Tobacco Hub opens in downtown Bethesda

The great smoke shop swap has taken place at 7814 Old Georgetown Road. Gone is Funky Piece. In its place is Tobacco Hub, now celebrating its grand opening. The shop advertises cigars, vaping, kratom and CBD products as its specialties. Look for Tobacco Hub between Aden Pizzeria and Banana Leaves Asian Cafe.

Smoke Island opens in Bethesda (Photos)

Bethesdans can finally set sail for Smoke Island. The local tobacco store chain's newest location is at 7913 Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle neighborhood. As you can see, the shelves are fully stocked with cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, pipe tobacco, e-cigarettes and liquids, vaporizers, hookah equipment and accessories, flavored wraps, and rolling papers. Smoke Island has existing locations in Wheaton, Silver Spring, Rockville and Tenleytown.

Signage installed at Smoke Island in Bethesda (Photos)

The sign is up at Smoke Island at 7913 Norfolk Avenue in downtown Bethesda. Inside, clear shelving is being installed in a space that until recently was a dry cleaners. Smoke Island will carry cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, pipe tobacco, e-cigarettes and liquids, vaporizers, hookah equipment and accessories, flavored wraps, and rolling papers. The retail chain has existing locations in Wheaton, Silver Spring, Rockville and Tenleytown.

Montgomery County Council vape shop bill poised to set economic destruction record

Would be third County economic sector

totally wiped out this decade after

food trucks, nightlife

The Montgomery County Council is poised to set a world record this fall - and it's not one to be proud of. Known for a record of economic failure, high taxes, jammed roads, failing schools and banning stuff, the Council is turning to that last font once again with a new vape shop bill and zoning text amendment package. To call it heavy-handed would be an understatement - it would literally require almost every single vape shop in Montgomery County "to close within 24 months." In doing so, the Council would destroy an entire sector of the County's economy - vaping and smoke shops - for the third time in a single decade, following their destruction of the food truck and nightlife sectors over the last eight years.

As usual, the Council is not on firm legal or logical ground. No resident should feel comfortable with the County in the hands of elected officials who would destroy a whole sector of the economy without even having a knowledge of the topic and industry they are "cracking down" on. If one did have a grasp of the basic facts, he would not be introducing a bill based entirely on hyperbole and panic generated by misleading media reports.

Vaping hysteria is suddenly and mysteriously sweeping the nation. If you believe many media reports, Juul users are keeling over by the dozens. Actually, that's fake news. The majority of "vaping deaths" appear to have resulted from people trying to use unauthorized THC vaping cartridges. THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.

Not a single person in Montgomery County or Maryland has died from immediate use of legal, nicotine vaping products. The Council laughably cites three students being hospitalized after "vaping on school grounds." Many, many more students have been hospitalized after using various other drugs on school grounds than that. It is currently illegal for minors to purchase e-cigarettes and vaping products. Why wouldn't the Council crack down on illegal sales, if the real concern was use by minors?

Predictably, no local media outlet is pressing the Council on its latest Draconian solution in search of a problem. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the lawsuits that are sure to follow passage of a bill designed to put specific enterprises out of business.

Once again, the County Council's hypocrisy and doublespeak has been exposed. They said we needed more millennials to move here. They've claimed for years that we needed to allow unlimited development of luxury apartments to attract those millennials. But the development they approve isn't within the price range of most millennials.

They claimed they would make us "hip," and launched the disastrous "Nighttime Economy Initiative" that ended up cratering the nightlife sector countywide, with eighteen nightspots closing in downtown Bethesda alone.

Finally, the Council deep-sixed what was a booming food truck industry by banning the trucks from public streets. Food trucks are a major draw for young professionals in urban areas - you know, the very people the Council said we needed to attract. What does the Council then do? Implode the food truck industry, with 96% of trucks either going out of business or fleeing back into the District, where many of them can be found at lunchtime just over the border in Friendship Heights, D.C.

