Ali Alsudani has been in the hookah bar business in Boise for six years, and he believes the lounges were targeted by the city’s new smoking ban. “I came to the U.S. for freedom because in Iraq we have a dictator who tells you, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that,” he said. The new Boise regulations are limiting his freedom, he said, and he plans at the end of January to relocate his Ali Baba Hookah Bar, currently on Broadway Avenue. Two anti-smoking ordinances took effect Jan. 2, prohibiting smoking in parks, bars and varied other public spaces.

The smoking ban exempts “exclusive retail tobacconists” — businesses with sales that are 95 percent tobacco and tobacco products, with no more than four seats for customers.

Hookah bars could fall under that definition, city spokesman Adam Park said, “though perhaps on a more limited scale than they currently operate.”

Alsudani and two other Boise hookah bar owners say they can’t afford to operate if they’re limited to serving four customers at a time. They said they did not testify against the new city ordinances or seek an exemption.

WHAT WILL LOUNGE OWNERS DO?

Alsudani plans to move his business to smoker-friendly Garden City.

Maher Mirdas, owner of Babylon Hookah Lounge in a strip mall at 5805 Franklin Road, said he is confused by Boise’s new smoking ordinances and plans to keep operating as he has for the past six years until he is told otherwise.

If the business has to shut down, Mirdas said, “I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Ahmad Abdulrhaman never got a chance to open his business.

In August, Abdulrhaman and his business partner leased a space at 1505 N. Liberty St., where they planned to open a hookah bar. They began renovating in September, spending $35,000 in upgrades and furnishings.

Abdulrhaman told the Statesman he had conversations with city officials, including a city inspector, who told him he could not open under the new ordinance.

“I came to America to find a good life,” he said. “What’s wrong? I have no one to teach me how to get out of this. … I don’t know the language very well.”

The decision about what to do is up to the hookah bar owners, Park said.

“Following the passage of the smoke-free ordinance, hookah bars must make a business decision as to whether they wish to attain the status of exclusive retail tobacconist and offer hookah or become a social club where smoking is not allowed,” he said.

A MIDDLE EASTERN IMPORT

Hookah bars, brought to the U.S. by immigrants, are lounges where customers pay to smoke tobacco out of a water pipe with a flexible tube. Flavored tobacco smoke is drawn through a vase or bowl of water, which cools the smoke.

These smoking lounges cater to 18- to 20-year-olds who are old enough to smoke, but too young to go to bars.

“I would say that is 97 percent of my business,” said Alsudani.

Hookah bars have been on Boise officials’ radar for several years. After receiving noise complaints, city officials in 2009 amended city code to require tobacco establishments, including the smoking lounges, to be closed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

That limited the hookah lounge business, because some traditional bar patrons would filter over to the lounges after the bars closed at 2 a.m.

ENFORCEMENT PLANS

The Boise smoking ban aims to protect the public’s health, advocates say.

“Secondhand smoke is the issue — where employees are subject to it and can’t escape the damages,” Boise City Council President Maryanne Jordan said.

Boise police are in the process of training officers how to enforce the new smoking ban.

For the first 30 days under the new ordinance, officers are issuing only warnings — unless a violator persists or a citizen insists on signing a complaint.

“No citations have been written so far,” Boise Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said.

The city mailed information to business owners summarizing the ordinance and telling them who to call with questions.

Hightower said business owners should get their questions answered before the grace period is over. Citations for businesses that violate the smoking ordinance will be $119.

“If any business, including hookah bars, are allowing smoking that shouldn’t be under the ordinance, they will be issued a citation,” she said.

A measure passed by the state legislature in June and signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo shortly afterward that took effect on Sunday, January 1, prohibits the sale of hookahs, water pipes and flavored tobacco, or “shisha” to minors. While the law does not specifically require hookah bars, many of which have sprung up on Steinway Street in Astoria in the past seven or so years, to ban teenagers from their premises, there appears to be no standard practice among the establishments’ owners and operators as to checking the ages of their patrons.

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Noncompliant hookah bar and café owners could receive points on their business licenses and face fines of up to $1,000. Minors caught smoking in the bars will receive a summons. Their parents will be notified as well.

An article on the December 28 NY1 Web site indicated that while some of the hookah bars allow minors to engage in the practice of drawing flavored smoke through a water pipe, or hookah, others do not allow teens inside. Many teens have taken to indulging in the habit at home and some hookah bar owners and patrons said they thought the new law would have little or no effect on teens’ actions.

