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Smoking lounges on Long Beach council agenda again  

In March, the council instituted a yearlong moratorium on new cigar and hookah lounges so that city staff could refine regulations for the businesses. City health officials and attorneys say they are expecting to have the new ordinance ready this month, but a local smoking opponent is concerned that Uranga's committee meeting may circumvent the health officials' considerations.

Melinda Cotton, of the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Long Beach, said Monday that Uranga's request to have the Economic Development and Finance Committee, of which Uranga is a member, take on the issue appears to be "a total end run" around the Department of Health and Human Services. Uranga calls for the smoking lounge exemptions to go before the committee "for discussion and formulating a recommendation to the City Council," according to the meeting agenda.

"What this appears to do is to put this totally in the hands of the Economic Development and Finance Committee," Cotton said.

Uranga said Monday that isn't the case.

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Hookah lounge to open on Evansville's East Side 

Business partners Khaled Elkhal and Mohammed Metoui plan to bring a hookah lounge to 519 N. Green River Road for reflecting on the ancient hookah smoking practice, which originated in India and spread across the Middle East.

The business site is located in a strip mall, behind the Acropolis Greek Restaurant.

Called Charazad Hookah Lounge, the Mediterranean-themed operation will feature hookahs, or water pipes, for use in smoking, said Elkhal. . . .

The facility will seat fewer than 50 and will provide an air filtration system that meet proper air standards.

No one under 18 years old will be permitted to enter the establishment, Elkhal said.

City Attorney David Jones said there is no absolute ban on smoking in local restaurants and bars as long as the businesses follow the city's smoking ordinance, which Elkhal said Charazad plans to do.

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31st Street neighbors wary of hookah bar 

Although thoughts about a potential hookah lounge on 31st Street are mixed, most of the neighbors are of a single mind: They don't want it.

On Oct. 22, news of the plans to open Braison's Hookah Lounge at 143 S. 30th St. became public when owners Brandon Bowman and Adam Gregg had to go before the Newark Zoning Board of Appeals to ensure the lounge would be allowed in the medium intensity business zoning district. The lounge was expected to open today.

The board approved the establishment, but neighbors say the story in The Advocate was the first they heard of the plans.

"My main concern is that they passed it without anybody's input that lives there," resident Todd Thomas said.

Residents fear the hours and products might make the lounge comparable to a bar.

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EDDIE: Open letter to the Tobacco Workgroup  

We write this open letter on behalf of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a campus group that promotes sensible and effective approaches to policies regarding tobacco and other drugs. Naturally, our members are concerned about the efforts to ban smoking on the Morningside campus. More important than our stance on the issue, however, is our concern with the process by which this policy change may take place.

As we understand, a survey to gauge student opinion was sent last spring, receiving less-than-impressive levels of response. In addition, a town hall meeting was held last week. While all attendees of the meeting opposed the current proposal, according to the straw poll survey conducted, the turnout was still relatively low.

We believe this reaction is a result of the timing and advertisement of the e-mail and town hall meeting, and not indicative of the opinions of the student body. . . .

Despite what the town hall meeting and initial survey might suggest, our group maintains that the student body is far from apathetic. A few weeks ago, our group hosted an event on the steps of Low to raise awareness of the proposed ban. In just over one hour, we were able to collect the names and signatures of 75 students who opposed the proposal. We believe that our ability to collect signatures at such a high rate—more than one per minute—demonstrates that there is strong campus interest about this issue. The problem is that students are unaware of any ways to vocalize their thoughts to the administration and the Tobacco Workgroup.

Given the importance of this proposal and the large impact it would have on smokers and nonsmokers alike, as well as for cultural groups on campus that smoke hookah, we would like to open the path for dialogue about the proposal between the student body, the administration, and the Tobacco Workgroup.

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Hookah lounge hopes to open in Newark by Oct. 30  

Two local men hoping to build a hookah lounge in Newark received approval from the Newark Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday to continue the project.

The board ruled the lounge, which will be at 143 S. 30th St., could be considered a place of assembly in a medium intensity business district and is permitted under the city's zoning code.

The lounge, which will be called Braison's Hookah Lounge, will have the atmosphere of a coffee shop, but instead of coming for food and drinks, patrons will come to smoke hookah, co-owner Adam Gregg said. . . .

The owners have been passing out fliers on campuses and using Facebook and MySpace to advertise.

"I'm scared for the opening. I've got a feeling we are going to be slammed with customers," Gregg said.

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• Bay Area hooked on hookah 

Across the Bay Area and nation in recent years, hookah lounges have become increasingly popular gathering places for college students too young to drink legally, transplanted Middle Easterners looking to indulge in a familiar pastime and even for veterans of the Iraq war, who learned to enjoy hookahs while overseas. The practice is believed to have originated in India and spread to the Middle East hundreds of years ago.

Hookah lounges in the Bay Area tend to cluster around universities such as Stanford, although there are many in San Francisco - from the Tenderloin to the Haight-Ashbury. High-tech workers and engineers such as Mohammad Aldossary, 25, a Stanford graduate student in petroleum engineering from Saudi Arabia, enjoy them, too.

"It's more fun to be in the social atmosphere here," he said at Da Hookah Spot. "I don't smoke cigarettes, but I smoke from a hookah pipe once or twice a week."

The lounges are often classified as tobacco shops, allowing them to get around California's 1998 statewide ban on smoking in bars. Most cities prohibit the sale of food in such establishments. The sale of nonalcoholic beverages, however, is typically allowed as long as they do not make up a significant portion of revenues, and alcohol is prohibited, according to officials at the city attorney's offices in Palo Alto, Hayward and San Francisco.