It's as if the County Council wants to make sure Montgomery County's national reputation as a terrible place for young people and businesses is solidified for all time. Vaping is very popular among young adults. For better or worse, it is "hip," to use the Council's outdated dad-jeans lingo. So no housing, no nightlife, no lunchtime food trucks and no vaping for you, millennials. Enjoy your life in Northern Virginia - heck, that's where your jobs are anyway. Might as well live there, too! Wait, you already do?

And that's the real capstone of the Kill Vaping Bill. Despite record-high taxes, County revenue is down, and we are in a structural budget deficit. The Council has driven our economy into the ground over the last two decades, and has failed to attract a single major corporate headquarters in over twenty years. Ultra-rich residents have fled in droves, slashing tax revenues that were being provided by some of our wealthiest denizens, and shuttering storefronts up and down "Montgomery County's Rodeo Drive" in Chevy Chase. And the County's debt, if it were a government department, would be the third-largest department in the County government.

After passing a corruption-bloated, reckless and irresponsible budget in May - and raising taxes in the process - one of the major bond rating agencies sent out an urgent alert warning investors. That means our AAA bond rating is in danger of being downgraded. And just as a recession may be around the corner.

This is the time that the Council would destroy yet another entire sector of our economy, and forgo all of that revenue from a popular consumer product? This is the time that they would, yet again, deter young adults from choosing to live in Montgomery County?

What are these folks smoking?

MoCo Council to hear testimony on proposed outdoor dining smoking ban today

The Montgomery County Council will hear testimony on Bill 35-18 today at 1:30 PM, a new law that would forbid smoking and vaping in all outdoor dining areas in the County. A similar bill was already passed by the City of Rockville.

Some Rockville restaurateurs spoke out against the city law at the time. One reason opposition was more vocal in that case, was that the city ban did not apply to direct dining competitors outside of the city limits.

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Rockville resident Adam Zimmerman, who spearheaded the Rockville ban effort, is also supporting the proposed County law. In an advance copy of his testimony, Zimmerman notes that restaurant revenues increased 7% in Montgomery County in the six months after the Council passed its indoor smoking ban that applied to restaurants in 2003. He says Montgomery would join 300 municipalities and 4 states which have banned smoking in outdoor dining areas.

Bill to ban smoking in all outdoor dining areas to be introduced today by Montgomery County Council

Smoking and vaping on outdoor patios at Montgomery County restaurants could soon be a thing of the past, if Montgomery County Council Bill 35-18 passes. Scheduled to be introduced by Councilmember Sidney Katz (D - District 3) today, the bill would ban smoking and vaping in all outdoor dining areas, including partially-enclosed spaces.

A public hearing on the bill is currently scheduled for October 23, 2018 at 1:30 PM. The Council will also have to sit as the Board of Health, and pass an accompanying regulation as that board, to legally enact the smoking ban.

The legislation is very similar to that passed by the Rockville Mayor & Council last year. Adam Zimmerman, an activist who spearheaded the Rockville effort, is also advocating for the County to pass Bill 35-18. He says the ban will improve health, while increasing business at venues non-smokers currently avoid.

Rockville's ban was opposed by some restaurant owners, such as Danny Trahan of Mellow Mushroom. Trahan closed his restaurant permanently last month - though the smoking ban wasn't the primary reason. He viewed the ban as the last straw in Montgomery County's costly and unwelcoming business climate. It will be interesting to see what restaurateurs have to say about the proposed County ban.

Residents who testified before the Mayor & Council last shared Zimmerman's view that business would improve, citing their reluctance to dine at two Rockville Town Square restaurants that allowed outdoor smoking before the ban. Because many restaurants now open their doors and windows, patrons have also complained that smoke now drifts inside from patios.

Funky Piece opening Bethesda location

Funky Piece, a smoke shop with an existing D.C. location and online store, is expanding to Bethesda. It is opening a new store at 7814 Old Georgetown Road, the vacant half of the former North China Restaurant space.

