Brooklyn, NY – Bay Ridge civic leaders are demanding that the city douse the neighborhood’s allegedly burdensome hookah bars and cafes.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Opponents say that the Arab-influenced hangout spots create a health hazard for patrons; are attracting teenagers who should be in smoke-free environments; and are causing a nuisance for nearby residents, who are forced to endure a sickly sweet smog produced by the water pipes, which have cultural significance in the Arab world.
“It’s hooking kids and wasting their time,” said Habib Joudeh, a member of Community Board 10 and board member with the Arab American Association on Fifth and Ovington Avenues, whose members have been complaining about the secondhand smoke produced by Ramala Coffee Shop, a neighboring hookah lounge. “God only knows what they are loading in these things.”
No deity need be evoked: Hookah bar owners say that their smokeable mix, called shisha, consists of dried fruits, molasses, honey and sometimes tobacco.
After some local complaints, the community board voted unanimously last week for a series of measures that members hope will lead to more regulation at hookahs bars, and the creation of a protocol to better enforce and perform testing at existing bars.
The city’s landmark Smoke-Free Air Act does cover hookah bars — if there’s tobacco in the pipes. But the Health Department conceded that it rarely undertakes tobacco testing because it is expensive.
“The Health Department responds to complaints regarding these establishments in the same way as with all other food-service establishments,” said a spokeswoman. “If they are found in violation of the Smoke-Free Air Act, they may be issued violations and suspension or revocation of their permit.”
A manager at Your House café and hookah lounge at Fourth Avenue and 69th Street said the business makes every effort to eliminate secondhand smoke, pointing to a ventilator that carries the cloud “three stories” up.
“All the people around here are our friends,” he said. “We’ve never received any complaints from our neighbors.”
The manager, who refused to give his name, claimed the smokeable material is “flavored tobacco — with no nicotine.” The city last year passed legislation banning the sale of flavored tobacco products — but tobacco used in pipes and hookahs was exempted.
Your House offers shisha in a tasty array of flavors, including mint, watermelon, strawberry, pineapple, and apple.
Officials admitted that they are unsure what action to take, but Joudeh, the Community Board 10 member, demanded a new Prohibition.
“[The city should] take out the hookahs in the cafes and lounges and [the bars can] have games people can play if they want to waste their time,” he said.
Ohh nooo!! What will all the kids in Flatbush do without these hookah places. Motzei Shabbos is the hookah night hang out for a lot of guys.
OMG! This is bad news! Its a Hooka Bar for a reason, if you dont like dont come in!
This should be assur for all, not just teens. When these bochurim should be sitting at the rebbe’s tisch still singing zmiros, they are running off to a “hookah bar”?? What a shanda.
It’s about time they’re doing something about this. These hookah bars have been popping up all over the place.
What happened to our free country?
What’s with all the nargilahs all over the place all of a sudden?
hookah joints and bars, thats all you see opening up all over teh place.
Answer
from Richard D. Hurt, M.D.
Hookah smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking. Also known as narghile, shisha and goza, a hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece. The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke. Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.
While research about hookah smoking is still emerging, evidence shows that it poses many dangers:
* Hookah smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). In fact, hookah smokers are exposed to more carbon monoxide and smoke than are cigarette smokers.
* As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease and other serious illnesses.
* Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cAnswer
from Richard D. Hurt, M.D.
Hookah smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking. Also known as narghile, shisha and goza, a hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece. The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke. Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.
While research about hookah smoking is still emerging, evidence shows that it poses many dangers:
* Hookah smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). In fact, hookah smokers are exposed to more carbon monoxide and smoke than are cigarette smokers.
* As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease and other serious illnesses.
* Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoking does, possibly leading to tobacco dependence.
* Hookah smoke poses dangers associated with secondhand smoke.
* Hookah smoking by pregnant women can result in low birth weight babies.
* Hookah pipes used in hookah bars and cafes may not be cleaned properly, risking the spread of infectious diseases.
I am a big fan of hookah and I am a cigar smoker myself. I think that banning hookah bars is ridiculous and that they should be allowed to serve their products so long as they follow all regulations on tobacco. Nobody under 18 et cetera. Hookahs are meant for smoking tobacco and thus contain nicotine. It’s nothing too abstract to think that responsible adults should be able to enjoy an indulgence in an establishment devoted to it without being harped on for corrupting the air and befouling the earth. If you want to ban tobacco in all forms (regardless of the differences) for it’s health risks then alcohol should be next. Alcohol causes more deaths each year in non-users than tobacco ever will.
I have blog where I review hookah products and write articles about hookah related issues. It’s over at http://www.buyhookah.com. Check it out.
I live directly across from that pipe at Your House Cafe that vents the smoke “up 3 stories”, and the smoke is coming right into my apartment. I don’t deny people the right to smoke this garbage, but I shouldn’t be forced to breathe this in my own home. They also leave their doors open so everyone on the street and passing by have to breathe it in as well. If the owner thinks all residents around his shop are “his friends” he would be more considerate and not endanger their heatlh.