Hookah Joe’s offers relaxing atmosphere, eastern smoking

ASHEVILLE — The scent of flowers and fruit floats in the air along Coxe Avenue. Where is this wave of blended aromas coming from?

Not from the dancing drummers at Pritchard Park or the patchouli-laden hippies padding the street. It’s coming from around the corner at Hookah Joe’s, a downtown nightspot at the corner of Coxe and Commerce streets, the first Asheville club devoted to the hookah.

A hookah is a water pipe that originated in Turkey hundreds of years ago. It’s not for traditional tobacco; instead, customers smoke a mixture of tobacco and molasses — a “shisha” — that’s available in various flavors.

They also come for the low lights, chill music and comfortable, open couches that make it easy to relax with friends.

On Sundays there’s belly dancing and live music. Some members will even curl up and take a nap because of the coziness of the lounge.

Like other private clubs, it’s open to ages 21 and older.

“The hookah has a calming effect,” said lounge owner Joe McHugh. “The whole idea is to help people relax and hopefully shed some stress.”

McHugh moved here from Las Vegas, where he also worked in a hookah bar. He picked Asheville for the diversity and open-minded aspects of the community, he said.

“You really feel like you’re relaxing in your own living room,” said member April Blakeney. “The ambiance of the lounge is really comfortable and casual, which is great for when you just get off work and need to unwind.”

Hookah Joe’s, with its full bar, has roughly 800 members — impressive for being open a little more than three months.

The lounge serves as a great place to meet people because it’s easy to start conversations over the hookah. Asking people what they’re smoking and then inviting them to try what you’re smoking makes the bar a very social environment.

“I think the Asheville community has been very open-minded about this lounge,” McHugh said. “If anyone doesn’t know what it’s about, I encourage them to try it and educate themselves.”

The shisha is burned using lemon coal. Once in the air, the smoke disappears, leaving behind only the fragrance.

“There is no tar in it, and because my place is never smoky, you don’t go home with that kind of grimy cigarette smell,” McHugh said. “We don’t allow cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco or anything except for the shisha.”

When shisha is prepared in Egypt, where Hookah Joe’s blends come from, the tobacco is washed. That greatly reduces the amount of nicotine, McHugh said. “Also, you’re not burning the tobacco, you’re baking it with hot air,” he said. “On top of that, you’re filtering it with water.

“I’m not going to say it’s lung candy. It is a tobacco product. But on a scale of what you could be smoking, it’s on the very low end.”

Some nonsmokers have even tried it.

“I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I enjoy relaxing at the hookah lounge because it’s not something I do every day and it’s a nice alternative to the club/bar scene,” said member Seth King.

Where: 50 Commerce St.

Hours: 6 p.m.- 2 a.m., closed Mondays

Information: 252-1522