A convenience store display of nicotine pouches for sale. Zyn is a popular brand of nicotine pouches, which contain nicotine-infused sodium and flavoring.
Reminder Publishing photos by Sarah Heinonen
WEST SPRINGFIELD — After hearing from a half-dozen business owners at a public hearing on Feb. 19, the West Springfield Board of Health compromised on amendments to the town’s tobacco regulations that would have limited the sale of nicotine pouches, which contain nicotine-infused sodium and flavoring, to adult-only retailers and ban smoking bars in West Side.
The state passed updated tobacco regulations in 2019. Since then, municipalities have been reviewing their local regulations to ensure they are not in conflict with state law. While local regulations cannot be less restrictive than those of the state, municipalities can adopt stricter tobacco regulations. Board of Health Chair Sara Moriarty said more than 140 cities and towns in the state have adopted such restrictions.
Pouches
Business owner Sanjay Patel said menthol-flavored cigarettes were banned in Massachusetts and it caused people to shop in nearby Connecticut. Other state regulations have also hurt business owners, he said, with some close to “closing the doors.” If the ban were statewide, he said it would be fair, but banning pouches from convenience stores in one town advantages business owners elsewhere. “Only local people suffer,” he said.
Dennis Patel, another business owner at the hearing, explained that the lost sales would not be limited to the pouches. Customers, who might otherwise visit a convenience store in West Springfield to purchase milk and other staples along with the nicotine pouches, would go elsewhere to buy everything in one trip.
Business owner Hash Gogri pointed out that the town has three cannabis dispensaries operating in town and opined that cannabis is widely considered more harmful than nicotine. If the pouches are banned, he said the stores should be allowed to sell cannabis to make up the revenue. He also said eating cheeseburgers every day is bad for people’s health, but that is not banned.
Sanjay Patel said that he used to smoke but decided to stop for personal reasons and not because of government regulations.
Dennis Patel said the 3 mg and 6 mg pouches do not contain much nicotine and suggested setting a strength cap, rather than banning them outright. Commercially available pouches list the strength in milligrams on the container, with 3 mg on the low end and ranging up to 20 mg. The 2019 law did not address the strength of nicotine pouches, however, it did set the maximum available strength of electronic nicotine delivery systems, such as vapes, at 35 milligrams per milliliter.
Smoking bars
The other major amendment to the town’s regulation would ban smoking bars, which include cigar bars and hookah establishments. Brett Berchin and his business partner, Bruce Williams, are in the early stages of opening a cigar bar in West Springfield. Berchin said cigar bars are an “entirely legal, regulated” industry that would bring jobs to the town.
Berchin said his business would only be available to adults over the age of 21. Like Green’s argument, Berchin said caffeine is also addictive yet legal. Cigar smoking is not a habitual behavior and unlike alcohol and cannabis, nicotine does not lead to public intoxication, he said. Berchin described a ban on smoking bars as a “selective prohibition of certain lifestyles.”
Williams said there is a growing Muslim community in the town and a part of that culture is having “a place to smoke and gather. The Muslim community is heavily invested in West Springfield.” He urged the board to allow for two smoking bar licenses — one for a cigar bar and another for a hookah bar.
Also speaking against the smoking bar ban, former West Springfield Mayor Gregory Neffinger said that restrictive measures do not lead to better health outcomes. Instead, he recommended a public education campaign. Further, Neffinger said that residents are expected to be responsible with other legal drugs and should be under the same expectation when it comes to patronizing cigar bars.
Health Director Jeanne Galloway said that the reason a ban on smoking bars was included was that none had been opened in West Springfield, despite having been legal in the town since 2018. She cited extensive criteria for state permits as a reason.
Compromises
During the board’s discussion of the proposed amendments, Moriarty said the points made by the business owners “resonated” and “made sense to me. I don’t want to see people take their business out of town. I don’t want to see good business owners lose business over products.” She said she was open to limiting the strength of nicotine pouches for sale, instead of removing them from retailers that are open to minors. Board of Health member Heather Sankey proposed a 9 mg limit.
“I don’t think prohibiting smoking bars particularly addresses teen smoking,” Heather said.
Galloway said that if a smoking bar were to open it would receive one of the town’s tobacco licenses, however, the town could curb the number of tobacco licenses available to smoking bars. There are 36 licenses currently issued with a maximum issuance of 40.
Heather said that she had concerns that the changes would not be approved by Mayor William Reichelt. In June 2024, the board approved the same regulations, but the updates were not signed by Reichelt and therefore were not made final.
Galloway said that during the previous attempt to amend the town’s regulations, no community members offered comment. The business owners said they often do not know about matters coming before the Board of Health, Galloway said notifications were sent out about two public hearings conducted last year and another was sent out regarding the Feb. 19 hearing. She said the notifications were emailed to affected business owners through the town’s portal.
The board approved the revised tobacco regulations, eliminating the band on smoking bars and setting a 9 mg cap of nicotine pouch strength. Moriarty later said that, from a public health perspective, any limit of the amount of nicotine available is a positive step.
The regulation changes will now be reviewed and be sent to the mayor’s desk. If signed, the changes would take effect 90 days later.
