In perhaps the most extensive smoking ban passed in the United States, Calabasas, a small California town in Los Angeles County, has practically eradicated the right to smoke anywhere within its borders. On February 15, the city council passed a sweeping ban that adds outdoor parks, sidewalks and bus stops to the list of places where smoking is prohibited.


Citing studies from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the possible dangers of secondhand smoke, the Comprehensive Second-Hand Smoke Control Ordinance, as it's titled, reads that the city council seeks "to provide for the public health, safety, and welfare by discouraging the inherently dangerous behavior of tobacco use near non-tobacco users."


As of March 17, smoking will be outlawed in all public places and places of employment, not unlike many smoking bans passed in numerous towns and cities throughout the country, but in Calabasas, smoking will be allowed only in designated "smoker's outposts" or any outdoor public area in which "no non-smoker is present." Clubs, lounges, construction sites and even cigars shops are not exempt from the ban. Basically, the only place people will be able to smoke in the company of a non-smoker is in their home or backyard provided they do not run a "child-care" or "health-care" business there.


read the rest of the article at Cigar Aficionado.