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.

After raiding more than 23 hookah and pool parlours and clubs on Sunday, city cops raided 11 places in different parts of the city on Monday. The cops also picked up 14 persons from two hookah and pool joints at Ambazari. City police chief Ankush Dhanvijay aims to conduct sweeping raids on hookah and pool parlours to check whether illegal activities are being carried out at these joints. Police claim to have received information about nefarious activities in such joints.

A senior officer said customers would be taken to police station and their statements would be recorded. “We would also conduct medical examinations and send blood samples for chemical testing to ascertain presence of contraband or alcoholic substances,” said the officer.

On Monday, police found three hookah parlours at Nandanvan and one at Sadar closed. An officer said there was no one at a hookah parlour in Sadar. “Five more joints were raided at Ambazari,” he said. “Three parlours at Ambazari were found closed but police raised two operating ones. We have sent 14 people for medical examination from Ambazari police station. We would take action against them after their medical report is received,” said the officer.

The Kush Katariya kidnapping and murder case has prompted action against hookah smoking or pool joints. This was the outcome of the revelation that Kush’s killer Ayush Pugliya was addicted to pool parlours.

Dhanvijay said police faced tricky legal issues in taking action against hookah and pool parlours. “The challenge is to understand the applicability of laws regarding these joints and invoke suitable provisions. We had to do a lot of research with our senior officers and legal experts,” he said. “Police provide licence for eating houses. We would serve them notices to repeal their licenses if the restaurants with eating house permits are found allowing hookahs,” said Dhanvijay.

Additional commissioner of police Ravindra Kadam told TOI that action is underway at several joints. “Many joints opted to keep shops closed after the raids on Sunday,” said Kadam. “The owners and customers would be booked under relevant sections after getting reports of blood samples collected from them,” he said.

Dhanvijay has asked officers of deputy commissioners of police rank to supervise the raids.

A growing trend has now found a home here in Yakima. A hookah lounge just opened on North 1st Street. Babylon Hookah Lounge is thought to be one of the largest in the state. Hookah is the name for the middle eastern pipe used to smoke flavored tobacco. It is a members-only lounge and you must be 18 to join. There was a lot of discussion on our Facebook page about it, but most we talked in person have no problem with the lounge moving in.

“I don’t think it’s bad because they sell cigarettes,” said Krystal Valdez. “I mean it’s just a different form of smoking it, so you know I think it’s a person’s choice.”

The lounge is open every night and a membership is $12 a year.

The end of smoking in restaurants and the growing popularity of non-smoking bars is leading to a rebound in the cigar bar business. Birmingham’s latest entry in the fast-growing market, Highland Cigar Lounge & Hookah Bar, is expected to open Friday behind the popular Highland Package store. Owner Jimmy Gorji and his brother David spent three months building out an old storage room at the back of their store into a posh bar.

Patrons will be able to buy cigars from a selection of 30 to 40 brands ranging in price from $6 to $20, David said this week. The bar will offer liquor and beer from the selection of 55 brands the package store sells on tap.
The brothers expect to capture customers who have just had dinner at the nearby Hot & Hot Fish Club and Bottega restaurants, and to grab a share of Birmingham’s hookah-loving immigrants from all over the Middle East.
The hookah, for the uninitiated, is that octopus-looking water pipe from which Middle Easterners have smoked flavored tobacco for centuries.
The brothers, who spent 20 years working in construction after immigrating to the U.S. from Azerbaijan, did the work themselves to keep costs down, David said.
“The space was there, so we put it to use,” he said. “We might as well do something with it.”
The new bar will be managed by Luke Hampton, who has worked at Marty’s and the Wine Loft.

When you walk into Pavel Bhowmick’s lounge on Circle Drive, it looks like almost any other drinking establishment in the city. Patrons sit at the bar sipping from bottled beer; there are booths, a pool table, a hardwood dance floor and a room full of VLTs. The only real difference? There are people smoking from large water pipes. “From afar, if you don’t know the culture, it almost looks like a bong,” Bhowmick said in an interview. “Some (people) come in are, like, ‘Uhoh. What is going on here?’”