The company says the store will offer the same services as the D.C. location, but that the inventory will be somewhat different. A number of smoke and vaping stores across Montgomery County have closed since the County Council cracked down on e-cigarettes and vaping in 2015, just as the industry was taking off with booming sales. Expect the Council to take action on Juul pods next, once the notoriously out-of-touch councilmembers learn they exist.

Juul and plastic straws are sure to top the Council's "all we do is ban stuff" agenda in their next busy term...if you elect the next batch of minions from our corrupt local political cartel.

Fogden closes "temporarily" in Bethesda (Photos)

Fogden has closed at 8014 Norfolk Avenue. According to a sign posted out front, the vaping store's closure is temporary.

The Montgomery County Council passed bans and levied taxes on e-cigarettes in 2015, hurting demand and making doing business more costly for vaping and e-cigarette retailers. Storeowners warned at the time the crackdown could damage their businesses.

New vape store opens in downtown Bethesda (Photo)

A new vape shop has opened at 4919 Cordell Avenue, in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle.  Studio Vape carries vaping/e-cigarette supplies and juice, provides repairs, and features a vaping lounge with foosball tables.

Bethesda Vapor Company opened last year in the Woodmont Triangle as well. As entrepreneurs start these small businesses with great appeal to millennials, Montgomery County politicians have been making the road more difficult. The County Council recently banned electronic cigarette use where smoking is prohibited, along with several other regulations of the industry.

Last week, Council legislation was introduced to slap an excise tax on e-cigarettes.

Studio Vape

301-312-6768

CIGAR/VAPE STORE TO REPLACE TASTY IMAGE IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Another e-cigarette/vaping shop is set to open in Bethesda, even as Montgomery County councilmembers are exploring restrictions on the popular and growing alternative to traditional cigarettes. J. Cigar will offer traditional tobacco cigars and pipes, as well as supplies for vaping, e-cigarettes and hookah.

A vaping phenomenon is exploding in Montgomery County, with several vapor lounges opening recently, such as Bethesda Vapor Company and Rockville's Vape Ink. What impacts council action would have on these new businesses is currently unknown, until specific legislation is introduced.

The Montgomery County Council Health and Human Services Committee held a discussion on e-cigarettes this past Thursday, at which Councilmember George Leventhal stated he has already concluded it is "appropriate for us to legislate in this area." Councilmember Nancy Navarro said "most young people perceive e-cigarettes as the healthy alternative" to cigarettes. The council's president, Craig Rice, expressed concerns about the aggressive marketing of the products. Sale of e-cigarettes to minors is already restricted by the State of Maryland, so it is unclear just what action beyond that the council will take. Councilmember Nancy Floreen has prepared legislation to ban the use of e-cigarettes wherever traditional cigarette use is banned in the county. Amanda Mihill, legislative attorney for the council, said the council staff is exploring ways to tax the distribution of e-cigarettes at the county level.

County officials may find themselves going in the opposite direction of the coveted millennial demographic in the county, who make up the largest percentage (40%) of e-cigarette users. Should the county jump out ahead of the region in vaping restrictions, it would seem to run against the stated goal of attracting more millennials to live and work here.

BETHESDA VAPOR COMPANY OPENS (PHOTO)

Downtown Bethesda's first vapor lounge opened yesterday. Bethesda Vapor Company offers vaping juice and supplies, modifications, clothing and accessories. It is located at 4823-B Fairmont Avenue, above Bethesda Scooters & Boards.

VAPOR LOUNGE OPENING SOON IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The vaping phenomenon continues to grow in Montgomery County. About two months after Vape Ink opened in Rockville, Bethesda is about to get its own vapor lounge. Bethesda Vapor Company will open soon at 4823 Fairmont Avenue, Suite B. The second floor space is above Bethesda Scooters and Boards, overlooking Veterans Park in the Woodmont Triangle.

Bethesda Vapor Company will sell E-cigarettes, vaping "juice" and accessories, tanks, batteries, and apparel.