The Manhattan Times

Hookah nights a growing trend in local establishments

by Adam Garrett-Clark

Hookah smoking, the trendy social activity for young people across college campuses and major cities, has drifted like a smoke ring to Northern Manhattan. The ornate Middle Eastern water pipes used primarily to smoke flavored tobacco are quickly catching fire in local restaurants and lounges as an added element to ambience, or in the form of weekly “hookah nights.” But if health inspectors begin to take notice, this growing gimmick may go up in smoke.

Accountant Miguel Acosta noticed possible legal issues with the novel, centuries-old tradition when he recently opened his own sports bar, Mimosa Café on Sherman Avenue. Looking ahead, Acosta invested in 20 hookahs, decorating every table of his bar with the hosed smokers. “It’s basically like a fad,” he said, noticing a good number of his associates in the area moving to capitalize on the growing demand for flavored fumes.

The problem is the aromatic smoke floating from uptown socialites’ lips is in violation of the New York City Smoke Free Air Act, which prohibits tobacco smoke in all restaurants and bars.

The common misconceptions that hookah smoke is healthier than cigarettes and that it’s exempt from the law because of its connections to religious ceremonies compounded with its rapid rise in use, has many people scratching their heads on its legality.

Scott Wexler, executive director of the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association said he had no idea what the proper route to legal hookah use was.

With an added interest to better serve his clients as an accountant, several of which are restaurants and bars in the area who offer hookah, Acosta did his own research. What he found was cloudy at best. “It all depends on who you speak with,” he said, and most of the people he spoke with had barely heard of a hookah.

After leaving his name and number with a 311 operator, his inquiry into the laws regarding hookahs in city bars was returned by a hookah-selling company.

With little help there, Acosta looked into it himself. He said all an owner needs to fend off health inspectors are retail tobacco licenses issued by the city and a second by the state. Showing these licenses to a health inspector, he advises his clients, should be enough. “It all depends on the inspector,” Acosta said. Still, technically smoking indoors is a violation.

According to a City Health Department spokesperson, the agency regularly inspects hookah cafes just as it would any other establishment. It will investigate complaints and will issue violations. Violations can range from $200 to $2,000 based on the severity and history of offenses.

A common misconception is that hookah smoke is not as bad as cigarettes or cigar smoke. Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that water pipe smoke may actually expose the smoker to more smoke over a longer period of time than cigarettes. The WHO estimates that one hookah session which typically can last from 20-80 minutes is like smoking 100 or more cigarettes.

There is however, one magic ingredient, if removed, which would make everything legal – tobacco. Traditionally sheesha, the western term for what is smoked in a hookah, is a blend of about 80 percent tobacco mixed with molasses and fruit or other flavorings.  There is a newly developed herbal sheesha that contains just the molasses and flavoring, which the Health Department says does not violate the law. However herbal sheesha is less common and most hookah users prefer the light-headed feeling they get from tobacco.

Every Tuesday after 11 p.m. for the past year at Guadalupe, the Mexican eatery on W. 207^th Street, owner Victor Potter brings out his hookahs for a weekly hookah night. He hires a disc jockey for the event and pays a promoter to spread the word through announcements at clubs, text blasts and social networking sites.

Originally Potter was hesitant when a manager suggested the idea of hosting hookah nights, but the decision has been lucrative.

After an initial investment of a couple thousand dollars for hookahs, the cost of flavored tobacco, charcoal, and disposable mouth pieces is minimal – less than 10 percent of gross sales, according to Acosta.

In addition, Potter is able to sell more drinks which yield a higher profit margin than food and can normally earn the same as he would on a Friday or Saturday night. When asked why he didn’t offer hookah every night, he said the other days of the week have already been claimed by other venues in the neighborhood.

But owners don’t really have to worry about the health department enforcing this law, says Wexler of the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association. They should, however, worry about the State Liquor Authority. The agency has a history of enforcing laws outside of their domain, he said. 

“More than half of the violations that the SLA gives are not violations of Alcohol Beverage Control law but violations that are not their own,” Wexler said.

In the event of a violation, owners still have the option to protest in the administrative tribunal. And according to Acosta, there have been instances of violations being dismissed, based on his research.

Some owners of hookah cafes downtown, Acosta found, see the violations as part of the cost of doing business, eating an occasional fine here and there to stay in the hookah game. “You know, a lot of people are taking their chances.”

 The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.