Bhowmick’s 306 Lounge is the only dedicated hookah lounge in Saskatoon, offering a huge selection of flavoured herbal shisha. Patrons can come in, sit down, order a beer and light up.

“Before, people used to like having a beer and a smoke and they can’t do that now, but they can have a beer and some shisha,” he said.

Originating in India over a century ago, hookahs are glass-bottomed water pipes in which fruit-flavoured shisha is covered with foil and roasted with charcoal. The smoke is inhaled through long octopus-like tubes after being filtered through the water.

Most shisha is still made with tobacco. But in light of laws banning tobacco use in public places, herbal shisha, made from plant leaves or sugarcane extract, have been gaining popularity. A handful of other Middle Eastern restaurants in Saskatoon offer hookah. Those restaurants focus more on traditional hookah smokers.

“They actually do it because that’s what they do back home. They sit around and drink a cup of tea because they don’t drink alcohol, they smoke hookah,” Bhowmick said.

While some of his costumers are older people who smoke shisha as part of their culture, there are more and more young people doing in for the social aspects.

“The younger people do it because it’s trendy, it’s cool. And there are the people who want to learn more about it, they want to be part of this trend,” he said.

There are no specific laws banning the use of herbal shisha in Saskatoon. Bhowmick said he has been visited by city inspectors on two separate occasions since opening the lounge last year. And each time, they have found nothing wrong with his operations.

Herbal shisha is free of nicotine and tobacco, and Bhowmick claims his shisha is also tar-free.

“It’s still smoke, I shouldn’t say that it’s not harmful. You are still inhaling smoke that will go to the avails of your lungs,” he said.

Jill Hubick from Saskatoon Lung Association said her organization wants more regulations when it comes to people smoking anything inside a public place.

“Any time you are inhaling anything into your lungs, whether it be tobacco or not, there is a potential risk for it to be an irritant or to do harm,” she said in an interview.

Hubick would like to see stronger health warnings on shisha products, and she is also concerned about its connection to tobacco use.

“Having the sweetness and the flavour, it appeals to the young people. We find that people aren’t just going to the bars to use the hookah, they are taking it to home parties and then adding tobacco. We are worried about becoming a gateway for young people using tobacco.”

While other cities like Vancouver have been debating the legality of hookah bars, Saskatoon has no plans to implement bylaws specific to hookah or shisha, and it is clear that hookahs have been gaining in popularity. They are commonplace in almost all major Canadian cities. And when Bhowmick first moved to Saskatoon from Montreal a year ago, he was surprised that there was no hookah lounge in the city.

“It’s so popular, so fashionable, so trendy – every major city has one,” he said.

Bhowmick, a University of Saskatchewan student who does not smoke cigarettes, says shisha is a great way to help him relax.

“I had a terrible exam, and I was like, man I need to relax and chill out it. And I looked around and there were tons of pubs, tons of bars and clubs but no place that was a lounge where you could just sit down, have a few cocktails, something to munch on and smoke some shisha. It is pretty relaxing,” he said.

One fact that few people know about me is that before I went to law school, I was a working stiff journalist (Medill, MSJ ‘73), and I spent a fair part of my life attending various meetings. So I was a bit surprised, even dismayed when I saw the headline on the Roscoe View Journal’s article about the meeting at which South Lakeview Neighbors discussed, then voted on a “special use” permit for a hookah lounge: “Proposed Hookah Lounge Meets Ethnic Prejudice at SLVN Meeting.” I wasn’t sure that Mr. Fourcher and I had been at the same meeting.

But first a bit of background. The developer needs a “special use” permit for his hookah lounge. Although the Chicago zoning code puts the responsibility for granting special uses on the Zoning Board of Appeals (§ 17-13-0901 and following), our alderman has a policy of letting the neighborhood organizations in his ward give an advisory vote on any zoning matters. So I scheduled the proposal for our inaugural meeting of the new year. My only prior knowledge of the proposal came via a two-page “business plan” for the Shisha Lounge, reprised in our newsletter which had been distributed the prior week. SLN also left flyers announcing the meeting in the mailboxes and on fences of those near the building on Belmont at Southport where the developer, Nihad Avdic proposed to build this use. Before our Sept. 6 meeting, I had received a couple of e-mails from neighbors, none favorably disposed.

