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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cigar room planned with law in mind

The steakhouse going into the Former Joel Inc. building will have an added perk for high-rollers who enjoy a good stogie.

Churchill’s Steakhouse is incorporating a members-only cigar club that boasts Oriental rugs and leather chairs with hand-carved wooden accents. Members will pay $1,000 a year to access the roughly 25-foot by 40-foot clubroom and have their own private humidors.

The room was designed to accommodate cigar smokers without violating a state law banning indoor smoking in most public places.

“That room probably has better than half a million dollars into it,” said Bill Alles, principal partner in the restaurant, which has 30 investors.

“It’s kind of ornate, if you will. It’s a real gentlemen’s club.”

Alles, who moved to Spokane from Philadelphia and previously managed the Ridpath Hotel, said he and his attorneys read and reread five pages of Initiative 901 before moving forward with the room, which has a heating and air conditioning system that is separate from the restaurant and vents directly to the roof.

Within the room, the ventilation system exchanges the air five times an hour, he said.

The building also has a three-foot granite wall separating the cigar club from the lounge, which is also in the lower level.

Because the law bans smoking in workplaces and within 25 feet of doorways and windows, members will use a keycard to access a doorway that leads down a 28-foot corridor to a second door. The cigar room has negative air pressure, Alles said, so when the door opens air will be sucked in instead of drifting out.

The developer submitted plans for the restaurant, lounge and cigar room to the city.

Drawings showed a “private lounge” with a portion of the room labeled “Cigar Cases with Rolling Ladder.”

There was also notation of a private ventilation system, but no overt reference to a smoking room.

Whether the clubroom will withstand the state’s scrutiny is anyone’s guess.

Jennifer Hansen, who coordinates the tobacco inspection efforts for the Spokane Regional Health District, said the idea is intriguing.

“Gosh, they really did put a lot of effort into it. This is the first we’ve heard of it.”

Hansen noted that the smoking area will be in a public business with employees, but she wasn’t sure whether the special design would make it an allowable exception.

“I can tell you, Churchill’s is the first business that has gone to the extremes they’ve gone to,” she said.

Alles said both the city and a different department of the health district from Hansen’s approved the architectural plans.

“So whether they gave me formal approval for this cigar room, I’m taking it as though they did,” he said.

The health district has a case against Yardley Bar & Grill that could provide clarity on whether such a project could satisfy both state laws and smokers’ cravings.

Yardley Bar & Grill created a separate room for patrons to smoke, Hansen said. The room is separated by about a 25-foot walkway with its own ventilation system.

Alles said Churchill’s has taken extensive steps to ensure that employees and other patrons aren’t exposed to cigar smoke. Members who want a cocktail will use a telephone to order from the bar and pick up drinks themselves. He and his wife, Irena Alles, will handle the cleaning.

The completed room will have hardwood floors, wainscoting, wallpaper and wood-wrapped columns, he said. A mix of couches and chairs will seat about 30 people, and the club will have two plasma televisions, he said.

Alles expects to have about 200 members.

He said family and friends who dine with club members are also welcome.

He expects his cigar room will be scrutinized but insists that everything was built with the law in mind.

“I have fulfilled all the requirements.”