State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) and Assemblymember Alec Brook Krasny (D-Brooklyn) sponsored the legislation in response to concerns from parents in their Brooklyn districts. “It is a fact that smoking can seriously damage one’s body and health,” Golden said when Cuomo signed the bill into law on July 15, 2011. “By widening the ban on certain smoking products, this new law will help prevent minors from purchasing these items and keep them from caving into the pressure to smoke, protecting them today and in the future. As hookah bars become more popular amongst teenagers, parents have raised significant concerns and I believe this legislation properly addresses those apprehensions.”

“No matter if you are smoking tobacco, shisha or herbal cigarettes, this habit is extremely hazardous to the health of all smokers,” Brook Krasny said. “We have made great strides in educating young people about the dangers of cigarettes. However, in our community, hookah and water pipes are a dangerous and unfortunately available alternative means for smoking tobacco and this bill will help block access for minors to these products and keep the health of more New Yorkers safe.”

“This bill will make it more difficult for minors to purchase smoking products and it protects their health in the long run,” Cuomo declared in signing the bill. “Smoking has caused serious health repercussions for users of all ages and underage smokers are especially vulnerable to these dangers. I thank Senator Golden and Assemblyman Brook Krasny for their work in securing passage of this legislation.”

On Oct. 27, 2010, Councilmember Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn) and cosponsors, Councilmembers Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) and Annabel Palma (DThe Bronx), introduced a piece of legislation in the New York City Council seeking to make the 2002 Clean Indoor Air Act similarly consistent. The bill would ban the smoking of non-tobacco smoking products inside of most restaurants and bars. The legislation, Int 0386-2010, was referred to the council Health Committee the same day. There has been no word on its history since then. Gentile hailed the passage of the state level legislation.

Smoking shisha through a water pipe is a practice at least 400 years old and is common throughout the Middle East. Patrons of several Steinway Street hookah bars pointed out that hookah use is a phenomenon unique to these cultures and does not necessarily promulgate tobacco use. In fact, several persons interviewed said the practice is more healthful than smoking regular cigarettes because the flavored tobacco has fewer tars and carcinogens. Gentile’s legislation considers anything that comes through a hookah or can be rolled in a rolling paper is equally as harmful as the tobacco found in cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco.

Opinions are divided as to whether the state-level legislation will have a deleterious effect on the city’s hookah bars. There are, however, exemptions to the New York City Clean Indoor Air Act. Smoking is allowed in bars or cafes if it can be shown that the establishment draws at least 10 percent of its revenue from the sale of tobacco. But the exemption is also linked only to places that sell alcohol as well. The hookah bars do not sell alcoholic beverages, as the greater number of their patrons are Muslims whose religion does not permit alcohol consumption. Gentile’s legislation would prevent expansion of existing hookah bars.

Water pipe smoking known by a variety of names like, Sheesha, Hookah, Hubble bubble etc is in vogue for the last many centuries. It is believed that it was invented in Subcontinent by a physician as a less harmful method of tobacco use. It has been claimed that over 110 million people worldwide smoke water pipe. Water pipe smoking commonly known as Hookah in Pakistan has been part of the culture of rural areas but from a decade or so it is considered as a style statement in urban areas of the country. And in the urban areas word Sheesha is used for it. It is gaining popularity among the young generation especially teens. This trend has started with rapidly increasing Arabian cafes in the country.

Other factors responsible for the popularity of Sheesha include easy availability, attractive designs, flavored aromatic tobacco, peer pressure and affordability. The growing trend of Sheesha observed in a last decade is result to the misconceptions regarding its use. Flavored tobacco is smoked over coals and fumes from these fuels add new toxins to the already dangerous smoke; Sheesha smokers inhale up to 200 times more smoke in a single Sheesha session than from a cigarette and its social acceptance has resulted in high level of secondhand smoke.

Apple hookah smoking is deadly dangerous. Its effect on cardiovascular system and on respiratory system of the body and becomes the cause of bladder cancer, lip cancer, stomach ulcer, lung cancer, mouth cancer, infertility, heart disease and high blood pressure. Prevention is better than cures. Preventive measures should be taken before the wide spread of water pipe smoking trend. Health warnings should be attached to the water pipes, informative session about the hazards of Sheesha should be conducted at school, college and university level. Licenses should be issued to the cafes and restaurants for the legal selling of Sheesha. Children under 18years should not be allowed to do water pipe smoking. Ban should be imposed at selling of Sheesha in local shops. Lastly parents should keep an eye on where their children are going and what they are doing and children should also understand it is dangerous for their health and environment in long-term period.

