Los Angeles, April 7, 2009 – Although it took 63 years to get there, Las Vegas, Nevada instantly became a favored site for the annual Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show, now known as the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) convention and trade show.

Between the first RTDA show held there in 1999 and the 2008 edition, Las Vegas was the host city five times in ten years and there was considerable talk about making it the permanent site for the cigar industry’s annual meeting. Then came the voter-adopted Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006.

That initiative banned smoking in most public indoor venues, including convention spaces such as the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Exposition Center, where the IPCPR show was held in 2008 (thanks to its being contracted prior to the 2006 vote).

But that might be changing.

Facing considerable losses in the bar and restaurant trade as well as the loss of the IPCPR and the Tobacco Plus Expo conventions, Senate Bill 372 was introduced on March 23 with the aim of narrowing the smoking ban act to allow smoking in essentially adults-only venues.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “If legislators pass the bill, then adults could smoke in bars and restaurants and other public places, as long as people under 21 cannot enter the smoking areas. The smoking areas in those businesses would be closed off from other parts of the business that would be open to children as well as those who prefer not to smoke.”

During testimony in front of the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee, witnesses stated that the ban has been responsible for the closure of 47 bars in Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) and that the customer base at other locations is off by 25% and profits have been reduced by 15-50%.

In addition, Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the panel that the loss of the IPCPR and Tobacco Plus Expos had cost the city about $41 million in business. But he also noted, according to the article, that “he has a commitment from the trade shows to return to Las Vegas if legislators pass Senate Bill 372.” Both shows will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana this year because, as one Tobacco Plus Expo executive put it, “you can smoke [in the exhibit hall] there.”

The bill itself faces a deadline of passage out of committee this week to remain alive on the 2009 legislative calendar, but is up for an exemption which would help it continue. As the bill would modify a voter-adopted measure, it cannot become effective for three years following the imposition of the voter-passed law. Thus, if passed, SB 372 would not come into force earlier than December of this year.

Story found HERE.