Smokeasy (also spelled smoke-easy or smokeeasy) is a term which came briefly into use in the wake of government-imposed smoking bans in businesses. It refers to bars and other venues that encourage evasion of the ban. The term has also been used to describe locations and events promoted by tobacco companies to avoid or evade bans on smoking. The word was added to the ''

New Oxford American Dictionary The ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (''NOAD'') is a single-volume dictionary of American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press. ''NOAD'' is based upon the ''New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (''NODE''), published ...

'' in 2005, although it was used as early as 1978. It is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordssmoking'' and ''

speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States ...

''. As smoking bans have become generally accepted, the term has fallen into disuse. High levels of compliance with smoke-free laws have been reported in most jurisdictions including New York, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Poor compliance was reported in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Tobacco companies and smokeasies

Tobacco companies have used a variety of tactics to encourage the sale and consumption of cigarettes in the presence of smoking bans, and the term smokeasy has commonly been used to describe events and establishments of this kind.

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mo ...

hires public venues to promote its Peter Stuyvesant brand. In Chicago,

RJ Reynolds Richard Joshua Reynolds (July 20, 1850 – July 29, 1918) was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The son of a tobacco farmer, he worked for his father and attended Emory & Henry College from 1868 to 1870 ...

established an "upscale smoking lounge" serving alcohol and food, but classified as a retail tobacco store.

Examples

New York City

Within one month of the passage of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

's smoking ban in 2003, smokeasies were quickly predicted.Smoking Ban NYC Profile - 28 days
Shortly thereafter, some bartenders began to hear word of smokeasies and theorized that some former regulars who were smokers had switched to the smokeasies. By 2013, acceptance of the law was general, and enforcement actions had slowed to a trickle

Hawaii

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, some establishments announced their intention to defy the statewide smoking ban, one of America's strictest, which went into effect on November 16, 2006.Dean Carrico, "Thank you for otsmoking: Bartenders and bar owners continue to ignore smoking ban," ''

Honolulu Weekly ''Honolulu Weekly'' was an alternative weekly newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded by Laurie V. Carlson, it began publishing in the summer of 1991, ostensibly to fill gaps in investigative reporting left by the two main dailies, ''Hono ...

'', June 27, 2007 However, bans have been successively tightened over time.

The Netherlands

With the passing of a 2008 smoking ban, many Dutch cafes had become smokeasies despite facing fines up to 18,500 Euros. Dutch pub owners viewed their defiance organized a 1500-5000 owner strong public protest of the ban in November, 2008. After two years of continued opposition by bar and cafe owners, in the fall of 2010 the Dutch government repealed the ban for smaller bars and cafes which had complained loudly about loss of business. The bans were reinstated and extended in 2018.Blog-vapr https://blog-vape.com/en/2018/02/26/smoking-in-public-places-banned-in-the-netherlands/

References