Want to Keep Your Exemption?
If you are a hookah bar or cigar bar in Indianapolis, you have until Friday to file with the city to keep your exemption from the stricter smoking ban that goes into effect June 1.
Under an ordinance passed by the city, smoking will be banned in nearly all bars and taverns at 6:00 a.m. on Friday. Cigar bars and hookah bars are exempt, however they must file with city.
According to code enforcement, a tobacco bar is defined as…
(1) Is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages pursuant to a permit issued by the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission for on-premise consumption and in which the service of food is only incidental to the consumption of such beverages and the sale of cigars or Hookah tobacco;
(2) Is engaged in the business of selling cigars or Hookah tobaccos and where at least twenty percent (20%) or more of its total annual gross income over the preceding calendar year was derived from the on-site sale of cigars or Hookah tobaccos;
(3) That is not physically located within a business otherwise required to be smoke free and
(4) That does not sell cigarettes or allow smoking of cigarettes on the premises.
Necessary forms can be found here.
