Cheryl Richter opened CV Vape Den LLC in Port Chester last February in an effort, she said, to help friends and family kick the tobacco habit.
A former smoker of more than 30 years, Richter said electronic cigarettes ”” commonly referred to as e-cigarettes and their use referred to as “vaping” ”” helped wean her off tobacco, and she wanted to help other conventional tobacco smokers, many in their 50s and 60s, do the same at her vape shop and lounge.
Now, she said, the positive message she has been trying to spread around e-cigarettes is being threatened after the Westchester County Board of Legislators last month voted unanimously to ban the use of electronic cigarettes in the workplace and in restaurants and bars.
- A case contains items for e-cigarettes.
The goal of the bill, proposed by board Majority Leader Catherine Borgia, a Democrat, was to safeguard nonsmokers from the chemicals of e-cigarettes whose effects are still being evaluated.
Borgia cited studies that have shown chemicals in e-cigarette vapor to have negative side effects, but Richter cited alternative peer-reviewed studies that she believes show otherwise.
“It is important for electronic cigarette users to follow the same rules as cigarette smokers and not unwillingly put people in contact with the vapors,” Borgia said in June. “People working in the next cubicle, or eating at a restaurant next to a person using an electronic cigarette ”¦ should not be exposed to the potentially dangerous products being emitted from these devices.”
The other motive behind the legislation, Borgia said, was to prevent children and teens from trying and possibly becoming addicted to e-cigarettes, which are offered in flavors such as cotton candy and bubble gum. According to a December federal study, e-cigarette smoking among high school students for the first time topped traditional smoking, partly due to a 61 percent rise between 2012 and 2013.
“We have a much older clientele,” said Richter, a Stamford resident and New Rochelle native. “Many were hardened smokers. These are adults and not kids playing around looking to try e-cigarettes.”
One customer of hers in particular, a New Rochelle nurse, said she was accustomed to using her e-cigarette in restaurants and did not believe she was disturbing other patrons.
Once she learned about the ban, “She was absolutely floored,” said Richter, who co-owns the Vape Den with area native Christopher Maoist. “And this is a nurse we”™re talking about.”
Borgia said that before introducing the bill, she heard feedback from several Westchester bar and restaurant owners who wished to make clear what they felt were vague guidelines. Some cited the odor associated with e-cigarettes that irked some customers, while others simply found it difficult to enforce their own ban without a county backing.
“This gives bar owners and restaurant owners a way to say ”˜You can”™t do that in here,” Borgia said in an interview with the Business Journal. “I can”™t say we”™ve heard too much negative feedback from restaurants or bars.”
While e-cigarette users could previously use their devices inside at bars and restaurants, Richter said they are now relegated to outdoor smoking sections with conventional cigarettes smokers, which could reintroduce them to smoking.
She said many Manhattan vape users began coming to Westchester bars and lounges after New York City enacted a similar law banning e-cigarettes in April 2014. Now they”™re not. She”™s not so much worried about her store”™s business affected by the ban ”” the law does not extend to vape shops and lounges.
“If anybody”™s business is impacted directly it”™s the bars and nightclubs,” she said.
A White Plains bar that did not wish to be identified said that business has not been impacted because most customers had already been under the impression that vaping indoors was considered taboo.
E-cigarettes can come in various forms, including traditional cigarettes or cigars, pens or memory sticks. Most are battery-powered and use a vaporizer to create a water vapor inhalant instead of tobacco smoke. Still, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, e-cigarettes contain nicotine and other addictive substances found in tobacco. There are more than 250 different e-cigarette brands on the market. Often marketed as a safe alternative to cigarettes and for those looking to quit smoking, customers must still be at least 18 years old to purchase them.
Westchester County”™s ban, which went into effect June 1, is enforced by the county Department of Health. The county”™s Smoke Free Work Site Laws, passed in 2003, prohibit the smoking of conventional cigarettes in bars and restaurants. In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a statewide ban on e-cigarettes in all indoor places where smoking is already banned.
