​First it was smoking in restaurants, then bars, then parks and beaches, and now city government is going after the casual smokers' daily cigarette or two. The Bloomberg administration is launching a television campaign aimed at "light" smokers, defined as those who smoke less than 10 cigarettes a day. The press release describes the new campaign:

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​There are a handful of magical places in New York City where you can roll your own cigarettes and save considerable amounts of money in so doing. They're under threat, though, because the city has filed suit against the first two in existence.

That hasn't stopped a third roll-your-own-smokes place from opening up in Sheepshead Bay. The Daily News reports that owner Jack Wang opened City Smokes last week without knowing about the lawsuits.

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​Because apparently it doesn't have any bigger fish to fry, the city is suing a place called Island Smokes on Eldridge Street where you can roll your own cigarettes due to a tax loophole. This is problematic for Bloomberg because under the Island Smokes arrangement, you can get a pack for $2.95, way less than the approximately $1K we're all supposed to be paying now.

The city announced in a press release today that they're officially going to try and sue them out of business.

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Taylor Momsen, teen smoker.

​There is a new quitting-smoking study coming out in October, and this one focuses on teenagers at the beginning of their illustrious smoking careers. The study shows that a smoking cessation program in combination with exercise is the most successful way to get teenagers to stop smoking entirely, compared with a "brief intervention" (a 15-minute stop-smoking lecture that could only have elicited eye-rolls) and an old-fashioned smoking cessation program. The researchers think they've pinpointed the reason: More >>

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Audrey Silk

​NY1 and Marist released a poll today about the two-month-old ban on smoking in public parks, beaches, and plazas. Sixty nine percent of respondents said they were in favor, although opinions were split on whether the new measures are actually working. More surprisingly, 40 percent of smokers said they like the ban. We turned to smoker's rights advocate Audrey Silk, an ex-cop who runs New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment (NYC CLASH), for her perspective on the poll as one of the foremost champions of smoking in the city. Silk grows her own tobacco, which she says saves "thousands," and wouldn't tell us how long she's been smoking ("that's part of the anti-smoker's tactic to stigmatize").

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​Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. And being able to smoke in your own apartment may soon be a thing of the past, if the New York Post's latest "entertainment" piece, featuring the battle between a non-smoker and her "chain-smoking next-door neighbor from hell" is any indication. "Jane," a 50-year-old journalist, is sick to death of her 1,000-square-foot one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side reeking of cigarette smoke. "I feel like I'm living in a college dorm, and I just want to live like an adult," she says. (Do college kids even smoke these days?). Despite taping her outlets and sealing her windows, the pervasive odor of cigarettes, pot, and something smelling of plastic (hm) continue to waft in. Jane is in hell! However, the condo board won't do anything about it. Yet.

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​A study conducted in Great Britain shows that people who receive supportive and positive text messages while trying to quit smoking are twice as likely to successfully quit than those who did not receive the texts. The BBC reports that over 10% of the 5,800 smokers studied were able to quit while receiving texts that said things like, "You can do it." Participants who did not get those messages only had a 4.9% rate of success. Scientists hope to create a worldwide text service to help smokers who are trying to quit. Fortunately for tobacco companies, 90% of those who received the encouraging texts said, "Screw this," and bought another pack of cigarettes. [BBC]

​Like New York City's gross "salt, sugar and soda will kill you" ads, but more disgusting, the FDA has decided upon a set of graphics and short phrases that will adorn all packs of cigarettes beginning next year. Rotting teeth, a tracheotomy hole, dirty lungs and suffering babies are among the images that will accompany warnings like, "Smoking can kill you," "Cigarettes cause cancer," and, "Smoking can harm your children." These things are about to get ugly; Williamsburg Camels they're not.

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​The New York City smoking ban went into effect this week, and we noted the lax enforcement language, in which the city admits, "We expect the new law will be enforced by New Yorkers themselves, who will ask people to follow the law and stop smoking." But in Battery Park, it's going to be extra easy to light up because the officers who patrol the area have been instructed not to write tickets in an internal document obtained by the NYC Park Advocates. Up to 36 acres of parks in Battery Park City, along the west side of Manhattan, are run by a nonprofit and operate independently of the NYC park system; it's actually state, not city, property. Other parks may be subject to the same loophole.

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​Beginning today, Monday, May 23, 2011, smoking is not allowed in outdoor public spaces around New York City, including beaches, parks and plazas. (That means Central Park, Yankee Stadium, the Coney Island boardwalk and so on -- or everywhere it's fun to smoke.) Health officials have pointed toward second-hand smoke as the reason for the new policy. But will police actually be patrolling for public smokers? How will the ban be enforced in a city full of smokers? And what will happen to the loosie man?

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