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Special to Clay Today

GREEN COVE SPRINGS — the Clay CHD Tobacco Prevention Program and the Tobacco Free Clay Partnership warn parents about the presence of Hookahand K2 smoking among youth and young adults in Clay County as another avenue to consume flavored tobacco products.

What is a hookah?

· a “hookah” (also known as “narghile” or “sheesha”) is a water pipe used for smoking tobacco. This practice originated in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

· Hookah tobacco is often flavored with molasses, fruit pulp or honey. This provides it with a sweeter smell and makes the taste more appealing, especially to young adults.

· “Hookah bars” have been popping up across the U.S., especially on or near college campuses.

· In a typical hookah bar, patrons can purchase flavored tobacco and rent a water pipe with which to smoke it. Many hookah bars also sell food and drinks. Hookah bars appealing to young adults may sell alcohol as well, although more traditional hookah bars do not.

· Smoking tobacco with hookah pipes is not safer than smoking cigarettes (although this is a commonmyth). During a single session, a hookah smoker may inhale as much smoke as if he had smoked 100 cigarettes. Hookah tobacco and smoke contain nicotine and all of the same cancer-causing agents found in other tobacco products.

· Hookah bars are increasingly found near college campuses and some high schools where they are targeting a young adult market.

The picture below was taken at a local restaurant popular with teens. it features buying hookahs and hookah tobacco.

What is K2?

· K2 is also known as Spice or synthetic cannabis (marijuana). it is an unregulated mixture of dried herbs purported to give a high similar to marijuana.

· it is sold in places such as smoke shops and other alternative stores as incense or potpourri. K2 is reportedly being smoked through the Hookah water pipe by some teens.

· K2 can cause psychotropic hallucinations, fast heart beat, dangerously elevated blood pressure, pale skin and vomiting. In some cases it can cause seizures.

· the Drug Enforcement Agency considers K2 to be a “drug of concern”. In 2010, the US Air Force banned possession and use of K2 among its service members.

· the Tobacco Free Clay partnership encourages citizens to talk with their local elected officials about the benefits of a policy to restrict access to all types of flavored tobacco products.

· for more information on how to become involved with local policy change or on tips to how to talk with your teen about smoking or marijuana use, please visit: www.TobaccoFreeClay.com or www.ClayActionCoalition.com.

Clay Today

The Burning Tree / Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki is such a nice place to spend time because of the large number of small, locally owned businesses, most of which are restaurants. Non-food-related retail outlets are tucked here and there, but until recently, the neighborhood lacked what some people find really convenient to have around–a head shop.

About a month ago, Bryce Bergheim opened The Burning Tree, a hookah bar/head shop/chill spot wedged between two restaurants in the heart of the Waialae business district.

The Burning Tree features standard head shop merch and a wide selection of Dali-esque artwork created by local artist Loren Hoopiiaina Shaw.

What sets The Burning Tree apart, however, is owner Bergheim’s vision to make the store a totally chill destination. His approach: at the store’s front are two circular tables with rather large hookahs resting in the middle of each–and these bad boys are for using.

With a reservation and a $20 set-up fee, which includes coals and one round of smoke-age, you can kick it and enjoy some quality shisha (flavored tobacco) right there. While you and your friends smoke, watch a DVD on the store’s flat screen TV, play some XBOX or pump tunes on the sound system. in other words, just chill.

The store has about 17 to 18 flavors of shisha to choose from, and all the coals you need are included in the fee. Each additional bowl costs $10, and if you need help getting those crazy coals lit, the shop keeper is there to help.

Maybe you like smoking hookah, maybe you don’t. Maybe you find value in a neighborhood head shop, maybe not. regardless, the store brings retail diversity, and that’s something to be stoked on.

Puff, puff, give

The main thoroughfares of this Detroit suburb, like those of many Michigan cities, aren’t as busy as they used to be. Thousands of jobs shed locally by the Ford Motor Co. have forced smaller businesses to shutter and left fewer customers for those that remain.