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Worth ban to snuff out smoking lounges 

In January, the Friends Cafe and Lounge in Worth will be history. Likewise for three other smoker-friendly lounges after the Village Board voted last week to expand the state's indoor smoking ban to include establishments in business only to welcome smokers.

Citing federal anti-smoking initiatives, Worth officials concluded that smoking is bad for smokers and secondhand smoke endangers nonsmokers.

But Friends Cafe owner Ala Alsherbini insists the new law is a power play by Worth politicians to extinguish his business for good.

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Assad decrees Syria smoking ban 

Syria's president has issued a decree banning smoking inside cafes, restaurants and other public spaces.

The decree also outlaws smoking in educational institutions, health centres, sports halls, cinemas and theatres and on public transport.

Workers must not smoke during meetings and businesses need to provide well-ventilated areas for smokers.

The restrictions include the nargile, or hubble-bubble pipe, which is a favourite among locals and tourists.

The decree, signed by President Bashar al-Assad, a qualified medical doctor, imposes a fine of 2,000 Syrian pounds ($46) on those who break the ban.

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• Syria bans smoking in public places  

The decree, signed by President Bashar al-Assad, sets a fine of 2,000 ($46) Syrian pounds on anyone flouting the ban in cafes, pubs and restaurants, the SANA agency said.

The ban extends to schools and public transport, and covers the nargile

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Sorry, hookah bar, no smoking 

The College Station City Council decided Thursday not to make an exception to the city's smoking ordinance for a hookah bar.

Hookah Station in the Northgate district had requested an exclusion from the city ordinance that was revised early this year to prohibit smoking in workplaces, bars and bar areas. Exceptions to the ordinance included specialty tobacco stores and actors or actresses participating in a theatrical performance

Attorney Davis Watson, speaking on behalf of Hookah Station, said the smoking ordinance didn't define a specialty tobacco shop. When the store came to the city, its owners were assured that they wouldn't be included in any smoking ordinance, Watson said.

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Worth waves goodbye to hookah bars 

Worth village trustees on Tuesday adopted an ordinance that bans smoking in all businesses starting next year.

Citing health concerns and recent legislation signed by United States President Barack Obama, Worth trustees voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance that will ban smoking indoors at all businesses including smoke shops and hookah lounges. Trustee Lezley Zubaty was absent.

Included in the wording of the ordinance is a plan to phase out hookah bars as business licenses expire.

The “Indoor Clean Air Policy” follows the “Smoke Free Illinois Act” that went into effect January 1, 2008. The statewide smoking ban outlawed smoking at bars and restaurants, but lighting up was still legal at businesses people would go for the sole purpose of smoking, such as tobacco shops and hookah lounges. The village policy is set to take effect January 1, 2010.

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Sheesha caf's to be shut 

SHEESHA coffee shops on Manama's Al Fateh Corniche are to be closed, to make way for a BD8 million leisure development.

Rules restricting the sale of sheesha at coffee shops elsewhere in the Capital Governorate are also to be soon revised to make them more realistic, say councillors.

Sheesha was banned in certain coffee shops across the country in July last year, but this was suspended a few days later, after a U-turn by municipal officials.

They instigated the ban under regulations dating back to a ministerial decision in November 2006, which also outlaws sheesha smoking in public parks, gardens, on coasts, beaches and corniches.

Coffee shops within 200 metres of homes, hospitals, embassies, educational institutions, government establishments and places of worship are banned from serving sheesha, under the law.

Other regulations insist that coffee shops should instal proper ventilation and meet safety and hygiene standards, before being allowed to serve sheesha.

The 200-metre rule is unrealistic and will be revised

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WU hookah bar owner hosts freedom event  

Smoke clouds billowed from the variety of patrons smoking at the Petra Café and Hookah Lounge on South Grand on Sept. 23. Scents of watermelon, lemon mint and "Threesome," Petra Café's original mix of tobacco, lingered in the air.

However, the day was not just for the regulars of the café to converse and collude as usual. The day was set aside as a place for an event to bring awareness to the encroaching smoking ban the Missouri government is attempting to enforce. "The Hot Box of Freedom" event was created to rebel against the ban in which flavored tobacco would be included as illegal to smoke in public. Co-owner and senior broadcasting major at WU Michaela Garcia said she believes this would ultimately mean an end to her only source of income.

"This ban would include all flavored tobacco, which is the number one thing that we sell," Garcia said. "What we are trying to do with this event is stop the government from telling us what we can and can't do. If we have one bad habit, and it's smoking, we should be allowed to do it."

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MENIFEE: Panel bristles at hookah lounges 

As far as Menifee planning commissioners are concerned, hookah lounges are out and tattoo shops are in.

On Tuesday, the Planning Commission directed city officials to craft one ordinance that would ban hookah lounges from opening in the city and another that would allow tattoo establishments to set up shop in Menifee ---- albeit with a litany of regulations.

The discussion was prompted by the City Council in February placing temporary moratoriums on the controversial businesses so that city leaders could study whether they wanted hookah lounges and tattoo shops here. Before the issue goes to the council for a final decision, the matter is being hashed out by the 2-month-old commission.

All but one commissioner came out strongly against allowing hookah lounges in the city, citing health concerns, the city's image and future complications with the businesses if marijuana were to be legalized.

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• Sheesha smokers at high risk of catching virus 

Sheesha smokers could be contributing to the spread of the swine flu, it has been claimed.

According to the Bahrain Anti-Smoking Society, sheesha pipes are an ideal tool for users to catch the virus since they are often passed from person to person.

'This is a real threat and all sheesha users should be careful,' said society vice-president Dr Kadhem Al Halwachi.

'We have already been told smokers are at an increased risk of getting complications from the swine flu because a smoker's lungs are already compromised.'

Health officials last week added smokers to a list of 'high risk' individuals who could contract the H1N1 virus.

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