http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10620103/page/2/

Hookah bars find a place in America
Patrons aren't middle-aged Egyptian men, but white kids from the suburbs

Jim Slosiarek / AP
University of Iowa students Ben Krawczyk, left, and Dan Lawrence, both of suburban Chicago, enjoy strawberry-flavored puffs from a hookah as they visit the Red Poppy Tea & Hookah Parlour earlier this year.

Updated: 12:38 p.m. ET Jan. 2, 2006
SEATTLE - The Rabbit Hole is a maze of sofas and sectionals, mismatched, some worn to threads in places, full of soft spots that sink low to the ground. The lighting is low and dim; the music is usually alternative rock, played at a volume to match the light.

No alcohol is served at the Rabbit Hole — just soft drinks, and hookah.

Hookah is a flavored tobacco, inhaled through a tall, ornate pipe that sits on the floor; it has long been a popular pastime in Amman and Alexandria and all across the Middle East.


But this is Roosevelt Way in Seattle, cater-corner from University Mazda and down the street from Mamma Melina's restaurant. And that is something new — even as America is at war in the Middle East, this bit of the Middle East has found a place in America.

In liberal and literate Seattle, hookah lounges have opened on trendy downtown blocks and in predominantly white neighborhoods in the outer city, where the Rabbit Hole is located. Its customers are not middle-aged Egyptian men, but white kids from the suburbs.

"I'd almost call it an epidemic," said Sean O'Neill, 20, a personal trainer who lives in Tacoma, Wash., and first tried hookah last spring.

The contagion may stall — in November, Washington voters enacted one of the nation's strictest smoking bans. The law could shutter places like the Rabbit Hole; similar smoking bans could imperil hookah parlors around the country.

The laws are universally aimed at cigarette smoking; they may not specifically target hookah, but there is no exception for the parlors, either.

A customer smokes inside The Rabbit Hole, a hookah lounge in Seattle's University District. In liberal and literate Seattle, hookah lounges have opened on trendy downtown blocks and in predominantly white neighborhoods in the outer city, where the Rabbit Hole is located. It's customers are mostly white kids from the suburbs.

The parlors first opened in the United States decades ago in the immigrant quarters of New York and Los Angeles, in neighborhoods like Astoria, Queens, and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. For years, they were patronized mostly by men of Egyptian, Lebanese or Syrian descent, and occasionally a curious American who recognized the pipes from a trip he might have taken.

In the past year or two, parlors have opened in college towns all over in the country, in Florida, Iowa, and Wisconsin, often operated by foreign students from the Middle East, wishing for a piece of home.

But in recent months, hookah has spread to the world of hipsters and yuppies in cities in all regions of the country. Customers can smoke hookah in the Chi-Cha Lounge, a trendy, Latin-themed restaurant on U Street in Washington D.C., or at Mantra, an upscale French-Indian restaurant in Boston's Ladder District.

At the Chicago nightclub Zentra, hookah can be smoked amid techno music and belly dancers wearing body paint. There are hookah lounges in Denver, Houston, Las Vegas and Miami, complete with glass tables, plasma televisions and oxygen bars.

"It's at its largest demand ever in this country," said Brennan Appel, who runs Florida-based SouthSmoke.com, an online purveyor of hookah pipes and tobacco. "I don't think it's going away anytime soon. There's so much more room for the product to expand. Only a small percentage of Americans know about it."

In cities where only one hookah lounge existed, there are now seven or eight, Appel said. Where there were none, there is at least one. Because hookah is typically shared, friends introduce it to others. Even the Iraq war has played some role, Appel said; he suspects soldiers posted in the Gulf tried hookah, liked it and sought it out once they returned home.

"I haven't yet heard of a hookah lounge opening and going out of business," said Appel. The biggest demand for hookah, he said, is in California, Arizona, New York, Texas and Virginia.

Most of the tobacco is imported from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia; as a way of catering to Western tastes, tobacco manufacturers are introducing flavors like kiwi, watermelon and blackberry. Handcrafted pipes made of glass and brass are produced in Syria and Egypt, although China is making less expensive pipes out of acrylic.

The tobacco is held in a bowl near the top of the pipe, kept lit by red-hot charcoal. The smoke is drawn through water before being sucked through a long tube. Pipes can have one tube, or as many as six, so that many people can share the tobacco.

Pipes cost between $50 and $180. In lounges and bars, the tobacco is sold in batches for as little as $5 or as much as $20. One batch can last a person an hour or longer.


"I can smoke hookah at home, but coming here is like a treat," said Brenda Wright, 20, one of a group of friends who visit the Rabbit Hole several times a week. "I've noticed it's gotten a lot more popular just in the past two months."

