Effective next year, smoking will be banned in bars, most public buildings and all buildings and enclosed areas owned by the city.

There are conflicting reports whether the measure passed 6-3 or 6-4—and the Augusta City Council website is down—but the measure is largely the same as the one approved earlier this month. The one change is the effective date, now Jan. 1, 2019 as opposed to 30 days after the second reading.

There are some exceptions—including e-cigarettes and hookah bars—however, cigar stores were not explicitly mentioned, though it seems likely the ban does not apply.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.