Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Smoking allowed

Hailey tobacco shop carves out unique niche


By TONY EVANS
Express Staff Writer

As the recession winds down, a Hailey entrepreneur is hoping that valley residents will open their wallets for high-end cigars and tobaccos. Photo by David N. Seelig

Stepping outside for a smoke used to be voluntary for office workers and during happy hour at the local bar. Today it is the law.

Anti-smoking laws have banished tobacco smokers from most public places, including all Hailey restaurants and bars.

The Smoking Dog Tobacco Co. in Hailey offers an indoor respite for smokers. Tobacconist Dusty Wendland and his wife, Salongo, opened the business in September, selling everything from organic, roll-your-own tobaccos to nasal snuff, pipes and high-end cigars.

And you don't have to step outside to light up.

"Cigar smokers and cigarette smokers are really two different kinds of people," says Dusty.

The Smoking Dog has the valley's only cedar-lined humidor and a few chairs where smokers can enjoy a habit that has become off-limits almost everywhere else in the health-conscious Wood River Valley.

"We thought it would be harder around here, but there has been zero negative response," says Salongo. "Everyone who comes in here is a smoker, anyway."

Dusty, who has lived in Hailey all of his life, rolls a sample cigarette from a tall jar of golden, rough-cut tobacco.

"I can roll you all the samples I want but in the state of Idaho it is illegal to sell single cigarettes," he says.

Instead, he sells the tobaccos by the ounce.

Dusty consulted with Ketchum attorney Jim Laski before opening the shop, aware that some of the implements he sells could also be used for smoking marijuana, especially the water pipes, or hookahs, that line one wall of the shop. They are used for smoking "sheesha"—fruit-flavored tobaccos popular in the Middle East.

"Hookahs are a trend right now," says Salongo. "The tobacco is very low in nicotine. It's a fun social thing to do."

On most afternoons, the Smoking Dog is frequented by smokers who lounge in chairs and chat. Carbon filtration systems clean the air. There is camaraderie here among those who have been marginalized by their love for tobacco.

It may not be the healthiest of habits, but Dusty says the cigarette tobacco he uses contains no chemical additives that increase addiction. Salongo says that rolling you own cigarettes turns smoking into "more of hobby."

"Not only are you not putting all those chemicals into your body, but your tobacco use also drops dramatically."




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