Smoking allowed: Cigar bars offer a safe haven

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But finding a place to enjoy it? Good luck with that, pal. Yet, there are still dens of iniquity where the words “smoking” and “allowed” are linked, when a guy or girl can fire up their choice of legal intoxicant from Honduras or the Dominican Republic. Smoking a cigar is a ritual, a way to slow down. And it keeps both hands busy, so the devil can’t find work for them. Here, we offer a round-up of safehouses where you can light up without censure. From the outside, Executive Cigars in the North Side looks like a neighborhood smoke shop that would specialize in those commercial cigars sold in small cardboard...

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Japan Tobacco Staggers Back Following Quake

SENDAI, Japan—As shops slowly reopen along Japan’s tsunami-hit northeastern coast, many residents still aren’t finding one of the Japan markproducts they crave most: cigarettes.The shortages represent the latest supply-chain breakdown in Japan—and a headache for Japan Tobacco Inc., which for decades has dominated Japan’s tobacco market.The March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out two of Japan Tobacco’s six cigarette-making factories, damaged its distribution network and wrecked some of its suppliers’ facilities.Japan Tobacco was forced to halt deliveries across the whole country for 12 days starting March 30. Although it said it expects to...

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Debate fumes as Sydney apartments stub out smoking

An Australian apartment block which has banned residents from smoking in their homes has sparked anger from civil libertarians but advocates say it could be the way of the future for high-density living.Owners of the apartments in Sydney’s inner western suburb of Ashfield agreed to introduce a by-law which bars anyone smoking inside their flats or on their balconies, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Saturday.“We’ve made it a smoke-free zone in its entirety,” chairman of the owners’ corporate body Alex Antic told the paper.Advertisement: Story continues belowThe move came about after some residents of the late 1960s building had complained about...

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