[C-U Smokefree] Hookah Bar

[Scott P Hays]

In keeping up with California (in all the wrong ways), we apparently have a newly opened "Hookah Bar" in Champaign, opened for the explicit purpose of smoking some kind of flavored "natural" turkish tobacco in elaborate pipes called "Hookahs."  In the "Buzz" article describing the "incredible business" of this new bar, they report "hookahs sit prominantly on quite a few tables, as even first time smokers like Jeff Ince anxiously await their turn to smoke."

Apparently these things are somehow legal in the smokefree environment of California (care to comment, Theo?).  But at a minimum, we'll eventually need to decide how to handle this place in whatever we propose.  I would have to assume the owners would not be particularly thrilled about a ban that would include them.

Anyway, check out this week's cover story in the "Buzz" (December 11-17) for further details.  There's not much for us to do right now, but I just wanted to make us aware of what's out there.  If asked at some point, we will need to have a "position" on this type of bar.

Since my background is not really in tobacco research, this also raises an interesting point for me: do the same stats about the poisons in cigarettes apply to "natural" tobaccos? Could somebody advise the list so we are not caught off guard if someone offers this "defense" of smoking?  

Thanks, and to the Hookahs, I say "we'll C-U Smokefree!" 

Scott