Hookahs: Who the Hell is Smoking These?
23 Comments Published by Joel November 9th, 2006 in Smoking. Share This
Hookahs—a.ka. “narghile,” “shisha,” and “burblery”—are they invading your midwestern town? Every article I’ve read about the burgeoning trend—in Chicago, for instance—name-checks New York, as if around every corner is a lounge filled with reclining twenty-somethings, puffing lazily from the hoses of an ornate water-pipe. I mean, that is New York, but the hookah is usually filled with dank bud and ground-up fingernails, not fruity, flavored tobacco.
Somehow hookah smoking gets past the city-wide indoor smoking ban, despite the fact that the tobacco smoked is just as carcinogenic as regular cigarettes. (Studies vary on the degree of harm from hookah smoke, but come on; it’s still tobacco, which is plenty harmful all by itself.)
My girlfriend fondly recalls smoking a hookah above a Mediterranean cafe in Kansas City a few years ago, but the recent implication is that hookah bars are the new thing to do for those too young to legally drink booze or those looking for a social occasion that is more relaxed. Yet I don’t know of a single person who actually goes to hookah bars with any regularity. Is this a real trend or just the false hype of a slow news day?
Are you going to post anything on cigars?
Oh and I know of several hookah bars but I have never been in any more than once.
I only know of two hookah bars in Kansas City, and the one your girlfriend went to is the only one I can name.
I guess I’m not aware of any burgeoning trend either. The hookah is pleasant, but about as pleasant as smoking a tobacco pipe, which are much easier to carry around.
there’s a few hookah bars around here in dallas. the general consensus is that it’s a nice place to get some friends together, have a few drinks, and smoke some tobacco. it’s a once or twice a year thing and not more.
I have some friends that have one at their house. It was fun the first couple of times but now it’s just sitting on a shelf. Honestly, I kind of like it better up there.
I was introduced to a hookah bar by some Germans whilst doing a semester abroad in Paris. When I came back to the states, I was craving the experience and found a local tea bazaar with an excellent variety of teas, and a modest selection of tobacco flavors for the hookahs. The oddest hookah bar I’ve ever been to was in Radford, VA (Home of Radford University, whose official school color is plaid). It was basically a bar; pool tables, draft beer, dim lighting, stage and digital jukebox, but with hookahs available, and a wide variety of flavors. I’ve also been told that there are several in the Metro DC area, but I haven’t had a chance to visit since moving here.
It is a great social thing to do, get some friends, drink some tea, and smoke some shisha. Its pretty enjoyable to me anywhere from 4-6 times a year.
I’ve gotta say hookah is definitely becoming a big thing amoung the 20 something crowd. I used to smoke cigars, but I started going to hookah bars a couple years ago, mainly up at college in central Pennsylvania. That hookah lounge did seem to be run by a bunch of former potheads trying to go legit, but it was relaxing, cheap, and very social.
Since then I’ve moved down to the Washington DC my friends and I go just as often. Washington DC, Northern VA, and MD is full of hookah bars, most ran by Persian, Indian, or Arab families. These are great establishments, really a pleasure, and almost always full.
I’ve gotta say hookah is a really nice, relaxing, enjoyable way to spend an evening. I recommend it to anyone, cigerette smokers, cigars smokers, non smokers.Bars are great, but gets expensive and is often impractical when work beckons in the morning.
It’s not really a home use kind of thing since you need to use special coals taken from a fire to get the right taste. I really like the apple tobacco from them but hate all the places in NYC where they have them. There used to be a great place in the Haight Ashberry in SF where you could lay back in the front window with a hookah and lament the fact that you were staring at a Ben and Jerry’s. Don’t know if it’s still there though.
Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens has the best Hookah bars in New York. For 3-4$ you can have a nice hookah in a more traditional atmosphere than those 15-20$ hookahs you pay for in the village. If you’re interested in purchasing a hookah, I’d recommend any deli in the Egyptian neighborhood of your town as it’ll be a fraction of those sold in head shops.
