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11/13/2014 Savage heading for ban on hookah lounges.e-cigarettes I Star Tribune <br /> x StarTribune <br /> Savage heading for ban on hookah <br /> lounges, e-cigarettes R <br /> Article by: Erin Adler <br /> Star Tribune <br /> September 23. 2014 - 3:00 PM <br /> Savage has decided to keep things simple. taking steps to limit <br /> two increasingly common but ambiguous forms of smoking. <br /> Officials are drafting an ordinance that will ban electronic <br /> cigarettes. also called a-cigs. in the same places that smoking <br /> tobacco is banned under the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act. That <br /> means a-cigs won't be allowed in places like restaurants. buses. In Savage. electronic cigarettes. like the one shown above.will <br /> be banned in areas covered by the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air <br /> stores. offices or day-care centers. Act. <br /> Associated Press. <br /> The city also wants to prohibit sampling. the umbrella term for any <br /> smoking that happens on-site at a hookah lounge, smoke shop or <br /> e-cigarette store. <br /> The City Council will vote on the measure at the Oct. 6 meeting. <br /> In recent years. many cities have struggled with how to regulate <br /> new ways of smoking as the practices grow. <br /> "E-cigarettes are still in that no man's land" in which no one knows -WN tt <br /> what to do with them. said Sarah Schwarzhoff. Savage's assistant <br /> attorney. <br /> Last fall. many cities passed a moratorium on e-cigarettes. then <br /> waited to see what the Legislature would do. Legislators banned e- <br /> cigs in some public places. including government buildings. public <br /> schools. day cares and most health facilities. but stopped short of <br /> treating them like actual cigarettes. <br /> Savage passed a similar one-year moratorium last February to <br /> evaluate its policies. That moratorium also included hookah <br /> lounges. cigar shops and a-cig stores. <br /> At a recent City Council work session, council members gathered <br /> to discuss ending the moratorium. along with possible approaches <br /> to dealing with a-cigs and sampling. They also explored regulating t <br /> the price of certain tobacco products. <br /> Currently. under`sampling' rules. smoking cigars or 'vaping' e- <br /> cigarettes at a store is legal in Minnesota. as is hookah smoking at <br /> a lounge. <br /> An electronic cigarette with a nicotine liquid.which is heated by <br /> Show and tell a rechargeable battery. <br /> Emma Fidel-Associated Press. <br /> At the meeting. Chris Farmer-Lies. a representative from the <br /> Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. passed around "little cigars." Some cities. such as Brooklyn Center. have recently set <br /> a hefty minimum price for them. hoping to discourage youth from smoking the cheap. fruit-flavored tobacco product. <br /> http:1t www.startribune.comAocal/souttV276784991.htmi 112 <br />