Voodoo Lounge

Voodoo Lounge Bar & Grill in downtown Huntsville. (Bob Gathany | bgathany@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – If you like to smoke and drink at the same time, this evening marks the final night Voodoo Lounge Bar & Grill in downtown Huntsville will allow you to light up inside.

Voodoo, which is known for its smoky nighttime atmosphere and live blues and rock music, has joined a growing number of businesses that have adopted indoor smoking bans.

Voodoo owner Lance Almon Smith said his six-year-old bar and music venue on 110 South Side Square will go smoke-free as a New Year's resolution starting Thursday. To prepare customers for the change, Voodoo began selling e-cigarettes last week.

Smith, who opened the business in April 2007, said Voodoo conducted a recent Facebook poll of 100 customers, and six out of 10 voters said they would frequent the establishment more if it went smoke-free.

"Even our staff was saying it's too smoky, and they're all smokers," he said.

Voodoo isn't the only downtown bar to transition to non-smoking recently. Despite fears that it would kill her business, owner Carole Record banned indoor smoking at the 29-year-old Kaffeeklatsch @ Night on Jefferson Street in late November.

Record sublets her space from Kaffeeklatsch owner Grant Heath, who decided it was time for the bar portion to go non-smoking. Since making the move, Record said the response from customers has been "smoother than expected."

"It's a new day and I will fight to keep this business rolling along," she said. "To quote Townes Van Zandt, it's better than ' ... waitin' around to die.' "

An announcement last week on Voodoo's Facebook page said the bar will offer an heated outdoor smoking area and e-cigarette kits in Marlboro, Camel and menthol flavors for $23 each.

Smith, a local blues musician, said more customers were using e-cigarettes even before the smoking ban was announced, so it was a somewhat natural progression for Voodoo to go non-smoking.

The bar and grill will monitor the smoking ban's effect on business for the first part of the year and decide later whether it will remain non-smoking, Smith said.

"The response on Facebook has been overwhelmingly positive," he said. "There have been a couple of people who didn't like the idea, but that's to be expected."

An Alabama House Bill that would have prohibited e-cigarette use in non-smoking public places is expected to be brought back in 2014 after the House Health Committee failed to take action this year.



Send Lucy Berry an email at lberry@al.com.