As has been our custom at our meetings, I offered Mr. Avdic the floor and sat down. Not using audio-visual aids, Mr. Avdic explained the concept, described a “state of the art” ventilation system, noted that he did not intend to keep the facility open as long as his business plan had stated, and opened the floor for questions. Some of the questions bore on public concerns such as safety, whether there would be “bouncers” there; others bore on the “philosophy” of hookah bars, which apparently skirt the state’s ban on smoking in public places and provide a social outlet for those of a culture that eschews, as a matter of faith, alcohol. Neither I nor anyone else at SLN curtailed the type or tone of the questions. Were I to describe it, the attitude of the majority of those at the meeting was skeptical but respectful.

One person commented that, per a Google search on his smart phone, hookah lounges act as crime magnets (I’m paraphrasing). That may not have been a politically correct observation, but it is hardly outside the realm of polite discourse. Bars, clubs, lounges and banks also attract crime, and we put up with them. But with a murder last weekend in the 1100 block of Wrightwood (less than a mile away from this use) and a series of home invasions around the corner on Barry, public safety is a legitimate concern. Then came the bombshell. One person (I do not know who: his voice came from over my shoulder) said: “since we have bombed them, what difference does it make if some of them shoot up Belmont Avenue.” (I believe that Mr. Fourcher misquoted this comment in his article, as I recall no mention of Iraq or any other Middle Eastern or Islamic country, nor any body count.) I stood up immediately and gained control of the meeting. [Ed. Note: It was not a misquote, it was taken from an audio recording of the meeting.]

Regardless of whose recollection is correct, to suggest that casualties from our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan justify or excuse murders in Chicago is absurd, and I believe that the rest of the audience saw it as such. There were a couple of other questions and comments following that, including one from our former president Bill Haderlein. He stated that a special use had to enhance the existing community, because it would attract those from outside of it. This may not be a precise legal definition, but no tinge of “ethnic prejudice” can be found in this comment. Not long ago, a blues bar on Belmont provoked no community backlash. If a single malt scotch emporium wanted to open on Belmont and it needed a special use permit, surely we would be in our rights to worry whether the limousines and Rolls Royces transporting the blue-blazer-and-Lilly- Pulitzer-wearing-crowd from Lake Forest would cause too much commotion.

Fortunately, Ald. Waguespack was there to witness this and will undoubtedly draw his own conclusion as to whether this “special use” squares with, for instance, a new medical building four doors to the east. I have followed the on-line comments posted following Mr. Fourcher’s article and to say no more, I reject any notion that our members are parochial, narrow-minded or prejudiced. For more than half-a-century, South Lakeview Neighbors has provided an open forum for the discussion of development in our 24-square block area. We have welcomed a shelter for homeless women (the former St. Al’s convent), an art party venue (Bottles & Bottega on Lincoln), theaters and performance venues (Elbow Room, Athenaeum, Schuba’s, the Wit). We would be faithless to our past and the trust that our alderman and members place in us if we abdicated our role in overseeing the responsible development of our neighborhood.

The sign outside of Sullivan’s Rhode, a bar and restaurant at 55 Union St., reads “WE HAVE HOOKAH.” Inside, owner Mike Rizzo said he introduced hookahs, the ornate water pipes of Mideastern origin, about three weeks ago, filling them with a flavored non-tobacco product from a company called Zero Tobacco LLC. Rizzo said it’s all about bringing in business during tough times. “It’s definitely helped our business on slow nights,” he said. “We have a clientele we haven’t seen before. … It’s one more thing to offer that you wouldn’t normally find in an Irish sports bar.”

Hookahs, which are usually filled with flavored tobacco, have been around for centuries, beginning in India and migrating to the Arab world, where they became part of the café culture.

Hookah lounges arrived in Rhode Island in 2005. Instead of burning out, the fad appears to have grown increasingly popular, with a half-dozen hookah lounges on Federal Hill alone.

One of them, Skarr Hookah Lounge Bar & Grille at 292 Atwells Ave., opened just three weeks ago. “There’s enough business for everybody,” said owner Eli Yazbeck.

