casinos will tell you that they allow smoking in "designated areas, casino floor only", since most casino floors now have non-smoking slot and/or table areas. The short answer to this is that while there may be places that one can enjoy their Macanudos, (Mr. CA's smoke of choice) there is not yet a suitable cigar room, and nor is there likely to be because of that gaming loophole. If the law remains that gaming has to be present to smoke, you can reasonably assume the presence of noise and not being able to be alone with your thoughts in a cloud of smoke, at least not in New Jersey.
Mr. CityAtlantic is a certain Atlantic City veteran who wishes you nothing but cool times and hot cards. In his spare time, he authors dictionaries and pilots experimental spacecraft - he could tell you, but then he'd have to kill you. He is also fond of hitting his "Easy Button" at inopportune times in conversation. He can be reached at mr@cityatlantic.com.
|
more
