Surely if a severely handicapped rider showed up for a club ride with E-Assist, no one would complain? So ... why the prejudice against the able-bodied? if some dude (or chick) gets pleasure from an E or E-Assist ... anything that doesn't have an internal combustion motor ... why not?

Only the super Type-A "I need to beat Everybody across the finish line" types .... are so full of themselves they don't even realize there is no finish line on a club ride. And those dudes are their own reward/punishment.

Smoking a cigar would be expensive ... airflow at 25 mph would burn the thing down in no time ... and you'd have to light the next off the stub, because the wind would extinguish a lighter.

Scotch, now, that I'd object to. Balance issues associated with intoxication.

I think the solution is to ride stoker on an E-tandem, and treat it as a chauffeured ride ... just sit back behind your windscreen, puff and sip and smile ....