I’m troubled — troubled by the inequity found in double standards and discrimination evident in Burbank demonstrated by its smoking ordinance. Within a specific parameter downtown, no one may legally smoke but for some apparent exemptions predicated on dubious justifications whose true cause can only be guessed. Two of the flagrant violations to equitable treatment are found at Café O and Gitana, two hookah lounges. They belch prodigious clouds of tobacco smoke into the very Burbank air the ordinance was created to render cleaner and healthier for all.

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The courtyard at Video Symphony between these hookah lounges — which sports not one but three signs indicating no smoking in Burbank — has, instead, become a smoker’s Mecca that is entirely ignored by law enforcement.

You can’t walk past these establishments without lungs full of cancerous vapors — vapors the retirees living above these businesses have no chance to escape from.

San Francisco health officials have moved to shut down hookah lounges because they recognized that tobacco smoke from any source is equal in its destructive effects on human health; not to speak of the fundamental inequality that allow one to smoke where another is forbidden.

Such apparent double standards in Burbank erode regard for government, law and authority, as much as baseless discrimination sows the seeds of discontent that grate upon the sense of individual and communal peace, harmony and fairness.

No smoking in Burbank ought to mean just that, for all. For the sake of healthy citizens, I ask the leaders of our city to enforce the law equally.

Titanic has sunk again. Only this time it is a hookah bar in the city. Fate of Titanic restaurant along with 40 other hookah bars has been sealed with Gujarat high court ruling that the police commissioner’s decision of canceling their licenses was legal and correct. The police commissioner had issued closure notice to owners of hookah bars as per the provisions of Bombay Police Act on the ground that the restaurants were not following rules and regulations laid down by the authority.

The prohibitory orders were also issued under section 144 of CrPC. The police decided to close down hookah bars for violation of conditions on which the licenses to run the bars were issued to the owners. The objection was two fold that the hookah bars did not abide by the anti-tobacco laws and give access of hookahs to even teens from schools, and the ingredients used in the hookahs are also not permissible under the law.

Eleven bar owners moved high court with grievance that the commissioner could not have ordered for closure. Defending the commissioner’s action, government pleader Prakash Jani submitted that all restaurants and eateries including hookah bars are bound to follow the rules defined by police. The decision to close down the bars was taken in public interest. He also argued that nearly a million people die in the country every year due to tobacco consumption every year.

Senior counsel Yatin Oza argued on behalf of the bar owners, but failed to convince the court that commissioner’s decision was illegal. On part of bar owners, it was contended that commissioner had in an arbitrary manner modified conditions of license and made it more stringent. They denied any violation of rules on their premises. They also challenged commissioner’s order to close down the bars on legal grounds that he does not have prohibitory powers and his decision is violative of their fundamental rights.

However, the bench of justice A L Dave and justice J B Pardiwala dismissed bar owners’ plea and upheld commissioner’s decision.

A proposed hookah bar at 1351 W. Belmont Ave. is in limbo as the two partners consider community support for their business and work to renegotiate a lease for the space. The proposed smoker’s haven came to prominence as the partners confronted a buzz saw of opposition at a community meeting last September. “We put everything on hold after we had the meeting with the neighborhood group. It’s a side project for both of us,” said Nihad Avdic, who has partnered with long-time friend Ali Eli on the project.

Avdic is the general manager of a South Side trucking firm while Eli is finishing business school.

The contingent lease on the Belmont space, the former Paper Boy store next to Shuba’s Tavern, is set to expire soon, so Avdic and Ali are working to renew the lease with the leasing agent. They must have a signed lease in order to request a special use permit, which has been required in Chicago for new smoking lounges since the 2008 smoking ban was put into effect.

In addition, the city requires locations for new smoking lounges to be free standing buildings, says Avdic. “We did a lot of research. We looked at a lot of areas. These freestanding buildings are hard to come by. We were happy when we found the place,” he said.

“Hopefully in a few weeks we can get the lease renegotiated again and move forward. We need to talk to Alderman [Scott Waguespack (32nd)] to hear his thoughts. We’ve talked to his staff but not him,” said Advic.

Rajkot police commissioner Geetha Johri has permanently banned hookah bar in restaurants and hotels in the city. The notification has been issued to maintain law and order and keeping in mind the health of the people, an official release said. Teenagers are the main customers of hookah bars that are run illegally in some hotels.

Earlier, in August 2011, police had carried out a raid on an illegal hookah bar in the city and had detained 14 people.

