Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) is planning on opening a cigar bar lounge in McNamara Terminal, provoking pushback from anti-smoking groups concerned about the health impact such a facility would have on other passengers.

Detroit Airport wants to open new cigar lounge

As first reported by View From The Wing, DTW's Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) announced pending concept proposals for multiple new amenities and facilities at the airport's McNamara Terminal earlier this month. Among the concepts included a "Cigar bar lounge and restaurant," which would be the only dedicated smoking area inside the otherwise smoke-free airport.

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Naturally, the concept has attracted criticism from various groups, who argue that secondhand smoke emanating from a cigar bar would cause significant harm to the millions of passengers passing through DTW each year. According to a CDC release from 2012, "air pollution levels from secondhand smoke directly outside designated smoking areas in airports are five times higher than levels in smoke-free airports."

Delta Air Lines is the exclusive tenant at McNamara Terminal, which also handles flights from Delta partner airlines. According to DTW's website, the airport does not have any indoor smoking areas, but has areas outside the terminal where travelers can light one up.

How common are airport cigar bars?

In the United States, dedicated cigar bars inside airports are rare, and there are apparently none in operation in the post-pandemic era. As per TripSavvy, Nashville (BNA) had two such facilities operated by Graycliff Cigar Company, although these have since been shut down. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) also had a similar cigar lounge, but it has also been closed.

Airside smoking areas are a bit more common, although most major US airports are still entirely smoke-free. Airports that do permit smoking include Las Vegas (LAS), Miami (MIA), and Nashville. Additionally, Washington Dulles (IAD) used to have indoor smoking areas but has gone smoke-free as of June 2023.

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Airport smoking areas are much more common outside the US, including in Europe and Asia. One prime example is Tokyo Narita (NRT), which has dozens of indoor smoking lounges throughout the airport. Of course, if you really want a cigar, you can always buy one from duty-free before heading to a designated smoking area.

Smoking areas and air quality

Although most designated smoking areas are situated outdoors, many passengers still have to walk through wafts of cigarette smoke on their way to the terminal building. A 2019 study in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health found that, while outdoor smoke did not have a significant impact on indoor air quality by "wafting" in, it did lead to a significant increase in PM2.5 levels in areas immediately surrounding smoking areas, which often includes terminal entrances.

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If an indoor facility is equipped with sufficient ventilation equipment to minimize the spread of smoke particles, it could be argued that an indoor smoking area is better for passengers than an outdoor one located by the terminal entrance. However, Brian King, an epidemiologist from the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, said in a 2012 report that "separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings cannot fully eliminate secondhand smoke exposure."

Related Here's Why Planes Still Have Ashtrays Even Though Smoking Is Banned

While ideally never be used, they still need to be present.

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Smoking has gradually been forced out of the aviation industry - United Airways was one of the first to offer non-smoking areas onboard its flights, while US authorities eventually enforced a blanket ban on all flights in 2000. In the EU, this was enforced even earlier in 1997. Interestingly, aircraft still have ashtrays present, with the logic being that if a disobedient passenger does choose to light a cigarette mid-flight, they will at least have somewhere to safely dispose of it.