Teenagers across North Jersey are flocking to lounges and nightclubs to smoke water pipes, called hookahs, stuffed with fruit-laced tobacco — a fad that has spawned new businesses and set off clashes over health-code violations, underage smoking and rowdy late-night parties.
"We're finding a lot of 14-year-olds from Paramus and Ramsey coming down here to smoke," said Ralph Gambatese, Paterson's chief license inspector. "We call the parents and they're shocked to hear it. We'd rather they come to shop."
Local officials in North Jersey, who are just waking up to the trend, have revived the enforcement of a statewide indoor smoking ban to stem a surge in code violations and 3 a.m. brawls at some hookah clubs.
A lounge on lower Main Street in Hackensack closed six months ago after the city Health Department found several code violations, including indoor smoking and the sale of tobacco to underage customers. In Lyndhurst, health officials last week ordered the new Sultan Hookah to stop serving the pipes indoors, forcing the owner to close until an outdoor patio is arranged. Nine months ago, the Lyndhurst Health Department issued the hookah lounge a certificate of satisfaction.
Fast facts
In a centuries-old Middle East tradition, the shallow bowl of a tall pipe, the hookah, is filled with shisha, a foil-wrapped mixture of tobacco, honey and molasses that’s heated under lighted coals. The smoker draws on a hose attached to the base; smoke descends to be cooled in a water chamber before reaching the smoker.
Many new cafes in North Jersey replace the tobacco bowl with a hollowed grapefruit half for flavor, and can charge $12 to $15 per person for an hour-long session.
The risks
Though some fans say it’s safer than cigarettes, tobacco smoke in hookahs is no less toxic than cigarette smoke and no safer for being drawn through water, health experts say. In fact, hookah may be more hazardous because smokers take a greater volume of smoke than cigarette smokers, say experts, who also warn about infectious disease spread by sharing the pipes.
The law
New Jersey’s Smoke-Free Act of 2006 prohibits smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. Establishments can apply for exemptions.
Lyndhurst Commissioner Brian Haggerty, who oversees the Health Department, said he was unaware of how the indoor smoking ban applied to hookah lounges. "I was very upset for the owner that this had to happen — that he had to lose his business."
Once a sort of happy-hour release for Muslim men who smoke harsh tobacco for hours over sweet coffee and hands of cards, hookah smoking in public establishments has acutely changed in recent years. Its fans are far younger, diverse and multiplying as quickly as tobacco flavors — such as mango and double apple — evolve.
Grocery stores became hookah nightclubs. College campuses from New York to Denver adopted the trend. In North Jersey, lounges stretch from the Arabic and Turkish hubs in Paterson and Clifton to the suburban streets of Hackensack, Rutherford, Englewood and Lyndhurst.
Paramus native Kali Trahanas never smoked cigarettes but during high school she fell in the love with the hookah at Rutherford's Eros Cafe. She connected with the fruity flavors, the "cozy" atmosphere and the unique venue for under-21 socializing.
"It was kind of our little niche," said Trahanas, now 22. "When we were younger, we couldn't drink, so I guess it started out as something else to do."
A 2008 state Health Department survey found that 10 percent of high school students smoke tobacco from a hookah. GASP, a statewide anti-smoking group, estimates that rate has since increased to almost 12 percent. Health experts say hookah tobacco is no less hazardous than cigarettes.
source:northjersey.com
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"We're finding a lot of 14-year-olds from Paramus and Ramsey coming down here to smoke," said Ralph Gambatese, Paterson's chief license inspector. "We call the parents and they're shocked to hear it. We'd rather they come to shop."
Local officials in North Jersey, who are just waking up to the trend, have revived the enforcement of a statewide indoor smoking ban to stem a surge in code violations and 3 a.m. brawls at some hookah clubs.
A lounge on lower Main Street in Hackensack closed six months ago after the city Health Department found several code violations, including indoor smoking and the sale of tobacco to underage customers. In Lyndhurst, health officials last week ordered the new Sultan Hookah to stop serving the pipes indoors, forcing the owner to close until an outdoor patio is arranged. Nine months ago, the Lyndhurst Health Department issued the hookah lounge a certificate of satisfaction.
Fast facts
In a centuries-old Middle East tradition, the shallow bowl of a tall pipe, the hookah, is filled with shisha, a foil-wrapped mixture of tobacco, honey and molasses that’s heated under lighted coals. The smoker draws on a hose attached to the base; smoke descends to be cooled in a water chamber before reaching the smoker.
Many new cafes in North Jersey replace the tobacco bowl with a hollowed grapefruit half for flavor, and can charge $12 to $15 per person for an hour-long session.
The risks
Though some fans say it’s safer than cigarettes, tobacco smoke in hookahs is no less toxic than cigarette smoke and no safer for being drawn through water, health experts say. In fact, hookah may be more hazardous because smokers take a greater volume of smoke than cigarette smokers, say experts, who also warn about infectious disease spread by sharing the pipes.
The law
New Jersey’s Smoke-Free Act of 2006 prohibits smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. Establishments can apply for exemptions.
Lyndhurst Commissioner Brian Haggerty, who oversees the Health Department, said he was unaware of how the indoor smoking ban applied to hookah lounges. "I was very upset for the owner that this had to happen — that he had to lose his business."
Once a sort of happy-hour release for Muslim men who smoke harsh tobacco for hours over sweet coffee and hands of cards, hookah smoking in public establishments has acutely changed in recent years. Its fans are far younger, diverse and multiplying as quickly as tobacco flavors — such as mango and double apple — evolve.
Grocery stores became hookah nightclubs. College campuses from New York to Denver adopted the trend. In North Jersey, lounges stretch from the Arabic and Turkish hubs in Paterson and Clifton to the suburban streets of Hackensack, Rutherford, Englewood and Lyndhurst.
Paramus native Kali Trahanas never smoked cigarettes but during high school she fell in the love with the hookah at Rutherford's Eros Cafe. She connected with the fruity flavors, the "cozy" atmosphere and the unique venue for under-21 socializing.
"It was kind of our little niche," said Trahanas, now 22. "When we were younger, we couldn't drink, so I guess it started out as something else to do."
A 2008 state Health Department survey found that 10 percent of high school students smoke tobacco from a hookah. GASP, a statewide anti-smoking group, estimates that rate has since increased to almost 12 percent. Health experts say hookah tobacco is no less hazardous than cigarettes.
source:northjersey.com
Welcome to your online Headshop and one online-one-stop shop for smoke shop online & online smoke shop quality smoking products. For more info visit http://www.smokewire.com/