The boss of a Preston shisha house has become the first in the city to be fined for breaching smoke-free legislation. Police and council officers raided SL Sheesha in Manchester Road in the city centre, in March this year. Taahir Mohammed Amir, the owner of the business, was arrested on suspicion of failing to prevent smoking in a smoke-free place. He pleaded not guilty, saying people inside the cafe were friends and not paying customers.

But evidence gathered at the scene by Town Hall officers suggested customers had chosen from a menu of tobaccos to smoke in the shisha pipes.

Council bosses said the premises did not comply with smoke-free legislation and, on a number of previous occasions, Mr Amir had been given advice and warnings.

Mr Amir, of Queens Park Road, Blackburn, was found guilty of the offence at Preston Magistrates’ Court and was handed a £1,000 fine, £1,091.30 prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Coun John Swindells, deputy leader of the council, said: “Smoking is harmful to people’s health and using water pipes to smoke tobacco poses a serious health hazard.

“The council will continue to target unlawful shisha cafes throughout the city by working together with partners including the police, Trading Standards and HMRC to bring prosecutions.”

When the premises was raided, the front door was locked and officers had to get in through a side fire door.

Inside, they found 15-18 people sat in three groups with a shisha pipe in the middle of each group.

The air inside was also heavy with shisha smoke.

A number of shisha houses have opened in Preston in recent years, sparking widespread debate.

There are currently three known shisha houses in Preston. Earlier this year, Preston MP Mark Hendrick raised concerns about the bars in Parliament, saying some Asian youths in the city in particular saw shisha smoking as a “legitimate social activity compared with drinking alcohol”.

Council environmental health chief Andy Howard said: “We will continue to work with shisha café owners so that they understand what is required of them to ensure compliance with the law.”

Ibrahim Alzagari opened Aladdin’s Hookah Lounge in Gastonia for his sons. A native of Jordan, the cellphone store entrepreneur wanted to offer his teen and 20-something sons a chance at business success. He says he also wanted to give them and other young people a local place to smoke through hookahs. Alzagari’s grown children were driving to Charlotte to indulge their taste for flavored tobacco smoked with a bubbling water pipe.

The centuries-old practice has seen a rise in popularity in recent years, especially among young people, according to the American Lung Association.

Alzagari says he knew of two hookah lounges in Charlotte last year but can now think of six.

He couldn’t see any reason why people should have to drive out of the county for the practice. The small businessman also believes there’s a viable market for his newest venture.

“In Gastonia, there’s nothing for the 18- to 21-year-old,” he said. “To start something new like this is a big risk but I’m a guy who likes to have risk in my life.”

About the practice

Smokers most commonly use a hookah with specially made tobacco in flavors such as watermelon, cherry, orange or mint.

The tobacco is heated indirectly, usually with a burning charcoal disc. When a user inhales through a mouthpiece, the smoke is filtered through water before being drawn through a rubber hose to the smoker.

Two or more people generally share one serving of the flavored tobacco, which costs $10 at Aladdin’s. They also get individually wrapped plastic covers for the mouthpieces.

Fans say it is less harmful than cigarette smoking, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain hookah users are at risk for the same kinds of diseases.

The CDC points to the fact that a hookah holds more tobacco and, as a result, means hookah smokers may absorb higher concentrations of the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

Alzagari looks at it this way: Hookah smokers aren’t smoking all the time. They can’t use water pipes, some of which are several feet tall, in their cars or in the parking lot at work.

Fans also say the tobacco used is less addictive, possibly because it is shared and used less often, although there is no scientific evidence to support that claim.

Hookah culture

Aladdin’s owner is the kind of man who draws on the tradition of his native Jordan to insist his guests accept coffee or tea. Jordan doesn’t have bars, he says. There, people go to cafes to socially smoke hookah, play cards or relax. He wanted to incorporate the hookah’s culture in the Gastonia lounge.

A poster displayed beside the coffee bar explains the history of the hookah, which originated in ancient Persia and India.

In addition to installing new flooring, furniture and wall coverings, as well as a coffee and tea bar, Alzagari put in touches such as mood lighting to lend the former bar and pool hall a Middle Eastern ambience.

Moe Alzagari, who will run the business, and assistant Joe Cline will take precautions to keep the crowd, as the elder Alzagari says, “chill.”

Only employees will pack tobacco in the water pipes to ensure no one sneaks in an illicit substance. Until the recent U.S. hookah craze, water pipes in this country were better known as bongs, used to smoke marijuana.

Aladdin’s Hookah Lounge will only admit customers 18 and older.

“We try to attract the good quality young person,” says Alzagari, a father of five. “We want nice kids who come and just chill.”