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.”

In a raid on Sunday, the police found that a popular lounge at IC Colony in Borivli was flouting norms while serving hookah. Around 7.15 pm, the MHB Colony police raided the Kosmic lounge and booked its management. for serving hukkah unauthorisedly. “We got information that hookah was being served in the lounge without following the norms. Seven youngsters, who were smoking there, were booked,” and released after they paid a deposit,”

the police said. The lounge manager has been booked under The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act.

The police have also asked the BMC to review the licence given to the lounge.

The popularity of hookah smoking has recently developed into a spreading inclination among today’s young adults. It has also grown into a large problem with high school students, who smoke hookah and tobacco illegally. A hookah is a metal cylindrical device with a water pipe and smoke chamber. It has a bowl for flavored tobacco called shisha, and a hose leading to the mouth piece that one uses to draw in smoke. Shisha is heated in the chamber, and its smoke travels through water and then through a rubber tube to a mouth piece by which the user inhales the smoke.

Many people believe that smoking hookah is less detrimental to one’s health than smoking cigarettes. However, this is greatly contradicted by health experts.

According to psychiatrist Dr. David Burns, a graduate from Stanford University of Medicine, hookah smoking is both a mystery and common knowledge among doctors.

“Hookah use is something we know very little about in terms of the long-term disease consequences. But we know people are ingesting the same toxins [as in cigarette smoke], [which have] the same potential to facilitate addiction as well as the additional risk of transmitting communicable diseases by sharing the [mouth piece],” said Burns.

It is becoming more apparent that the young adult population has an available area, including local hookah bars or cafés, where they use hookah, perhaps because hookah is thought as an alternative to cigarettes.

While the common belief among the general public is that smoking from a hookah is healthier than cigarettes, many strongly disagree with this idea. The water in a hookah does not filter out the toxins like the filter on a cigarette does. In fact, a hookah smoker may very well inhale more tobacco than a cigarette smoker. Additionally, a hookah smoker will inhale a larger volume of smoke in one session—up to sixty minutes of continuous use—as opposed to the few minutes that someone may smoke a cigarette. A cigarette’s filter performs its job in taking out most of the toxins with it, making the drugs in the cigarette less potent; to the smoker, while a hookah does nothing to stop the chemicals and toxins from entering the smoker’s body.

Hookah contains the same toxins as cigarettes, but in a more concentrated from. Hookah, like cigarettes contains the same carcinogens such as tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and carcinogens. Hookah smokers have also shown to be exposed to more carbon monoxide compared to exposure for cigarette smokers.

Hookah smokers are exposed to the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smokers, which can lead to addiction. Secondhand smoke remains a threat to others.

Owners of several local hookah bars denied commenting on the subject.

While the effects of hookah are still under investigation, it has been proven that hookah still leads to lung disease and cancer.

While the controversy over which form of smoking tobacco is safer for the user, both affect the health of individuals in harmful ways.

It is quite a challenge to setup a hookah (shisha/ sheesha/ water pipe/ nargeela/ nargile/ narghile/ nargileh/ argeela/ arghileh/ okka/ kalyan/ ghelyoon/ ghalyan/ goza…) correctly – in a way that it will produce a maximum taste, smoke, length of the session and overall human pleasure. Biggest problems usually come from a lack of experience. But there are very and ultra experienced Earth Beings that can help.

Today I had a pleasure to talk to Kyle, who is one of ultra hookah people. Kyle was very forthcoming and gladly shared the correct recipe of preparing the hookah. Here, I give the microphone to Kyle:

“Regarding your taste question, I’ll walk you through how I load my bowls and see if this helps a bit. Generally, you really want to use as high a quality shisha as possible, as this really plays a large role in the overall taste that you experience. So, assuming your hookah is airtight and you have clean water in the base to just above the bottom of the downstem (about 1″ above the bottom of the downstem is good), you should be able to proceed with loading the bowl as I describe below.

Start by breaking the shisha into small clumps and drop them into the bowl loosely. I prefer to load my bowl to just below the rim, so the tobacco will not be bulging or overflowing when you put the foil on. Try not to pack the shisha into the bowl too much. A little packing is okay, but you want the bowl to breathe well so all the air will be getting to the shisha. I put the foil on, shiny side down, and make sure it’s pulled nice and taught over the rim of the bowl. I take extra time to smooth out the foil that’s been folded over the side of the bowl so everything is nice and clean and as air-tight as possible.

