Employing a loophole that allows patrons to light up inside tobacco shops, dozens of the exotic smoking dens have sprung up in the city and suburbs since the Smoke Free Illinois Act became law in 2008, much to the frustration of some health officials.
Roiled by the opening of its first hookah establishment, Skokie is the latest community to tighten restrictions in an effort to snuff out the trend.
"We do not want to go backward," said Dr. A. Michael Drachler, chairman of Skokie's Board of Health. "We do not want to have smoking."
Catching fire in recent years among young adults, the hookah originated in India five centuries ago and remains a popular part of the cafe culture throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The often-ornate devices use charcoal to heat a bowl of flavored tobacco, producing smoke that is drawn into a bubbling water jar and inhaled through long tubes.
Some 50 hookah lounges are scattered throughout Chicago and the suburbs, according to hookahchicago.com, a website that rates the offerings on tobacco flavor, price and ambience. Hotspots include Chicago's North Side and Schaumburg.
Illinois law prohibits smoking in businesses, restaurants and bars, but retail tobacco stores are exempt if more than 80 percent of revenue is derived from the sale of tobacco and accessories. The stores must file an annual affidavit with the Illinois Department of Public Health to allow patrons to partake indoors.
In southwest suburban Worth, officials concerned that the village's only hookah lounge violated the intention of the state ordinance amended its law in January 2010, effectively shuttering Friends Cafe and Lounge. Friends has sued the village, according to officials.
"There were restaurants and bars in town that were allowed to smoke for years and then we stopped them from doing it, and these new establishments came in and we said you can smoke in there," said Mayor Randy Keller. "With the push for smoke-free environments, we just felt it was the right thing to do."
About the same time, nearby Palos Hills adopted a more stringent Cook County ordinance prohibiting smoking in all enclosed public places, squeezing out the Royale Lounge, which had opened in 2009.
"It turned out to be a hangout," said Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett. "They were open late at night and they ended up tying up our police department a lot."
Skokie enacted Illinois' first municipal ban in 2003. After Kush Hookah Lounge opened last summer on Dempster Street, Village Board members voted unanimously last month to close the loophole, grandfathering in the exemption for a cigar store and the village's only hookah.
"Skokie was the first municipality in Illinois to go smoke-free," said Dr. Catherine Counard, director of health for the village. "We take that very seriously."
Often mixed with fruit, molasses and herbs, hookah tobacco is touted as safer by proponents, who point to lower nicotine and tar levels than cigarette tobacco, and the potential filtering benefits of a water pipe. A 2005 World Health Organization study concluded that the argument is mostly smoke.
A typical cigarette contains more tar and nicotine, but it is burned over about five minutes, with some 300 to 500 milliliters of smoke inhaled, according to the study. Hookah sessions can last up to an hour, with 10 liters or more of smoke inhaled.
The study also warned that sharing a water pipe may increase the risk of transmission of tuberculosis and viruses such as herpes or hepatitis. Hookah lounges offer separate, removable mouthpieces to each participant, but medical experts say the dangers remain.
"You can't clean the tubing well enough to do away with the risks of pathogens or diseases," Drachler said.
Kush owner Tim Delisi says the crackdown is unfair.
"We're not a bad seed," said Delisi, 36, who opened the lounge after losing his job as an assistant vice president at a Morton Grove bank in 2008. Kush caters to college students and young professionals.
The parking lot was nearly full on a recent Thursday night, and three dozen patrons were scattered about the dimly lit room filled with leather couches; widescreen TVs; hypnotic, thumping audio; and dense, fruity clouds of tobacco.
Large hookahs costing $15 a person or $20 for a group sat on tables or the floor, with nothing stronger to drink than coffee.
"It's cool and relaxed," Delisi said. "People can hear each other talk. I've had a lot of businesspeople come here and make business deals."
At a back table, six longtime friends shared two hookahs.
"It's a social thing. Instead of going to a bar, you can just come here and hang out," said Tammy Najjar, 22, a credit analyst from Glenview. Copious clouds of kiwi-orange tobacco smoke rose slowly above her head as she passed the pipe to her boyfriend, George Trakas, 23.
Across the table, Alex Coologeorgen, 23, a structural engineer from Chicago, shared a watermelon-flavored mix with Tom Hatzis, 24, a credit analyst from Des Plaines. While acknowledging the potential health risks associated with any form of smoking, Coologeorgen said hookahs are inherently less habitual.
"It's not like you can walk around with a hookah on your back and smoke it all day like with cigarettes," he said. "It's more like going out and drinking on a weekend."
Smoking with friends at a nearby table, Mohammed Saud, 22, a junior computer sciences major at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, said he's been hooked on hookahs since he was a 15-year-old in his native India. He advises newbies not to underestimate the lure of the hookah experience.
"I make circles and then I play with the smoke and I like to try different things," he said. "I think it is, in a way, addictive — both physical and mental, the environment."
source: www.chicagotribune.com
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