Asheville, NC Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Section 11-32, adopted originally by Ordinance No. 2050 in 1993 and expanded to cover e-cigarettes by Ordinance No. 4396 in 2015, splits into two bans. Subsection (a) is an absolute, unconditional prohibition: no smoking of any lighted tobacco product or use of an e-cigarette 'in any park or greenway, now or hereafter owned, leased, or occupied by the city,' with no exceptions and no designated smoking areas for parks and greenways specifically. Subsection (b) separately bans smoking in city buildings, facilities, and their grounds, along with facilities of the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority, Pack Place, and the Asheville Housing Authority, but that companion subsection lets each of those bodies designate limited smoking areas; parks and greenways get no such carve-out.

The ordinance defines 'e-cigarette' broadly to include any electronic device, whether marketed as an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe, e-hookah, or vape pen, that delivers nicotine or another inhalable substance by simulating smoking, excluding only products the FDA regulates under Chapter V of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. A separate section, § 11-33, extends the same ban to any city-owned or leased vehicle. Clear signage is required under § 11-35 wherever smoking is regulated, using letters at least one inch tall or the international no-smoking symbol. 00, separate from any charge for removing or defacing a required sign.