01-25-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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attempted to define a sample -size quantity which would he allowed, A "burn time" rule was proposed in the draft due to the lack of similarity amongst tobacco products and a particular known quantity for all products that would make a sufficient sample. In proposing that, it was hoped that discussion would lead to a better idea of a real "sample size." In doing more research, though, it appears that we're not going to get much help in finding an industry - standard sample size, because "sampling" as normally understood is not what takes place in the tobacco stores claiming this exemption. Basically, the "sampling" exemption is being used to justify smoking lounges — the sole limitation being that you need to have just bought some tobacco from that store, because you can't bring in your own. In this sense, it is very much like a bar: customers are not allowed to bring in their own alcohol; the bar does not give the customer small tastes of free alcohol to assist the customer in a purchasing decision; but once a purchase is made, the customer consumes his or her purchase on the premises. Substitute "cigar" for "alcohol" in the last sentence and that accurately describes the practice in many cigar shops in the Twin Cities. The main difference is that the cigar shop customer has the option to leave the premises and smoke the cigar outside, in the car, at home, etc., where the cocktail - buying customer cannot leave with their drink. This practice does not have any support in the language of the State law exemption for "sampling." Based on the discussion amongst the Legislators who created and approved the "sampling" exception, it's also pretty clearly not what the Legislators had in mind when the exemption was created. In discussion, "sampling" was described as the testing of products prior to purchase. Several Legislators described smoking lounges as something the amendment would not allow if adopted. Unfortunately, the definition of "sampling" was never written into the bill, so we have the situation we have now. Since our last meeting on this subject, the City of Minneapolis has adopted the following ordinance: "The operator of any tobacco products shop licensed ... is hereby prohibited from any of the following: (a) Except for a bona fide sale of a smoking device, providing or otherwise making available for use by a customer, potential customer, or any other person a smoking device for the purpose of sampling any tobacco product; (b) Providing in exchange for a fee or any other consideration seating within or access to the indoor area of a tobacco products shop; or 2 3