Ames, IA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Section 17.36 first bars using an electronic smoking device, defined broadly to include e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, and vape pens, inside enclosed public places and workplaces. Subsection (2) then extends that prohibition outdoors to specific locations: the seating areas of outdoor sports arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, and other entertainment venues where the public assembles to watch performances; outdoor seating or serving areas of restaurants; public transit stations, platforms, and shelters under city authority; school grounds including parking lots, athletic fields, playgrounds, and tennis courts at public or private educational facilities, plus any vehicle on those grounds; and the grounds of public buildings owned, leased, or operated by the city.

Public place is defined expansively to include restaurants, bars, retail stores, entertainment venues, health care locations, and other spaces the Iowa Code's Chapter 142D also treats as public places. Retail establishments whose primary merchandise line is electronic smoking devices are exempt from these use restrictions, letting vape shops permit in-store use or sampling that the outdoor and enclosed-place bans would otherwise prohibit elsewhere in the city.