Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Where Did Hookah Bars Come From?

By John McCree


Originally made popular the in the U.S. in the 1960's and 70's, hookah smoking is becoming progressively common ever since the turn of the century. A hookah bar is a business establishment where individuals come with their buddies to enjoy a "hookah". One can readily locate these bars near universities and colleges and in very populated cities.

Brief History

Hookah and the idea of hookah bars originated 500 years ago in the subcontinent close to where currently is the border of India and Pakistan. These bars are chiefly linked to the middle east as it was the origin of hookah and the region from where hookah gained a lot of popularity. Hookah bars became popular in the Middle East as the places where customers used to socialize and smoke hookah with friends.

Features of Hookah Bars

Bars that are designed to mimic the region of origin of hookah have generally Arab people operating them. The furnishings are according to the Middle Eastern culture of Indian culture. At a few bars, nothing is served besides hookah. Several, however, serve coffee, sodas, and snacks at a minimum. The vast majority of smaller lounges do not have a liquor license and they don't serve liquor. However, in larger cities, many trendier establishments serve alcohol, generally with a full bar available for cocktails, wine, and beer. It is not uncommon to see belly dancers, live bands, or DJs in the more trendy urban hookah bars because they look like a "night club" more closely than a community social establishment.

Hookah bars that are near institutions are more casual and draw in a lot of students. Hookah is believed to be less dangerous than smoking cigarettes, cigars or other things and therefore hookahs are gaining a lot of popularity. Also, as college years are generally a time of new experiences, frequent social interaction, and building strong connections, the hookah lounge lends itself well to college life. The cities which are popular for having several secondary education institutions in the U.S. have noticed a great increase in the popularity of hookah bars.

The Mysterious Hookah

Now you must be thinking what a hookah is? What is so special about this device that it is becoming popular all across the globe. Hookah was designed by a Persian physician in the late 1500's. It was called as a "huqqa". This name has remained with this device since that time, however, as this device traveled around the world it gained several other names for example hubble-bubble and nargile.

Whilst the primitive hookah looked considerably different, probably made out of coconut shells, the result has always been the same: purify and cool the smoke by passing it through water before inhalation. The structure of the hookah has 4 main components:

1. Bowl - where tobacco is kept.

2. Body - smoke produced from the burning tobacco is passed through the body to reach the water basin.

3. Water Basin - keeps the water, where smoke is passed through to be cooled and purified. Purified smoke remains in the chamber above the water until it is inhaled through the hose.

4. Hose - the smoker puffs on the hose to breathe in smoke from the chamber where it is kept after purification. Ordinarily a hose is approximately one to two meters long.

The end result is a soothing and fragrant smoke.

A senior customer of a prominent hookah business in turkey said:

"What you put in the hookah matters not, but who is along with you while you are smoking. The point is to enjoy. All kinds of people, old, young and fascinating come to bars such as this one. Hookahs bars will remain in the world so long as people want to take out time to enjoy the company of their good friends."




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