New store is 'last refuge' for smokers

You can smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes and anything else that's "legal and smokable" inside the store.

That's why Brennan's Smoke Shop at 595 Washington St. in downtown Whitman is a breath of fresh air for smokers and for the local economy, said David Brennan, the store's owner.

"We're the last refuge for smokers. We stand alone. We're not a convenience store. We're not a gas station. We're a tobacconist," said Brennan, 46, of Pembroke.

The Massachusetts Smoke-free Workplace Law bars smoking in workplaces with one or more employees but exempts retail tobacco stores that prohibit entry to anyone younger than 18. Brennan said his smoke shop does not sell food and does not fall under local Board of Health regulations.

The store, which opened Nov. 1, is Brennan's third store. There are nine Brennan's Smoke Shops across the South Shore, he said.

"It looks good. ... It's building up the center," said shopper Paul Jansky, 61, of Whitman.

"I know everyone condemns smoking, but we all have our habits," he said.

Kelli Taylor, 39, of Whitman said Brennan's is the only place she can find Bronco cigarettes.

Brennan said it costs about $75,000 to open a full-stocked tobacco store -- including a walk-in humidor insulated with imported Spanish cedar -- and that he's happy to invest in downtown Whitman.

But he's also opening his business as his sister, who owns the Brennan's Smoke Shop in Pembroke, faces charges of selling drug paraphernalia.

Two years ago, Pembroke police seized dozens of water pipes and other smoking implements from Karen Brennan Fontana's shop.

Under the state Controlled Substances Act, "no person shall sell, possess with intent to sell, or manufacture with intent to sell drug paraphernalia, knowing, or under circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will be used to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack, repack, store, contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter."

In October, Wareham District Court Judge Thomas Barrett continued the case until Dec. 7 to consider the exhibits and testimony before issuing a decision.

"We have no problem with the law (MGL 94C Section 32I), how it's written. It's written perfectly," said David Brennan.

But Brennan said all of the products in the Brennan's Smoke Shops are for tobacco use and that no laws are broken unless someone sells an item intending it for drug use or knowing someone will use it for drugs.

He said police would not prosecute a store clerk who sold a soft drink bottle that someone later used instead as a crack pipe because it wouldn't be reasonable to assume the clerk knew that.

Brennan said his store would comply with all applicable rules and regulations, including a request by Whitman police for stores not to sell cigar blunt wraps used to roll marijuana cigars.

Brennan also said it's too expensive for the chain to fight the blunt wrap ban.

"A blunt wrap is nothing more than a tobacco leaf," he said. "We just view everything as tobacco."

Police Chief Christine May-Stafford said police would notify Brennan's of the town's drug paraphernalia policy.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said selectmen do not regulate smoke shops, which fall under the licensing jurisdiction of the Board of Health.

If Brennan's simply caters to the retail needs of smokers, then there should be no problems with selectmen, he said.

The Board of Health issued a tobacco sales and location permit before Brennan's opened.

The South Shore Boards of Health Tobacco Control Program, which enforces the health board's smoking policies, will add Brennan's to its list of stores to include in routine underage access compliance stings run four times a year, said Elizabeth Nee, director of South Shore Tobacco Control.

Nee said she would visit Brennan's next week as part of a routine introductory meeting.

Brennan does not smoke cigarettes but enjoys Vintage Macanudo, Rocky Patel and other fine cigars. He said he's been in the tobacconist business for more than 20 years and is a member of the industry association the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association.

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