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(c) Permitting within the indoor area of a tobacco products shop the <br />sampling of any tobacco product which was not furnished by the tobacco <br />products shop on the date and at the time the sampling occurs. <br />A tobacco products shop may distribute single service samples of <br />smokeless tobacco products or cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, or other <br />tobacco products suitable for smoking subject to the limitations on indoor <br />sampling or smoking provided in this section." <br />A hookah - lounge owner immediately sued Minneapolis after enactment of <br />this definition, challenging the ordinance on several grounds. The lawsuit largely <br />takes aim at the ban on "providing devices" in part (a), which has a significantly <br />greater impact on hookahs and water pipes than it does on cigars (which are <br />considered "smoking devices" in the Minneapolis ordinance, allowing customers <br />to easily complete a "bona fide sale" exempting the cigar from the ban). The City <br />obtained a dismissal of the equal - protection claim in Federal District Court in <br />December, and the remainder of the claims made in the complaint have been sent <br />back to Hennepin County District Court. <br />The Minneapolis ordinance can be re- written to take out the possible <br />discrepancy between hookahs and other forms of tobacco, by focusing less on the <br />object and more on the commercial transaction. Under a regulation that limits the <br />activities for which stores can charge fees, stores can still offer samples as the <br />Legislature intended, but the business model for smoking lounges of any kind <br />would largely disappear. A modified version of the Minneapolis provision could <br />read as follows: <br />A Tobacco Store may not: <br />(a) Charge a fee or require any other consideration for a sample of <br />tobacco product offered to a customer; <br />(b) Charge a fee or any other consideration for temporary use of a <br />tobacco - related device to light or smoke the sample of tobacco; <br />(c) Provide in exchange for a fee or any other consideration seating <br />within or access to the indoor area of a tobacco products shop; or <br />(d) Permit within the indoor area of a tobacco products shop the <br />sampling of any tobacco product not furnished by the tobacco <br />products shop, or which has already been purchased by the customer. <br />By preventing a store from charging for "samples," and also prohibiting <br />the smoking of purchased items, the City no longer has to define sample sizes. A <br />tobacco store can still offer a customer a sample of any size, provide a pipe or <br />other device for smoking the sample, and give the customer a nice place to sit and <br />3 <br />4 <br />