WHERE THERE'S SMOKE . . .; LOOPHOLE ALLOWS THOSE WITH MONEY TO LIGHT UP AT CLUBS.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

At the Havana Studios club in Burbank, Gary Kramer sinks into a richly upholstered wing chair, casually props an ankle on a knee and raises a martini to his lips.

The lights are dim. The decor is manly and the room, well-appointed: dark wood, bronze statues, chess sets, premium cognacs behind the bar.

Kramer, 31, a licensing executive for a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, lights a cigar, leans his head back and exhales smoke toward the ceiling, a look of profound contentment on his face.

Smoke? A bar? Isn't that illegal?

One would think so, seeing as California banned smoking in bars Jan. 1.

But some things, like the power of money - just never change.

In California, Joe Six-Pack and Jane Chardonnay can't legally light up at the corner tavern.

But any James Courvoisier who can afford to plunk down $3,000 a year or so for a cigar club membership can puff away while sipping a cocktail at his favorite ``smoke easy'' and still call himself a law-abiding citizen.

That's because the Smokefree Workplace Act of 1994 includes an exemption for tobacco shops that have private smoking lounges. The law became effective in 1995, but bars and casinos were exempted until this year.

These clubs have become the city's smoky little secret.

While smokers at public bars and restaurants must step outside to get their nicotine fixes, members at these tony cigar clubs - which also permit pipes and cigarettes - may indulge themselves from the comfort of a velvet sofa or a hand-carved wooden bar stool.

``Everybody's looking for a refuge these days, and this is considered a safe zone,'' Kramer said one recent evening. He joined the club so he could entertain clients and because his fiance thinks cigar smoke stinks.

While most indoor eating areas in California restaurants have been smoke-free since 1995, some cigar clubs - such as the one at the venerable Chasen's restaurant in Beverly Hills - offer dining tables, where members may smoke away to their hearts' content over a leisurely meal.

As tobacco fiends flee smoke-free bars and restaurants in droves, cigar club managers say that business is booming.

Chasen's, which opened a tobacco shop last year in anticipation of the smoking ban, is averaging three new members a day at its Jockey Club cigar lounge. Many of them are cigarette smokers who are now personae non gratae at their old haunts.

``I had a couple call just the other day. They used to go to Morton's every Tuesday night, light a cigar, have a single-malt scotch. What do they do? They call me, `Can I buy a membership?' '' said Chasen's General Manager Fred Kernbach.

Cigar smoker Steven M. Ferguson of Santa Monica has all but abandoned the smoke-free Beverly Hills hotel where he used to drop about $3,000 a month entertaining clients and relaxing with friends.

He's taken his business to Chasen's. The smoking club is all Old World elegance: crystal chandeliers, mirror-backed latticework on the walls, velvet chairs in rich shades of red, tables with carved elephant legs.

This evening, Ferguson is sipping brandy and enjoying a cigar with friend Alain Sarfatti of Paris, who thinks the smoking ban is tres stupid.

``The paradox is that every kid can have a gun and do a drive-by shooting in this country, but you can't smoke in a bar?'' said Sarfatti.

But joining a cigar club is not quite like joining the corner video club.

Havana Studios, where shorts and polo shirts are acceptable attire, is among the more affordable cigar clubs-cum-bar.

The initiation fee is $750; monthly dues are $300 (humidor included), $150 of which goes toward credit in the tobacco shop.

Chasen's Jockey Club - jacket required after 6 p.m. - runs $1,500 for the initiation fee, plus $180 a month (humidor included).

Beverly Hills' Grand Havana Room, which offers a full bar and patio dining, costs about $3,000 a year. The membership list already boasts noted cigar aficionados Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson.

If the Grand Havana Room sounds a little pricey, don't worry. You can't get in anyway. The 350 lockers are sold out and the waiting list is ``long,'' said spokeswoman Susan Patricola.

Some restaurants are seeking to skirt the smoking ban even without tobacco shops.

The French contemporary Cafe Fume on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana offers smoking in an enclosed, but well-ventilated, lounge in the rear.

Members - who pay $300 a year - may take drinks back to the lounge, where the ambience is cozy, with dim lights, comfy leather sofas and big-screen television.

Owner Eddy Pinto said it's all legal because the club is private and there are no employees permitted in the smoking lounge.

Is Pinto right? It's hard to tell. Los Angeles county and state officials whose job is to implement the smoking ban couldn't agree.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Club member Gary Kramer smokes a stogie in comfort at Burbank's Havana Studios.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News