How much of a cigar should a connoisseur be able to test in a tobacco shop?

That question hung in the air Monday, one of the issues discussed as a proposal to curb tobacco sampling in Minneapolis got a hearing at City Hall. In the end, a City Council committee postponed action so the plan could get some fine-tuning.

The 2007 state law that outlawed smoking in virtually all indoor public places and workplaces contained an exemption for tobacconists. It allows customers to light up to sample products in shops that get 90 percent or more of their revenue from tobacco products or smoking-related items.

City staffers have found that that's been pushed far beyond the intended meaning, with the establishment of hookah lounges, employees taking smoke breaks inside, and entire cigars or cigarettes being sampled, said City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden.

But a staff proposal to prohibit sampling drew some articulate pushback Monday.

Thomas Harlan, proprietor for 25 years of an Uptown tobacco shop, waxed about family memories of cigars and tobacco while pressing the matter as one of civil liberties. Then he cited economics, arguing that the ability to sample before purchasing is one advantage he offers over dealers selling online.

Harlan presented Glidden's committee with a petition that he said bore the signatures of 800-plus customers, more than 300 of them from outside the city. Shane Wendt of Arden Hills was one. He said his cigar-smoking friends from across the metro area gather at Harlan's Golden Leaf shop to sample and buy before heading out to Uptown restaurants, importing their purchasing power to help the city.

People like Harlan have advanced an alternative proposal that Grant Wilson, acting deputy director for the city's licensing arm, suggested warrants further study. The panel ultimately opted to further explore the matter despite concern from University of Minnesota-area Council Member Cam Gordon about a potential proliferation of hookah lounges, where tobacco is smoked through a water pipe.

Attorney Nancy Hylden, who represents Harlan, said the alternative proposal is designed to allow sampling while tightening the smoking behavior that's given rise to city concerns. Wilson said he hopes to analyze the proposal quickly.

The initial proposal was tacked onto a noncontroversial measure to make city ordinances conform to a 2010 state law that tries to further limit youth access to tobacco and products containing it, with stiffer penalties for violations. The City Council's Regulatory Energy and Environment Committee advanced that measure to the Dec. 10 council meeting.

St. Paul last summer imposed a moratorium on new tobacco shops while it studies whether a new type of licensing is needed for hookah lounges, which claim they meet the sampling criteria.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438