I then poke a whole bunch of really small holes using something fine like a safety pin, or a really sharp toothpick or something of the sort. The idea is to have as many holes as possible so the foil will breathe really well, but make sure the holes are not so big that ash falls through them as your coals burn. Once you have the holes poked, you should take the bowl and put your mouth over the opening at the bottom, blowing through the tobacco and foil, then gently sucking back in. You’ll want to keep your hand tight over the rim of the bowl while doing this so your foil stays nice and tight. This is a pretty important part of the process, as it helps you determine how well the bowl breathes. The better the airflow, the better your smoke quality.

At this point it’s time to put the bowl on the hookah and get your coals ready (if you haven’t already had them warming up). When using the Golden Coals, I usually suggest using 2 x 33mm coals or 1 x 40mm coal. Shisha varies from brand to brand as to the amount of coal needed to get a perfect smoke, and you will need to experiment with the amount of coal you use. In general, I say that a little more coal is a little better than too little… and if the flavor gets harsh and makes you cough, that’s an indication that the heat is too strong and the shisha is burning. At that point, you want to take the coal off the bowl and let the shisha rest a little. You should also be moving the coal around the outside of the bowl as you’re smoking.. maybe move it every 10 or 15 minutes.

As long as you’re following the instructions above, you’ll be loading your bowl properly and your hookah should smoke well.”

In the past seven months, the local police around commercial areas have allegedly made a fortune, but not from traffic violations, busted scams or by arresting thieves. According to allegations by hookah parlour staff and owners, despite the HC stay order on hookah, the cops have make a whopping Rs 2.10 crore. Almost Rs 5,000 is being paid as ‘daily hafta’ by cafes intending to serve hookah. Irked after being stopped from secretly serving hookah despite paying the cops, owners of some cafes decided to spill the beans.

“When the ban was implemented in April this year, we immediately stopped serving hookah. Our cafe was raided and BBMP officials took away our sheshas.

Five days later, after looking at the depleting number of customers visiting our cafe, the local cops sympathized with us and said they would turn the other way when questioned by the local corporators, if we paid them a small sum,” said Shanabaz, an ex-employee of a popular hookah parlour in Basvangudi.

On further probing, this reporter learnt that the cops had initiated the deal and most cafes in town agreed to it.

“We agreed to the mutually beneficial deal and started serving hookah. But off late, they (cops) started collecting daily hafta of Rs 5,000 as soon as we opened in the morning. This was difficult for us and when we voiced our problems to them, they said they would deal with us later.

They would collect from us in the morning and sometime in the course of the day, they would barge into our establishments and force us to stop serving hookah,” said J Mahesh (name changed), a cafe owner from Jayanagar.

Why the ban?
Following an appeal by the BBMP, the HC banned all cafes in the city from serving hookah in their premises. This order that came in April this year was violated by several joints, as many entered into a similar hushed up mutually beneficial relationship with the local cops in their respective areas.

The idea was the brainchild of the Yediyur ward corporator, NR Ramesh and was accepted by the BBMP after much discussion. “We wanted this ban because minors were being served hookah and were getting hooked to this dangerous trend,” said Ramesh, when questioned about the ban.

Hand in glove
The latest word coming in from a few sources within the police department is that a few local cops refused to give a part of the hafta to local corporators and his men, which is why now hookah parlors are back to square one.

“The hookah parlors operating without permission after striking a deal with the local cops have yet again being stopped from serving. Some say that the corporators had to crackdown because they did not receive their share.

However, since court order is awaited, many top police officials do not want to openly take the corrupt cops to task, although it is clear that they have struck a deal for a baffling amount,” said a source within the police department.

Reality check bares all
When MiD DAY tried to reach the hookah cafes who had been serving the banned item on the menu for months illegally, they denied the same.

“We have not been serving hookah at all,” said the manager of Mocha, Lavelle Road. Meanwhile, the other places hid their sheshas when we entered their parlour asking to be served.

“This is reserved only for certain people, and it has already been taken,” said the manager from Soul Cafe.
At Flavours, Jayanagar we were told to wait for an hour before the local police to move out of the area.

“We stopped serving hookah post the ban as it wasn’t an important item of revenue generation for us anyway,” said Wazir Ahmed, City Head, Java City.

While the real picture still is that many cafes operating from South and Central Bangalore are serving hookah right under the nose of the police officers, one of the former waiters reveals that a new deal has been struck that would last till the HC lifts the stay order on serving hookahs.

When this reporter attempted to elicit information from cops pointed out by some hookah parlour owners and staff, they feigned ignorance and walked away.