Collierville, TN Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Collierville treats smoking in public places as a public nuisance under Code of Ordinances § 95.10, adopted by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The prohibition in subsection (B) reaches all enclosed public places in the Town, and the code defines an enclosed area as all space between a floor and ceiling enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows, exclusive of doorways, which extend from the floor to ceiling. The listed places include restaurants, retail stores, shopping malls, hotels and motels, health care facilities, educational facilities, polling places, elevators, child care and adult day care facilities, service lines, and enclosed public places in outdoor sports arenas. Smoking itself means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, or other lighted tobacco product.

The outdoor answer comes from the exemptions in subsection (D)(4). Non-enclosed areas of public places are exempt, including open air patios, porches, or decks; any area enclosed by garage type doors on one or more sides when all such doors are completely open; and any area enclosed by tents or awnings with removable sides or vents when all such sides or vents are completely removed or open. The condition attached is that smoke from these areas must not infiltrate into areas where smoking is prohibited. A restaurant patio with its garage doors closed or its tent sides zipped up loses the exemption.

Other exemptions in (D) include age-restricted venues that admit only people 21 or older, hotel and motel rooms designated as smoking rooms (no more than 25% of rented rooms, contiguous on a floor), private clubs, private homes and private motor vehicles, and retail tobacco stores that prohibit minors on the premises. Subsection (E) requires "No Smoking" signs or the international symbol at every entrance to every public place and place of employment where smoking is prohibited, and subsection (C) requires the prohibition to be communicated to all existing and prospective employees.