Georges Makhlouf, who started Providence Byblos on the East Side in 2005, said there’s nothing wrong with Sullivan’s offering hookahs to its customers.

But, he added, it’s not the true hookah experience.

“It’s a whole cultural thing,” said Makhlouf, who came to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1987. “Our objective is to give people the whole experience — the food, the culture, the aroma. You come in, you think you’re in Lebanon.”

Makhlouf now has three hookah lounges in Rhode Island — Providence Byblos at 235 Meeting St., Nara at 248 Atwells Ave., and Jamra Hookah Lounge at 680 Admiral St. Nara is undergoing expansion, with a new room featuring materials from Egypt, Turkey and Morocco.

“I’ve spent thousands of dollars. You come in, you forget yourself where you are,” he said. “Other people are just trying to add something to their menu. When I want Italian food, am I going to go to McDonald’s, or am I going to an Italian restaurant?”

For the American Lung Association of Rhode Island, the kind of hookah bar doesn’t really matter.

“We hate them,” said Tina Ragless, director of health promotion and public policy.

Ragless said most hookah smokers are using tobacco, and the dangers of tobacco are well known. And anyone who believes that the water inside hookahs makes tobacco safer, she said, is wrong.

(Joe Karam, owner of Opa, a Lebanese restaurant and hookah lounge at 244 Atwells Ave., disagreed with Ragless, saying some brands of hookah tobacco are processed to remove much of the nicotine and other toxins.)

Ragless said young people who might never consider smoking a cigarette are often drawn to the novelty of a hookah. Once they’re smoking tobacco, she said, there’s a chance they will be addicted.

Even non-tobacco products are dangerous, Ragless added. Burning anything creates toxins that are sucked into your lungs, causing damage.

“You have choices, what you can do,” said Farahnaz Shobeiri, owner of Genie’s Hookah Lounge in Newport, which opened about five months ago. “You can kill yourself by drinking too much. This is much much better than drinking too much.”

Wednesday night, a table of seven sat around a table at Mazaj Hookah Cafe at 190 Atwells Ave., with three hookahs in front of them burning blueberry, strawberry and watermelon flavored tobaccos. Blueberry was the clear favorite.

Everyone was laughing and taking pictures of one another with the hookahs.

Rielly Botsch, 18, of North Attleboro, said this was the first time she’s smoked a hookah. (Eighteen is the minimum age to purchase tobacco in Rhode Island).

“It’s kind of weird, but I like it,” she said, emitting clouds of aromatic smoke into the air. “It tastes good, and I like doing cool things with the smoke.”

Johno Faherty, another 18-year-old from North Attleboro, said he had smoked hookah before. He said he enjoyed the social aspect. “It’s cool to get together with friends,” he said.

Hookah lounges are classified as “smoking bars” under the 2005 law that banned smoking in most Rhode Island workplaces. To qualify as a smoking bar, at least 50 percent of the annual revenue must come from the sale of tobacco products. A smoking bar is also required to have a ventilation system to prevent the “migration” of smoke onto the street.

Regulation of smoking bars appears to be a murky question.

The law states that the R.I. Division of Taxation is responsible for determining compliance.

David Sullivan, director of the taxation division, said the division does issue licenses to sell tobacco at retail, but that jurisdiction over smoking bars lies with the Department of Health.

Peter Hanney, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, said smoking bars are not regulated by the Health Department unless they serve food or alcohol, in which case they are governed by state regulations in those areas. Any action taken by the Health Department against a smoking bar, he said, would stem from a violation found in a routine inspection or the investigation of a complaint.

Hookah prices in Rhode Island range from $17 to $30 each. A hookah can be shared among several people and lasts for about 45 minutes. Most hookah bars provide individual plastic mouthpieces for their customers.

At Sullivan’s, where the zero tobacco hookah ingredients are listed as herbs, honey, molasses, and “natural flavors,” a hookah costs $20. Scott Blackledge, 31, of Providence, smoked his first hookah there last week with a friend.

“I’m not a smoker. I don’t like tobacco,” he said. “But it was pretty cool. It was something to do while we were eating and watching the [football] game. It was definitely different.”

Would he smoke hookah again?

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. A hundred percent.”