Having just finished a long binge drinking excursion at the Chicago South Side parade, an article about the Minnesota smoking ban caught my eye. Illinois (my home state) began enforcing its anti-smoking law at the start of the year. Being an avid St. Patrick’s Day fan, I was amazed this year by how pleasant the bar experience turned out to be without the usual smoky fog.

But in Minnesota, they’re coming up with some ingenious ways to get around the state’s smoking ban.

Apparently, there’s an exception to the state’s law which allows performers in a theatrical production to legally smoke on stage. Some bars are taking advantage of this loophole by printing up playbills, proclaiming the bar a stage, and dubbing customers “actors”.

About 30 bars in Minnesota have been exploiting the loophole by staging the faux theater productions and pronouncing cigarettes props, according to an anti-smoking group.

It seems like an awful lot of work to me. But I’ll give them kudos for ingenuity. One bar has named the nightly ’show’ as, “The Tobacco Monologues”. Bravo.

Which other states have smoking bans too?

As you can see, both Minnesota and Illinois (white) have smoking legally banned in three major public places; bars, restaurants, and the workplace.

That is, unless you’ve bought tickets to “The Tobacco Monologues”.

Clicking on the map brings you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States.

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