Friday and Saturday nights at the Rabbit Hole are so crowded, some people (many of them are students from the nearby University of Washington) end up sitting on the floor. The other nights are for the regulars, many under the age of 21.

The scene is different at the Egyptian Caf?? on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. On most nights, the clientele in the Egyptian Caf?? is predominantly Middle Eastern. There are few frills and little glamour, just chairs and small tables and men poring over backgammon and dominos.

The time spent in the immigrant hookah lounges is workaday and routine. Said Elmekabati, 35, a businessman from Brooklyn, often entertains clients at the Egyptian Caf??. Hesham Amin comes here almost everyday. It is like an extension of his living room — Starbucks, but with smoke.

Amin, 38, who was raised in Alexandria, Egypt, is a customer. Sometimes, he says, he sees more Americans than Egyptians.

"Everybody comes here," he said, pointing the direction of a young couple canoodling in a corner. Jose Ocampo is 19; Sanjana Chowdhury is 18. Hookah, for them, was an acquired taste. The smoke made them light-headed. But they grew fond of the flavor and the effect.

"At first I came here so I could spend time with him," Chowdhury said. "Now I'm not sure if I'm addicted to the hookah or addicted to him."

There has been some backlash to the hookah craze. In Anaheim, Calif., city officials attempted to regulate some hookah lounges after complaints by neighbors of noise and rowdiness. The owners, primarily Middle Eastern immigrants, accused officials of cultural bias.

But the biggest problem for owners of hookah parlors are smoking bans in many cities. New York's 2003 ban, at first, did practically nothing to limit the hookah dens in Astoria and Bay Ridge. Although the places violated the law, officials generally looked the other way since it was obvious that customers frequent hookah bars only to smoke, and because the ban was not aimed at hookah smokers. The future of hookah and smoking bans is still unresolved. For right now, it is a matter of case-by-case enforcement.

Days after the ban went into effect in Seattle, owners of the Rabbit Hole continued to serve hookah, not so much defying the law as ignoring it. A new sign on the front door read, "private club members only — inquire within." One of the Rabbit Hole's owner declined to answer questions about the ban, saying only that he intended to continue operating his business.

The effect of hookah on health is an issue. Medical research is scarce on the effects of smoking hookah, although doctors agree that smoking any kind of tobacco is not healthy.

"It's worthy of scientific study," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer with the American Lung Association. "I can tell you none have been planned. But it is tobacco. And all tobacco contains any number of chemicals that are harmful."

Users claim that because hookah smoke is drawn through water contained in the pipe, the smoke is less harmful — an assertion that doctors say has no merit.

"People in my country have been smoking hookah for centuries," Amin said. "I've never heard of anyone getting sick and dying."

Been into those places with the 18-22 crowd. Not fun for me, but they liked it. Whatever.

throw in some hella dank weed and id be all over it.

There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going.

There is one about an hour from my university... its a good time, I wonder why it doesn't get much attention.


- BG

Quoted: There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going.

Quoted: Quoted: There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going.

The hookah bar I speak of has Al-Jazeera on every tv there, and I feel my money is supporting those little anti-american bastards. I don't want any part of funding their terror operation.

Had one on/near campus.  Never went, but it looked like a nice place.  Normal college student atmosphere with some great food next to the bars.

I don't think it's there anymore, though.  Washington State decided to become my mom and told me I can't smoke there anymore.

awww man!  I thought the title "Hookah bar" was urban slang for a whore house!

Damn.

No Expert

Used to go to one down in DC whenever I visited a friend of mine, cool stuff to just hang out and smoke.

Might have to find that place up in Seattle though

I live in a campus town as an engineering student...




All I have to say is I fucking hate the crowd that shows up to hookah bars.  its the same people you see at the fucking leftist vegan resturant I walked past today chewing on some elk jerkey.

Quoted: throw in some hella dank weed and id be all over it.

WTF does that even mean? I guess ya gotta be under 20 to know?

Quoted: Quoted: throw in some hella dank weed and id be all over it. WTF does that even mean?

Reference to marijuana.

Quoted: Quoted: There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going.

I believe most H bars get their tobacco from the Middle East

Quoted: Y'all turning into Arabs in the US? www.fotosearch.com/comp/SIX/SIX138/021MI1.JPG ANdy

Heh we have enough of them in London mate, and there's one place in Cardiff that does em. They do appear to be springing up all over.

Tried it once, strawberry flavour.  Not impressed. But then I don't smoke so perhaps I'm missing the point.

/PHil

Brought one back last time I was in Egypt. Not something I'd do around the house, but when I was there my friends in country would all meet at one place in the burbs and sit outside drinking coffee and hitting the hookah.

