I'm Just Sayin'

Today is the first day of smoke-free bars and restaurants in North Carolina. Finally! Those of you outside tobacco road probably don’t realize how major this is. I live in tobacco town, Winston-Salem. Yes, the town that Reynolds built. To be clear, the cigarettes were named after the town, not vice versa. The town (originally two towns, hence the hyphen) was here long before R.J. Reynolds moved from his daddy’s tobacco farm in Virginia. But make no mistake, everything here has ties to the golden leaf.

You can’t flick a cigarette butt in town without hitting something built by, funded through, or named for something or somebody associated with tobacco. It was tobacco money that brought Wake Forest University to town. Deacon fan or not, you have to admit this town would not be the same without its ACC school. And certainly RJR has contributed to development funds for every college and university in town. Charitable trusts created by the Reynolds family and other executives of RJR Tobacco sustain our arts and cultural organizations. The names are everywhere: Reynolda Road, Smith Reynolds Airport, Bowman Gray Stadium.

Yes, tobacco has been good for North Carolina in general, and for Winston-Salem in particular. But our financial dependence has compromised our health for long enough. Now we clear the air.

I used to smoke. I started in high school because it was cool. (Literally it was Kool, then Salem, then Virginia Slims, and finally Marlboro Lights.) I quit on Martin Luther King Day, 1995, because it was making me sick. (The habit was making me sick, not the holiday. That just happened to be the day I emptied my carton). So, in my typical fashion of making everything all about me, I’ve decided this smoking ban is NC’s gift to me, on my 15th anniversary of being smoke-free. Thanks, NC. Thank you very much.

I also used to spend more time in bars. I was never really a bar fly. No one ever called my name when I came in the door. I never reached the level of patronage where I could slide onto a stool and order “the usual.” But I was there, drinking cold beer, ordering shots, watching sports, throwing darts, listening to music. Then I quit smoking, and I couldn’t tolerate the smoky bars anymore. To be honest, I also got married, bought a house, got a promotion, and started working really insane hours. There were time and financial constraints, but smoke was the major reason I slid off my bar stool.

I still go to bars. I compete in a dart league, and we throw darts in bars. Mine might be the only completely smoke-free team in the league, and we grumble about the poor air quality. But I guess we love darts more than we hate smoke, because we keep showing up in smoky bars every Sunday. I had to give up darts for awhile after I quit smoking, and it wasn’t just because the bars were smoky. I also couldn’t throw straight without a lit cigarette waiting on the table behind me. But eventually I came back. Now I wonder how the new law will affect the smokers in our league. I wonder if it will alter their abilities as it once altered mine. If so, maybe there are more trophies in store for me and my team. (Again, making it all about me and mine. I probably just forfeited any chance of every getting another sportsperson award.)

A few months ago, I talked to a local bar owner about the pending ban on smoking, and he was worried. You could look around the place and understand why. Every bar stool was occupied, and I was the only one not smoking. The bartender was spending almost as much time cleaning ashtrays as she was mixing drinks. This is a place with regulars, where the regulars order “the usual” and the regulars smoke. A lot. The owner feared that his regulars, those who help him meet payroll and pay the mortgage, would abandon him. They can sit at home and drink, and smoke at the same time. Would their desire to light up supersede the need for what they find at his bar? I think not, and I told him so. Told him my story. He said, “Yeah but you don’t drink enough to keep me in business.”

So, I have a challenge for my friends in Winston-Salem, and throughout North Carolina. Go to a bar this month. Park your butt on a bar stool and order a drink. Maybe two. Call a cab if you need to. Breathe the air. Smell the coffee, the beer, the cheap cologne of the guy next to you. Notice how clearly you can see the television, now that it’s not obscured by a cloud of smoke. If you’re sitting next to a smoker (you’ll know because they’ll be grouchy, fidgety, or eating lots of peanuts) show them some encouragement. Hell, go ahead and buy them a drink. Show the bar owners that non-smokers are a viable economic force. Keep our bars in business. Do it for the love of cold beer. Do it for the economy. Do it for me, in honor of my 15th anniversary of being smoke free. Again, it’s all about me. I’m just sayin.