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Are Hookah Cafes the New Coffee Shops?

by admin on August 11th, 2010

hookah with sexy girl and coffeeHookah (water pipe) lounges are sprouting up everywhere. A medical journal says they are increasingly popular with kids, and, in Florida, at least, they are sidestepping state laws that ban smoking in public places like restaurants. Forty-seven of the 74 licensed hookah bars in Florida are within 10 miles of a university campus.  A recent Florida Youth Tobacco Survey found that in 2009 more than one in 10 high schoolers had smoked a water pipe. The study said:

“The prevalence of hookah use in Florida is 11% among high school students and 4% among middle school students.

“There is an upward trend in the life time use of hookah among Floridian adults, and the prevalence is highest among young adults ages 18 – 24 (24.2%). Moreover, the prevalence of hookah use appears to be increasing among high school students in Florida.”

Hookah smoking is popular in Canada, too. Nearly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds questioned for a survey in a medical journal said they smoked a hookah in the past year.

Health risks

There is a popular notion that hookah smoking is somehow safer than cigarette smoking. But the study in the journal Pediatrics says differently :

“Little is known about the addictive nature or health risks of water-pipe smoking, but it may be at least as harmful as cigarette smoking. Similar to cigarette smoke, water-pipe smoke contains harmful constituents, including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and carcinogens. In fact, water-pipe smoke may contain greater amounts of tar and heavy metals, including cobalt, chromium, and lead, than cigarette smoke. Water-pipe use has been linked to lung cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases, and pregnancy-related complications, though the health risks are likely  influenced by the quantity and type of tobacco used, the duration and frequency of water-pipe use by the smoker, the volume of smoke inhaled, and the burn temperature.”


Regulation

In Florida, hookah bars can serve food, unlike restaurants, because, as Florida Trend explains, state law regulates lit tobacco. Since the hookah tobacco is heated in a bowl, not lit directly, it is not covered by the tobacco ban. But opponents have other ways to shut the business down, namely taxes:

“In addition to a backlash from health experts and landlords, hookah bars also face tax issues. Eight years ago, soon after the advent of the hookah craze, the tax rate on tobacco in Florida was 25% of the wholesale price. Today it’s at 85%. The hookah industry, meanwhile, is keeping a close eye on federal legislation, H.R. 4439, which would raise the tax on hookah tobacco by 775%. The ‘Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010′ is intended to bring tax rates on pipe tobacco, which includes hookahs, in line with the higher rates imposed on rolled tobacco. But hookah proprietors say that a 250-gram (8.75 ounce) box of hookah tobacco that currently retails for $5.99 would cost more than $20 if this bill passes, which could put them out of business.”

Still, hookah cafes can make a lot of dough. Florida Trend found one supply shop that said it costs about a dollar to fill a bowl with tobacco, which a cafe usually sells for $20.

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