Quoted: awww man!  I thought the title "Hookah bar" was urban slang for a whore house!

It is in bawston.

Welcome to 2003.

hookahs are actually pretty good(with sheisha, not weed you damn potheads) I wish I could have brought one back from Iraq

Quoted: Quoted: There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going.

Turkish tobacco....

My girlfriend works at a nightclub that has a hookah bar.  I looked at the menu and almost puked.

They have a selection of about 20 different flavors of tobacco.  Not types of tobacco, FLAVORS like vanilla and mango.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: There's one in Plantation, about 15 minutes from my house. Been there before, the experience is excellent, I just don't like where my money is going. Turkish tobacco....

the stuff we had in Iraq was Jordanian, same with what I get here in the states

Quoted: Quoted: Y'all turning into Arabs in the US? www.fotosearch.com/comp/SIX/SIX138/021MI1.JPG ANdy Heh we have enough of them in London mate, and there's one place in Cardiff that does em. They do appear to be springing up all over. Tried it once, strawberry flavour.  Not impressed. But then I don't smoke so perhaps I'm missing the point. /PHil

Welcome Equinox.  My best to you and your mates over there striving to get what we are striving to keep.  

I love smoking a hookah.

There is a bar here that has a kind of egyptian theme called ISIS, and newcastle on tap!

mmm mmm bitch!

I've been going about tice a month with friends to one just off campus.

Use Mountain Dew instead of water to get a lighter flavor....

Don't that beat fuck all?  Next thing you know, there will be camel buggering salons down the street!  Ah well, if you can't exterminate 'em, join em.

Quoted: Don't that beat fuck all?  Next thing you know, there will be camel buggering salons down the street!  Ah well, if you can't exterminate 'em, join em.

You mean like how Jews poison wells?
Oh wait....

My knucklehead son went to one over in what is sometimes called "Little Gaza" in Anaheim with some of his friends. Took off his jacket and then a few minutes later realized that the sound level had gone down and they seemed to be the object of more than the usual amount of attention.  Then my masterrmind looked down and realized he was wearing the IDF t-shirt his Aunt and Uncle had brought  back for him from their last trip to Israel.  Put his jacket on, they finished the pipe and got the hell out.  They've gone back a few times but they all check their t-shirts for inappropriate commentary before going in.

Quoted: My knucklehead son went to one over in what is sometimes called "Little Gaza" in Anaheim with some of his friends. Took off his jacket and then a few minutes later realized that the sound level had gone down and they seemed to be the object of more than the usual amount of attention.  Then my masterrmind looked down and realized he was wearing the IDF t-shirt his Aunt and Uncle had brought  back for him from their last trip to Israel.  Put his jacket on, they finished the pipe and got the hell out.  They've gone back a few times but they all check their t-shirts for inappropriate commentary before going in.

fuck those asshole arab savages.

your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization.

any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground.

HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH?

Quoted: Don't that beat fuck all?  Next thing you know, there will be camel buggering salons down the street!  Ah well, if you can't exterminate 'em, join em.

+1000

our culture will die, because we have lost all will to defend ourselves.

licking the boots of filthy scumbags in order to show how "open minded' we are is the only acceptable form of social interaction anymore

Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH?

So you would be cool with someone wearing a green armband (signals support of the PLO) in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?

Edited to remove Godwin's Law violation.

Quoted: Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH? So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?

Godwin's Law

We got a hookah bar here in Philly too.  I don't smoke so I haven't gone in.  Not like I think it's worth my while or anything.

I get queasy eating in the Cuban restaurants which have pictures of Fidel on the wall.  I see enough of those @#$@# Che Guevarra images spray-painted on the bridges ... do I have to see commies every where I go?  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH? So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood? Godwin's Law

touche.

How about

"So you would be ok with someone wearing a green armband (signals support of the PLO) in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?"

Quoted: Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH? So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?

The guy was proud to walk around in his IDF shirt until...  he realized that he might offend some arabs.   (OH NO!!)   Instead standing tall like a man, he slithered out the door, horrified that he might have offended someone.

I'm not going to change my shirt everytime I walk into some fucking store.  Instead, how about if the people in the store go back to the filthy shitheap country they came from?  That way they won't be so offended.

You do realize that the muslims hate America and Christianity also?  Do you understand that we are next on the list?

