Minneapolis’ last licensed cigar lounge sues the city

Minneapolis passed an ordinance last year aimed to close a “loophole” in the state’s prohibition on indoor smoking that allowed for licensed tobacconists to run cigar lounges. It appeared to affect only one business: Anthony’s Pipe and Cigar Lounge in Uptown.

Anthony’s has a sprawling leather seating room where customers — typically older men — work and hang out while smoking cigars. The business sued the city, arguing in a filing last week that the ordinance threatens its continued existence and should be superseded by state law. The suit seeks to permanently enjoin the city from enforcing its ordinance.

The city hasn’t yet filed an answer to the lawsuit, but last year during City Council deliberations, Assistant City Attorney Joel Fussy acknowledged the ever-present risk of ordinances being overridden by the state. At the same time, he said state law granted cities the power to enact more stringent regulations than the state.

Although the ordinance went into effect at the end of last year, not much has actually changed at Anthony’s Pipe and Cigar Lounge. On Tuesday morning, a handful of men quietly read under small clouds of their personal cigar smoke.

Longtime customer Jeff Carolus has seen no practical change with Anthony’s hangout culture. But he is aware of the ordinance hanging ominously over the shop, and questions why the city would want to truncate a healthy business in an area struggling to keep storefronts filled.

“It seems like the issues that the city is facing are much larger than this,” Carolus said. “And to take time and resources to dictate behavior on a bunch of [people] — the average person is 45 to 65 — to impose behavioral restrictions on those individuals ... I’m surprised."

The city hasn’t gotten any complaints about Anthony’s and thus hasn’t inspected the shop or taken any enforcement action against it, city spokesperson Allen Henry said. Anthony’s passed its last annual underage sales check.

Nevertheless, the fear remains that anyone — a disgruntled member of the public, someone with personal beef — could complain to the city at any time and get the lounge shut down, owner Hadi Abou Mourad said.

Last year Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw, who represents parts of north Minneapolis, championed a series of policy changes to further restrict smoking. These included imposing what was then the nation’s highest price floor of $15 for a pack of cigarettes, and ending indefinite “sampling” of tobacco products inside licensed tobacco shops — a practice that only occurred at Anthony’s Pipe and Cigar Lounge, said Amy Lingo, the city’s manager of business licenses.

Vetaw is a longtime smoking cessation advocate.

Aisha Chughtai, the council member representing south Uptown, tried to carve out an exception in the ordinance to grandfather in Anthony’s, in an attempt to save the business. Vetaw pushed back.

Following a lengthy debate in council chambers, in which multiple council members said they were confused about the effect of several changes to the ordinance under consideration, the final ordinance restricted “sampling” to 15 minutes.

That’s essentially the same as ending Anthony’s lounge, Abou Mourad said.

“This is what we have a problem with: is somebody spending $20 on a cigar, and they smoke probably half an inch at 15 minutes before they have to kill it and walk away,” he said. “It’s like going to a restaurant, and they tell you, you have five minutes to eat your burger.”