Downtown Olympia lounge raises eyebrows
By Sarah Jackson ~ The Olympian

What the heck is a hookah?

It’s a question many South Sound residents — especially those who spend time walking through downtown Olympia — have been asking.

“People are so curious about it,” said Fire & Earth tobacco shop owner Sarah Schwarz, who moved her store from State Avenue to a larger space at 322 Fourth Ave. E., where she added a hookah lounge this summer. “There are still a lot of misconceptions out there about hookahs. We had a visit from the Olympia Police Department at our grand opening in June.”

Schwarz was happy to give a demonstration to police by showing how the elaborate pipes are used to smoke flavored tobacco called shisha.

Business has been good for Fire & Earth, especially on the weekends, when live entertainment adds to the atmosphere. Plus it’s next to a new performance and gallery space called Yes Yes, which also features local bands.

“We saw the potential for the hookahs out there,” Schwarz said. “We saw it as another business opportunity.”

Q & A

Still confused on why anyone would need a hookah lounge? Here’s what you need to know to go (or just be in the know).

Q: What is a hookah?

A: Hookahs — also known as water pipes, narghiles, shishas or hubble-bubbles — are traditional smoking devices typically imported from the Middle East or Asia, according to online dictionary Wikipedia.
Hookahs originated in India, where they were made from coconut shells. Soon the devices spread throughout the Middle East, where they have been part of cultural tradition for centuries. In the United States, hookah bars have been around only for a few years, popping up in places such as Las Vegas, New Orleans and San Diego.
Some restaurants have added hookahs to their offerings, including venues in Seattle, where at least three restaurants — Zaina in Pioneer Square and downtown Seattle and B&O Espresso on Capitol Hill — have added hookah rentals recently.
“It’s definitely been kind of an underground thing,” Fire & Earth tobacco shop owner Sarah Schwarz said. “It’s been going on in college towns around the U.S. for about eight years.”

Q: What do you smoke in a hookah?

A: Hookahs are commonly used to smoke shisha, which is flavored tobacco typically cured with molasses and sometimes mixed with fruit, honey or other additives. Hookahs also can be used to smoke illegal substances such as hashish, marijuana and opium — but not at Fire & Earth.

Herb mixes and additives are available at the shop to create different physical effects: for example, kava kava extract, which is known in the supplement world as a muscle relaxer and pain reliever. Fire & Earth also offers a “Shamanic Tonic” blend of herbs and tobacco for relaxation.

Q: How does a hookah work?

A: Hookahs are different from typical smoking pipes because substances aren’t lit directly. Instead of putting a flame to the shisha, you cover it with a screen and then you top the screen with a disc of quick-lighting charcoal. Users then inhale from any number of attached hoses to pull the heat down from the coal, through the tobacco and water and then out the long hoses.
Water cools the vapors, steam and smoke coming through the hookah, which makes for a thick smoke but a smoother, lighter feeling than one gets when smoking cigarettes.
“It’s not burning the shisha as much as it’s heating it,” Schwarz said. “You have to have a moist bowl for the coal to burn properly. It’s wet. It’s saturated with flavor.”

Q: What are the health risks of smoking shisha with a hookah?

A: “Shisha smoking,” according to Wikipedia, “is generally believed to be less damaging to health than cigarettes. Research has shown that since the tobacco is being heated (as opposed to burned), fewer carcinogens are produced in the smoke.
“Recent research, however, published in the medical journal Pediatrics has argued that the concentration of cancer-causing and addictive substances in water-pipes can be higher than those found in cigarettes. A study of Egyptian couples found an association between water-pipe smoking and infertility.”
The American Cancer Society’s Web site puts it this way: “Hookah smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide and other hazardous substances. Several types of cancer, as well as other negative health effects, have been linked to hookah smoking.”

Q: Do you have to be 18 to rent or use a hookah?

A: You have to be 18 to smoke tobacco, and the same is true for hookah smoking. Schwarz and her employees card not only the people renting the hookahs, but also those who will be smoking.

Q: Why flavored tobacco?

A: Flavored shisha got its start in the late 1980s when Egyptian tobacco companies experimented with flavored tobacco as a way to move people away from cigarettes, according to Wikipedia. Today, shisha tobacco comes in many flavors, such as apple, strawberry, melon, cappuccino, mint rose and others.
Apple flavors are a big hit at Fire & Earth in Olympia, which offers 45 different flavors, ranging from pina colada to rose.

Q: Where does the shisha come from?

A: Schwarz sells three brands of shisha — Al Waha, Romman, and Fumari — all imported from Jordan and purchased from U.S. distributors. She also sells hookahs from Egypt, Syria and China.

Q: What’s the appeal?

A: Hookah smoking can be a solo or communal activity, because the devices can have as many as six hookah hoses connected at one time.
“I love this place,” said Dave Griffiths of Olympia, who was relaxing with his own bowl of lemon-mint flavored tobacco mixed with kava kava extract. “I love the lifestyle of this, because I don’t drink anymore. I think it’s just fantastic to have a place — to socialize, hang out, listen to music — that doesn’t have anything to do with alcohol.”
Groups are common in the evening, with multiple people sharing one bowl of shisha, especially among the 18- to not-yet-21-year-old set that can’t go to the bars.

Q: How much does it cost?

A: At Fire & Earth, you can get one bowl of shisha and a hookah for $6.95, which includes the least expensive shisha, one hose and a piece of charcoal. Each additional hose costs $1, and fancier flavors of tobacco cost an extra $1, too. You can reload your hookah for $2, but if you want the higher quality brands, it’s $3.

Q: How much for my own hookah?

A: Since the beginning of 2004, Schwarz has sold about 100 hookahs that range in price from $75 to more than $200. Many are elaborate works of art with lavish ornamentation.

Q: How can it be sanitary to smoke from the same device?

A: Each hookah user at Fire & Earth receives a sterile mouthpiece attached to the end of each hose. Hookahs are cleaned periodically, and mouthpieces are thrown away after one use.
Even couples who come in together are required to get their own hoses and mouthpieces.

Q: How do you keep patrons from adding their own illegal substances to their hookahs?

A: “No one is allowed to handle their own bowls,” Schwarz said. “We have a hands-off policy. We load each bowl at the bar.”
If anyone takes their metallic windcover off their hookah, it raises a red flag, Schwarz said, adding that people talking about marijuana or other illegal drugs are asked to stop or leave the lounge.
“We don’t tolerate any kind of that type of verbiage,” Schwarz said. “That’s for our own protection.”