Do what you want.  Just make sure you don't offend any arabs today.  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH? So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood? The guy was proud to walk around in his IDF shirt until...  he realized that he might offend some arabs.   (OH NO!!)   Instead standing tall like a man, he slithered out the door, horrified that he might have offended someone. I'm not going to change my shirt everytime I walk into some fucking store.  Instead, how about if the people in the store go back to the filthy shitheap country they came from?  That way they won't be so offended. You do realize that the muslims hate America and Christianity also?  Do you understand that we are next on the list? Do what you want.  Just make sure you don't offend any arabs today.   www.stripersonline.com/images/WTC_9.11.jpg

You use the word Arab and Muslim interchangably.
You are in dire need of education on both Islam and the Middle East.
Come back when you can debate on the level of someone like Longrifletactical or pzjgr.
They at least have an educated opinion.


You didn't answer my question.
You stated that

the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization.

I asked you

So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?

and

you would be cool with someone wearing a green armband (signals support of the PLO) in a primarily Jewish neighborhood?

Since you feel that it is not inappropriate for one to show support for a political or cultural organization (I happen to agree with you), do you feel the same way when the organization or sentiment would be one you are opposed to?

GET YOUR OFFICIAL HOOKAH BAR CLOTHING HERE........

Hookah Bar Clothing

I've gone to a few arguili "hookah" pubs and always have a great time, sit and smoke, drink arabic coffee and play backgammon. Its a calming experience and quite enjoyable. I bought a couple arguili's on my recent trip to Lebanon and smoke them quite a bit. Double Apple is the smoke to get.

Oh yay!  I love those places!  My favorite flavor is called MARLBORO REDS.  WTF

Smoking is so bad and you're not supposed to smoke, you're an outcast if you do, but now it's OK to do it if you go to the "popular" spot?  I can understand the idea of wanting to do something different and being with your friends and all and relaxing, but other than that, the concept sounds stupid as hell IMO.

If they had one in my area, it would be like Illinigunner21 talked about.  All the people that would show up would be the ones making a face if they saw someone smoking a pipe/cig/cigar.  Reminds me of the people that get a little bitty tattoo so it can barely be seen, they don't even like it, they just get it to be "cool."

FUCK BEING COOL!

There are just waaayyyyy too many people in my area that try way too hard to look/act "cool".  Hardly anybody is their own person anymore.  I will just smoke my cancer causing cigs in defiance of Hookah Parlour patrons everywhere!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: fuck those asshole arab savages. your son should stop worrying about his shirt and start worrying about his country being destroyed by the idea that it's "inappropriate" to show support for a political or cultural organization. any place that i have to check my shirt before i go in should be burned to the ground. HOW MUCH OF THIS FOCKING CRAP DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH? So you would be cool with someone wearing a Nazi armband in a primarily Jewish neighborhood? The guy was proud to walk around in his IDF shirt until...  he realized that he might offend some arabs.   (OH NO!!)   Instead standing tall like a man, he slithered out the door, horrified that he might have offended someone. I'm not going to change my shirt everytime I walk into some fucking store.  Instead, how about if the people in the store go back to the filthy shitheap country they came from?  That way they won't be so offended. You do realize that the muslims hate America and Christianity also?  Do you understand that we are next on the list? Do what you want.  Just make sure you don't offend any arabs today.   www.stripersonline.com/images/WTC_9.11.jpg

first you are assuming facts not in evidence.  (Like it was probably the last clean t-shirt he had at the time.) But being the case that you are across the country feel free to insult my son.  Nobody available to stomp your pissy ass.  You probably don't change your shirt more than once a week anyway.  You can show us the real size of your balls.  Why don't you wear a KKK shirt into a few bars in West Philly, I'm sure everybody there will respect your views.

Your post is a classic example of the axiom that profanity is the crutch of a mental cripple.

BTW, I don't think Godwin's Law was violated.  He didn't call anybody a Nazi.

managed 2 of them in dallas, before the owner's incompetence got to be more than i could bear.

great feel to the place, though.  if you know anything about native american cultures, it's much akin to sharing a pipe there.  it isn't about nicotine, or being cool, but simply a way to put the worries of the day on hold for 30min.  it's about friends, old and new and potential.

i'll put it this way--one of my valets was palestinian, and another was iranian.  and yet these guys would smoke a bowl with US servicemen and everyone would be relaxed and happy.  no one worries about politics while the coal is burning.  we all could speak freely.  those times changed some minds, and i think you all understand how rare that is.  one of the neatest moments of my time there was when ben, the iranian, came running into the club one night grinning from ear to ear.

he had just passed his citizenship exams.

All you people saying that Americans shouldn't patronize hookah bars because they're middle-eastern in origin better not be drinking beer. That originated in Mesopotamia (Iraq, Turkey, and Syria). Algebra had its earliest origins in Egypt, Babylon, and India. You can't eat Gyros and Kabob either, nor falafel, curry, kubideh, hommus, most flatbreads, etc.

I just can't believe how racist some people are.

Anyway, I've never been, but several of my friends go often and love it, so I need to go with them sometime.