All one can think as the Spring sun soars high in the sky, drawing crowds from their sleepy confines to the great outdoors, is “Thank goodness Winter is over.”

And yet, for cigar smokers, sadly, things just aren’t that easy anymore.

According to the anti-smoking organization American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, more than 700 cities across the country have enacted ordinances to date that limit outdoor smoking. Many officials in these communities have gone to great length to justify that these controls are not bans, but rather “secondhand-smoke-control ordinances” and “public-health laws.”

The difference, they say, is that people aren’t being told they can’t smoke, but are merely being required to do so in designated areas. Well, thank goodness for that clarification.

And yet, despite all of the rhetoric, trends aren’t necessarily always moving in one direction. Consider PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, which unveiled a brand new cigar lounge on opening day this spring: The Montecristo Club, a joint effort of Montecristo maker Altadis U.S.A. and Southern Wine & Spirits. The lounge comes on the heals of last season’s cigar events which drew raves from cigar smokers and, of course, criticism from others. In the end, some semblance of reason prevailed, and a permanent option has returned for cigar lovers where none existed at all only two seasons back.

So what happens when word of a ban or a giant tax increase in your hometown comes down the line? Ask your local cigar shop how to join the fight, or visit the legislative pages at rtda.org or natocentral.net, two active trade associations fighting for our smoking pleasure.

E.H., M.B.