The Hookah Lounge

Hookah lounge
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The hookah lounge or shisha bar (in Britain and parts of Canada) is an establishment where patrons share shisha (flavored tobacco) from a communal hookah or nargile which is placed at each table.Some hookah lounges are business modeled as such from their inception. Others are cafés to which the element of hookah smoking was added later. Hookah lounges of all sorts have become popular in parts of Europe and North America in the last decade.

Characteristics
Hookah lounges are mostly found in college towns and urban areas and are regarded by some as a novel and chic way to socialize and embrace multiculturalism. Some people of Middle Eastern or Indian extraction consider them a continuation of their own cultural traditions. Orthodox Muslims and other people who do not consume alcoholic beverages may prefer hookah lounges to taverns and bars where alcohol consumption is the primary focus.

Often, hookah lounges are owned and operated by people from the Muslim world or other regions where use of the hookah is a centuries-old tradition. Some offer Middle Eastern cuisine menu items. Almost all offer what most Westerners call Turkish coffee. Many hookah lounges incorporate such elements as Islamic decor and Arabic music or Indian music.

An elderly patron of an establishent in Turkey describes the advantages of the hookah lounge as follows:

"Smoking a hooka is nothing like smoking a cigarette...cigarettes are for nervous people, competitive people, people on the run...when you smoke a hooka, you have time to think. It teaches you patience and tolerance, and gives you an appreciation of good company."

A younger customer adds:

"The important thing is not what you put in the pipe, but who is with you while you're smoking...it's a complete experience...in a cafe like this one, you find the good people, the old people, the interesting people. As long as there is a need for company and friendship, as long as people want to stop and think, there will be nargile cafes."

Typically a disposable mouthpiece is provided for each user for hygiene reasons. Hookah lounges do not typically have liquor licenses but instead derive the bulk of their revenue from sales of coffee, soft drinks and snack foods.

Some hookah lounges have well-equipped kitchens and are more akin to bistros. In the broadest sense, any restaurant or nightclub can be considered a hookah lounge if it offers patrons hookahs, shisha, and a comfortable place to smoke.

In the United States, establishments akin to hookah lounges first opened decades ago in the immigrant quarters of New York City and Los Angeles, California. Patrons were typically men of Middle Eastern descent. Now hookah lounges are widely associated with hipster culture.

They also exist in a variety of permutations including:

Chi-Cha Lounge, a trendy, Latin-themed restaurant in Washington, DC offers hookahs to its customers.
Zeeba Lounge, is a popular Persian-themed restaurant and lounge in Baltimore and provides hookah smoking to its patrons.
Mantra, an upscale French-Indian restaurant in Boston's Ladder District, also offers hookahs.
Chicago has several on Lawrence near its intersection with Milwaukee, also there is a nice lounge in Carol Stream, Illinois called Pita Paradise Hookah Lounge.
Zentra, a Chicago nightclub, offers hookahs amid techno music and belly dancers wearing body paint.
Divan, a restaurant and hookah lounge located in Atlanta, GA, offers an assortment of Mediterranean cuisine and hookahs with a variety of flavors. Divan also has great Turkish tea and Turkish coffee.
Many hookah lounges in the United States have chic or modernistic elements such as glass tables, plasma televisions and oxygen bars.
One purveyor of hookahs and shisha claims:

"It's at its largest demand ever in this country...I don't think it's going away anytime soon. There's so much more room for the product to expand. Only a small percentage of Americans know about it."