Smoke nazis at it again.

Boston smoking crackdown ignites debate

Public health advocates seeking to eliminate smoking in Boston faced off against cigar bar owners and smokers' advocates in the first of two public comment sessions today about new tobacco restrictions proposed by the city's Public Health Commission.

The commission wants to ban smoking on outdoor patios of restaurants and other businesses, close down cigar bars, and prohibit the sale of tobacco products on college campuses and by all drug stores in the city.

Medical researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health said today that allowing smoking anywhere in Boston sends the wrong message -- especially to younger people who might take up the deadly habit -- that smoking is OK. Professor Greg Connolly said smoking cigars and cigarettes or a hookah -- a Middle Eastern water pipe with flavored tobacco -- are all health risks and should be banned.

But owners of Cigar Masters, one of four cigar bars in the city, pleaded with the commission to allow it to stay open.

"We're just a mom-and-pop business," co-owner Brett Greenfield said. "“There aren’t people who are in there who are expecting to not be around second-hand smoke.