SMOKIN' NEW TREND

Hookah Bars Are Passing The Pipe In The Big Easy

The man leans forward, grabs one of several tendril-like hoses that
hang from a magnificent hookah that sits on a low table in front of
him. He takes a long draw on the molasses-soaked Egyptian tobacco,
savors the smoke for a long time, then exhales.

He leans back in his seat, a contented and faraway look in his eyes,
and he begins to quietly thump out a trance-like rhythm on a bongo
drum of indeterminate Middle Eastern origin.

This scene I witnessed, not on my most recent trip to Cairo, but on
my most recent trip to Decatur Street. In the same way that all
bi-coastal social trends, fads and ideas eventually wend their way to
New Orleans two or three years later -- cigar bars, Internet cafes,
etc. -- the newest NY/LA social phenomenon has firmly taken root here:
Hookah bars.

Hookah Café opened for business in the 1100 block of Decatur this
fall. Palais Shisha, in the 4200 block of Magazine Street Uptown,
becomes the second full-time hookah smoke shop when it opens this Saturday.

In addition, the Holy Smokes cigar shop on Royal Street in the Quarter
and the Mythique speakeasy on Decatur have hookahs in service. Even
Mona's restaurant on Frenchmen has grand brass and glass hookahs in
its modest grocery windows.

It's only a matter of time until other nightspots suggestive of the
opium den lifestyle -- the Dragon's Den, the House of Blues Foundation
Room -- also set up these lavish social smoking utensils.

The Middle Eastern smokeout has arrived.

Smoking as social ritual is, of course, as old as the notion of
community itself. African, Asian, Middle Eastern and American Indian
cultures have used smoking circles to make peace, plan war and discuss
the issues of the day for centuries.

American hookah bars began, naturally, in ear-to-the-ground cities of
New York and Los Angeles. They proved popular with immigrants and then
college students, eventually gaining customer bases in the Average Joe
population.

Miami, Washington and other big cities came next. Naturally, the trend
finally washed up on our shores.

"We are finally dispelling the myth of what hookahs are all about,"
said Abdul Aziz, the man I saw playing the drum at Hookah Café, and
owner of the soon-to-open Palais Shisha. "People love lounge
atmospheres, they love to socialize. This is an alternative to going
out and getting drunk. The hookah gives a medium to talk over, to
drink tea over, for people who would otherwise never meet."

Typical hookah bar environments include comfortable seats and mellow
music, often of Arabian form. Patrons pay a premium price for Egyptian
tobaccos low in tar and nicotine content and usually soaked in a
flavored liquid. Molasses, apple, lemon/rose and jasmine/grape are
among the most popular flavors.

It's all very legal, of course, on the up and up. Talking about other
uses for hookahs (re: dope smoking) is strictly taboo in hookah bars.
In fact, there's a whole laundry list of dos and don'ts in hookah
bars, an etiquette of its own on how to pack the pipe and how to pass
it. (There are a legion of Web sites about all this:
www.southsmoke.com has everything you'd ever want to know about it.)

Guy Birman, a native Israeli, opened Hookah Café in the Quarter for
the simplest of reasons: "I had nowhere to smoke." He sees a bright
future for the city's newest social pastime:

"I think when Aziz opens his shop Uptown, a lot more people are going
to be exposed to hookah culture," said Birman. "I think you'll see
more shops opening around town. I've only been in town for two years,
but I sense that New Orleanians like things that are exotic and authentic."

And hookah bars are all that.