The Marshall McGearty Lounge was established in 2005, in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, by the

R.J. 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, ...

tobacco company. The company intended it to be the United States' "first upscale, luxury lounge dedicated to the smoking of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

s". The lounge specialized in cigarettes "hand-crafted" (not hand-rolled) on the premises. The lounge closed on January 14, 2008, the "first casualty" of Chicago legislation banning smoking from nearly all establishments, including bars and restaurants, throughout the city. The lounge opened the same week in 2005 that the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...

passed the anti-smoking ordinance.Tobacco Lounge Blows Smoke in The Face of Chicago's New Ban
- Washington Post article

References

External links

NPR story on the lounge's opening (audio)
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company {{Chicago-stub