As for home usage, I find its nice on special occasions (its such a pain to clean properly.) A suggestion I make to every hookah owner is to invest in a flower “pin frog”. (Google it) Poking holes in the tinfoil over the bowl is usually pretty annoying, a 1″ pin frog works well in making uniform holes in one shot.
we smoked the shit out of these in Kuwait, and it was quite relaxing/enjoyable. There are bars here in Houston, but i have not been to any of them.
Hey Mike. I’m from Houston. Hookah culture is big here ( well, relatively) . Especially on Rice University. I smoke mine about once a month with girlfriend/friends. Its great.
College student here @ UT Austin and hookah is a very trendy thing to do. I made my own, and smoke it every month or two. If you were going to buy your own tobacco, I highly recommend Ramman brand, and I can only recommend mint. Be sure to put ice in the chamber as well!
thaddeus: The one I’ve been to more than once in the Dallas area is that place, Velvet Hookah, in Deep Ellum. It’s decent, nothing special. The pillows made it feel like an upscale opium den, without any opium.
I’m a grad student at the University of Denver and there is a hookah bar about a block from school. Its incredibly popular for the under 21 crowd as well as a place to go after the bars close. The few other hookah bars in Denver are near colleges to get the younger crowd.
The Mediterranean restaurant near my house has hookahs, but they are used out on the patio (which is tented and heated in winter, since Texas winters aren’t particularly brutal) because of our local smoking ban. I see a fair number of community college kids out there, but I’m on the edge of the suburbs/sticks so I can’t fairly call that “trendy.”
you know that i soke ” sheshah ” every day here in my country ” K.S.a ” it’s become like cigarettes to most of saudi guys … it come’s with a lot of flavers for e.g. apple ,strobary and many more .Sheshah came from egypt
they broght it to the gulf befor 25 year and they have for around 90 year . Just remmber that every new thing will be
wierd “stringer”to us .
it was a good article .
I used to have 3 hookahs, they are pretty awesome and are useful when you want to blow a girls mind when you want to get laid. Classy and they taste so damn good.
I actually own a four man hookah: hookah bars have long been a pleasurable past-time in Paris and Berlin, not to mention the Middle East. It’s not a recent trend, really: there’s been a hookah joint in Harvard Square for at least a decade.
Possibly she was at Cafe Rumi. We have another club in KC that has hookah Sundays and a few girls I know have a gig bellydancing that night. Delicious hookahs and great music is something I’ve been craving for a while, so we go often.
Emera
I am from California and in the past couple years hookah has taken off… there are hookah bars and cafes all over, its just a relaxing way to hang out with friends and laugh and have a good time….What happened was guys in the military started bringing them home from iraq and other countries and then the cafes popped up and other stores that sell the supplies and wham!
Who ever wrote this article is a total conservative fag bag. I live by DU and I would have to say there are only a few good hookah bars in Denver. There is an excellent one off university and Wesley tho, and it’s pretty new. Hookah bars are allowed to be open because they make all their profit from tobacco. That means they are allowed to have people smoke indoors. 2nd I would like to say a pack of cigs is worse anyplace compared to hookah. This cock thinks he can demonize tobacco in the widwest? I don’t think so. I’d say he’s an ignorant motherf**ker who thinks he’s above people who smoke. Thanks for listening to my rant. And don’t listen to this guy… please.
Before anyone put there two since in to the hookah lifestyle make sure you check out the lounge first. Find a lounge near you at http://www.hookahone.com under lounge directory.
your a dumba** “but the hookah is usually filled with dank bud and ground-up fingernails, not fruity, flavored tobacco”
you so stupid to make a blog about this
hookah came from the middle east and was originally smoked with flavored tobacco
learn your shit
i think i speak for everyone when i say this guy is just hate’n on hookah