Hookah shop downtown delivers flavored tobacco
Hookah lounges and bars are popular around the world and in big cities across the United States. Rusty Pachev is bringing the hookah experience to Ocean City.
The 23-year-old said he knows about hookahs after spending many years using them while growing up in southern Russia.
“Everybody in Russia smokes. But you’re not getting addicted to it. It’s not like cigarettes,” Pachev said. “You want to smoke the next time just because you like it and you want to try another flavor.”
While working in the downtown Ocean City area the last two years, Pachev said many people inquired about cigar and tobacco stores and hookah lounges, so, he decided to open his own shop.
Smoky Shop opened on the corner of Talbot Street on South Baltimore Avenue about five weeks ago.
“In Europe, hookah bars and lounges are very popular,” Pachev said. “There are even restaurants where you order your food, eat and then order hookah.”
Customers can sit in front of Smoky Shop, on the corner of Talbot Street on South Baltimore Avenue, and smoke a variety of flavored tobacco out of hookahs rented and sold at the store.
Pachev sells hookah (a single or multi-stemmed glass water pipe for smoking), but customers can also borrow them to smoke any of the 20-plus flavored tobaccos at the shop. Some of the flavors available include double apple, strawberry, melon, banana, pineapple, coconut, cherry, mint, vanilla, cola, caffe latte and cappuccino. The most popular flavor is pomegranate.
The tobacco contains less nicotine (0.05 percent) than regular cigarettes and has no tar. Customers, who must be at least 18 years old to smoke, can smoke just one flavor or mix different ones. Pachev has hookahs with one, two, three or four heads and hoses. The cost to use them is $15, $18, $21 and $24, respectively.
The smoke is blended to give people a full flavor of each tobacco, he said. It takes about five minutes to prepare the hookah and tobacco for smoking. Heated with charcoal, it lasts about 35- 40 minutes. Customers can sit outside in front of the shop and smoke. Pachev offers a discount for those who smoke once then want to try another flavor.
“A lot of people try one flavor, then they want to try others,” Pachev said. “Some people were in here for hours the other day and tried every flavor.”
“It’s very, very relaxing,” added Alan Gastiger of smoking the tobacco. Gastiger works at the shop and has more than 10 years experience in the cigar business.
Since opening, business has increased daily, Pachev said. He has also developed a regular customer clientele. About 70 percent of Pachev’s customers have smoked before. Many who have tried it for the first time at his shop often purchase a hookah afterward. Pachev can custom order hookahs not sold in his store. Anything sold in the shop can be shipped to customers as well.
Pachev sells the different hookah pieces (heads, tops, hoses and charcoal) and has a variety of cigars, pipes, cigarettes and smoking accessories. The electronic cigarettes used to help people quit smoking are available there as well.
A 10-percent-off coupon good for any purchase at the shop is available in Ocean City Today.
Smoky Shop, which Pachev said is a walk-in humidor, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. As popularity increases, Pachev hopes to open a full hookah lounge in the area.
Oceancitytoday
