This winter, more Ohio smokers than ever have found themselves making the tough decision between waiting to smoke that next cigarette or braving the icy, biting weather that awaits them outdoors. The new Ohio smoking ban, coupled with the unfavorably harsh weather conditions, has left dining and bar-hopping smokers with only two choices: crave or freeze.

Since the fall semester of 2003, Oberlin has become increasingly inhospitable to the average smoker. Smoking lounges in Langston and East Halls were closed due to ongoing problems with vandalism and an overall concern for student health. This was to be the end of smoking lounges in the College dormitories.

In February 2005, the options for smokers changed again. The College’s final smoking lounge, located in Keep Cottage, was shut down. According to Residential Education, the smoking lounge was “illegal,” operating without the knowledge or consent of the school. Keep residents themselves bemoaned the presence of non-resident first-years who would use the room for smoking marijuana. The illegal drug activity also caused problems for the Bike Co-op, adjacent to Keep, which spends much of its time dealing with residents of the town and often children. Action was swift, as ResEd converted the lounge overnight into a bicycle storage facility.

In the spring and fall of that same year, student smokers suffered two more serious blows in the form of two Student Senate referendums. April saw the issue of smoking lounges revisited, as students voted on whether or not school resources should be allocated for the construction of sheltered spaces designated for smoking. In a sound defeat, students voted 1,113 to 181 against such allocations.

With the smoking lounges gone and a vast majority of students voting against their reconstruction, smoking had been effectively disallowed in all but a few designated residences in Village Housing, namely houses on Union Street and the seventh floor of the Firelands. This allowance rendered Oberlin College noncompliant with the suggestions of the American College Health Association and the American Cancer Society.

The College smoking policy then read as follows: “There is NO smoking in ANY College building. This includes all College housing, unless an exemption is granted. Each community member is responsible for understanding the smoking policy and is encouraged to educate his/her peers.” 

The question for the fall referendum spoke to whether any exemptions should be allowed at all. A vote of “yes” would favor the protection of college residences that allow smoking and open the possibility for the future creation of new smoking lounges.

In another rather unbalanced vote, students voted 74.91 percent to 20.92 percent against allowing smoking in any college buildings for any reason (the remainder abstained).  This effectively banned smoking campus-wide under any and all circumstances, relegating all smoking to at least 30 feet away from any campus building.

December 2006 saw the expansion of non-smoker sanctuary once again, as the city of Oberlin, as well as the rest of the state of Ohio, fell under a newly instituted smoking ban, voted in as Issue 5 in the 2006 midterm elections held on November 7. It passed with a strong 58 percent of the vote, giving restaurant and bar owners only one month before the ban would take effect. Only tobacco stores and other specially licensed businesses, such as hookah bars, maintained their ability to allow smoke.

Ohio is not the first state to institute such a smoking ban. The ban has become increasingly popular in a time where a decreasing percentage of the populace is choosing to smoke.  In Ohio, approximately 74 percent of residents do not smoke. The statistics are similar across the United States. This suggests that there are large numbers of people who prefer a smoke-free environment. This notion, paired with the troubling scientific findings on the effects of secondhand smoke, fosters an environment in which the people are very willing to ban smoking from the public arena.

Ohio restaurant and bar owners have responded in various ways to the smoking ban.  Some businesses have complained about lost revenue, while others welcome new customers who prefer the new smoke-free environments. So far, various legal actions have been brought to counteract the ban, including one brought by the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association on the day before the ban’s implementation on December 7. The Association claimed that enforcing the smoking ban at that time was unconstitutional since the rules for its enforcement had yet to be approved by the state legislature.

All such challenges have yet to stifle the widespread enforcement of the new policy, yet some rogue businesses have remained stubbornly noncompliant whenever possible.

The Oberlin business world has remained largely unaffected by the smoking ban, the Feve being the only establishment to allow any smoking whatsoever before the November elections. Since its opening in 1997, the Feve has always reflected a large degree of consideration for non-smokers. Before the opening of the now-popular upstairs bar, the Feve smoking section was in the basement, which now holds little other than restroom facilities. After complaints by first floor patrons that the smoke was rising into the main bar, smoking was permanently moved to the second floor bar where it remained until December 7, 2006.

The week before the ban went into effect, the second floor of the Feve was a perpetual cloud of smoke, the bartenders handing out cigarettes (sometimes by the handful) to thirsty patrons wanting to get the final nicotine fix before the ashtrays would disappear forever, leaving the lingering smell of stale smoke behind. As the deadline closed in, Oberlin said goodbye to smoky bars and the bartenders of the Feve said hello to cigarette breaks.

Unlike other bars throughout Ohio, the Feve has a particular advantage in Oberlin, garnering it a distinct corner on the market despite the smoking ban: The Feve is Oberlin’s only true bar. Students, far less likely to brave the Inn or Casa Fiesta for their drink fix, will continue flocking to the Feve whether or not smoking remains allowed.

Regardless of freezing weather, it seems that Oberlin students will continue to smoke. Yet for better or worse, the options for these smokers will continue to remain limited. Smoking huddled together in the wind and snow, students can only close their eyes and dream of the upcoming spring weather, in which the entire Oberlin outdoors will once again transform into a beautiful and hospitable smokers’ haven.