Yet there is one bright spot _ a bustling stretch of Warren Avenue where Mideastern-style cafes, markets and shops provide a taste of Beirut or Damascus for one of the largest Arab-American communities in the U.S.

This scene is now clouded by a new state law that bans a popular feature of the local eateries _ the hookah, or Arabic water pipe filled with flavored tobacco.

Come may 1, when the law goes into effect, Dearborn’s cafes will have to choose between serving food or allowing smoking. Hookahs will be welcome only in specialty tobacco stores.

Tough tobacco restrictions have been imposed in many states in recent years, threatening some smoky nightspots but usually leaving the local social life unchanged.

But in perhaps no other city does the aroma of fragrant smoke, the bubbling of water pipes and the tang of Arab dishes blend so intrinsically with the local lifestyle and economy.

In a relatively small business district, more than two dozen cafes offer hookah. “You go down on a summer night, you see people outside and smoking and talking and eating hummus _ it’s a very unique type of picture,” said Warren David, a marketing expert who works with Arab-American businesses.

He and others wonder how this vestige of the old country will accommodate the arrival of modern public health standards. some local Arab community organizations have been preaching about the hazards of secondhand smoke but also mourn the social impact.

“In our culture, alcohol is forbidden, and this is an area where there are a lot of Muslims,” said Latifeh Sabbagh, a social worker and officer with the local Young Muslim Association. Smoking hookah “is something for them to do. It’s their winding down.”

Hookah smoking came to area with the first waves of Mideastern immigrants in the early 1900s. but the cafe scene here really took off in recent years as Arab-Americans became a full third of Dearborn’s population of 100,000. the city also has a huge mosque and an Arab-American cultural museum.

In Detroit, Warren Avenue is rife with vacant storefronts and empty lots. but as the thoroughfare enters Dearborn, the streetlife brightens with large Arabic-language signs, strolling people and the chatter of different dialects.

In the cafes, the smokers choose from as many as 30 or 40 tobaccos in a variety of flavors, such as coconut, mint, cinnamon and even cafe latte. the blend is heated in the hookah pipe, drawn through a cooling bowl of water, and inhaled through a hose.

Often, older men smoke hookah during the day while younger people come in at night. they talk, smoke and enjoy plates of Mideastern food. some customers say that smoking in a tobacco shop wouldn’t be the same.

“Today, we were just driving through the area and I thought, ‘Hey, I want to get a smoke in, and we can get (food) while we’re at it,’” said 28-year-old Timur Nersesov as he enjoyed a plate of hummus, an Orange Crush and a hookah filled with rose and mint tobacco at Arabica Bistro.

Mike Berry, owner of the 360 Lounge and Grill, says he can’t decide whether to keep his hookahs or his food service. Hookah, which generally costs $10 to $15 a bowl, represents about 60 percent of his business; food is 40 percent. if he lost either, “I’m shutting down,” he said.

He and Akram Allos, a tobacco and hookah wholesaler who owns Sinbad’s Cafe, are gathering petition signatures to protest the new law.

But Joe Loush, the owner of Arabica who emigrated from Lebanon in 1977, has opened a smoke-only shop next door to his restaurant. he said the hookah scene may be another old world tradition that surrenders to modern American culture. In the Arab-American business community, he said, “always, always, we (react) after the bill passes, which is too late.”

Michigan hookah fanciers fume about smoking ban

Hey! I just went to a hookah lounge for my first time the other day and it was awesome! I know it is flavored tobacco but thats about it. Can you please tell me in detail exactly what it is and how it works? What the water is for, the coals, all that stuff. is it bad for you? It is equally or less bad for you than cigarettes? Like what is the equivalent of cigarettes that you smoke when you smoke a hookah? Thanks for your help!
Holy crap are you serious? I didnt think it was that bad…

Hookah Lounge?