The hookah's big draw
By VIKKI ORTIZ vortiz@journalsentinel.com Posted: July 28, 2005

Claudio had 10 hookahs - Middle Eastern water pipes that resemble bassoons - lined up along the bar at the North Ave. hot spot. On the floor, dozens of bungee-like cords with mouthpieces snaked together to formed a tangled mess.

"Every day I come in and I say I'm going to do this, but I never get to it," said Claudio, co-owner of the Eastern-themed Mantra, as he attempted to repair broken parts and untangle the hookah mouthpieces, which are called noses.

But hookahs have become so popular around the area, Claudio couldn't put off the project any longer. Young trendysomethings are asking for tobacco-filled hookahs between martinis and vodka Red Bulls. Middle Eastern restaurants, including Shiraz, 6030 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, have begun advertising the age-old pastime on their menus.

In Madison, an Indian-Pakistani restaurant called Madison Masala was recently renovated to include a hookah bar. And on Milwaukee's east side, college kids and high school seniors not yet old enough to drink are visiting

2 Sweet International Delight on Locust St., Milwaukee's first hookah cafe.

"It's a wider variety of people who are doing it," said James Amato, another co-owner of Mantra, 1905 E. North Ave., a dance club where hookahs have been available for two years. "It's just starting to get known."
Hooked on the hookah

The hookah, or narghile, as it is also known, has been around for at least four centuries and can be traced back to India, Turkey and Iran. Hookahs were considered a fashionable way to smoke tobacco in coffee shop-type settings.

While the hookah never lost its following in the Middle East, its popularity has surged across the U.S. and in the other parts of the world since the mid-'90s. Today, hookah bars and lounges are a part of the landscape from Russia to Canada and from Australia to Colombia. Paris has more than 100 hookah lounges, according to Kamal Chaouachi, a socio-anthropologist who has written a book called "The World of Hookahs." The book is cited at www.sacrednarghile.com.

Researchers believe the hookah has grown in popularity in recent years for several reasons, according to Chaouachi. The burgeoning tourism industry of the '90s is one possible factor, as more travelers were exposed to the custom. In the wake of anti-smoking campaigns, smokers also may believe hookahs are safer.

However, recent studies indicate that the smoke from water pipes actually contains more cancer-causing and addictive ingredients than that from cigarettes. For example, a report published in the medical journal Pediatrics found carbon monoxide concentrations in the blood streams of water pipe smokers to be four times the levels in cigarette smokers.
A communal experience

Here in Milwaukee, Michael Hemeid, a PhD student at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, opened 2 Sweet International Delight, 2128 E. Locust St., in May. Hemeid grew up in Kuwait smoking hookahs with friends after soccer games and hoped to offer people here a taste of international culture. His hookah bar doubles as a cafe specializing in vegetarian dishes.

Hemeid said he had visited a hookah bar in Washington, D.C., and had heard of similar places in Las Vegas and Arizona. When he began offering hookahs to Milwaukeeans, he was pleased to see the trend grow quickly.

On weekend nights, most of the 10 tables of his cafe are filled with visitors who pay $10 for the opportunity to share a hookah with a couple of friends. They can choose from tobacco flavors including jasmine, mint, rose, vanilla and cappuccino.

"I'm surprised by this," Hemeid said of the hookah's trendiness. "We've been smoking it for a long time."
Cocktails and strawberry smoke

At Mantra, the interest in hookahs has required bartenders to become versed on how to operate the mechanisms. First they fill the hookah's bowl with water. Next, they scoop a refrigerated, wet, flavored tobacco that resembles soggy granola into a small dish that sits at the hookah's top. The dish is covered with aluminum foil, and holes are poked into the foil. Finally, a silver dollar-size disc of charcoal is lighted and placed on top, allowing the tobacco to filter through the water.

Amato, Mantra's co-owner, has lighted more hookahs than he can count on busy weekend nights at the nightclub. Mantra limits hookah smoking to its martini lounge for safety reasons, but that doesn't stop patrons from parking themselves around a hookah for 45 minutes at a time, he said.

Hookahs at Mantra also rent for $10 for up to three people. The club has a menu showcasing flavors including cherry, strawberry, apple, blueberry - as well as alcoholic beverages that complement the hookah flavors.

Amato's favorite hookah flavor is a combination of half lemon and half mint, he said, putting a mouthpiece to his lips and drawing in a long breath, causing the hookah to bubble. Seconds later he exhaled a light, white smoke.

"Sometimes I wish they made cigarettes like this," he said.