Seattle Hookah bars go up in smoke with passing of Initiative 901

by Rob La Gatta December 02, 2005

There is a social practice gaining popularity in Seattle that calls people of all ages together to converse through laughter and thick smoke. More friendly to your taste buds than cigarettes and more friendly to federal law than marijuana, the communal sharing of a hookah – the Middle Eastern manner of smoking flavored tobacco from a large water pipe – is achieving notoriety across the United States.

Curious passersby and experienced smokers alike come together within the walls of Seattle’s hookah establishments, where lounging around an elaborate glass piece and talking between hits has become a common way to spend the evenings.

But the proprietors of such businesses will soon need to change the way they operate, and fans of the rich flavored smoke will need to find a new indulgence. On Nov. 8, the state of Washington overwhelmingly approved a clean air act that has been described as the most rigorous in the country.

A total of 1,091,521 voters (63.17%) voted in support of Initiative 901, an amendment to the previously standing Clean Air Act of 1985 that would make it illegal to smoke in or around all businesses and public institutions.

Now, exactly one month later, the ban is about to take effect. Though many supporters have argued that it will improve upon all aspects of life – such as going to work, sitting in bars, and seeing live music – there is another side that many overlooked in their haste to pass 901.

Establishments throughout the city where smoking is a part of how business is conducted – notably, hookah and cigar bars – are now faced with a serious bump in the road in terms of maintaining their businesses. With stipulations that prohibit smoking within 25 feet of a buildings entrance, the option of moving the hookah smoking outside is also ruled out.

Washington is only the second state, behind Florida, to enact a ban on smoking as a direct result of a citizen-voted initiative. Yet in the past, regardless of how the bill came about, anti-smoking laws always made exemptions for private clubs and establishments. Many are realizing now that this is not the case in Washington: come Dec. 8, hookah bars will become a thing of the past.

The amendment to the Clean Air Act, as written out by Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed, clears up previous discrepancies regarding what defines smoking: “ ‘smoke’ or ‘smoking’ means the carrying or smoking of any kind of lighted pipe, cigar, cigarette, or any other lighted smoking equipment,” and goes on to list some of the new public places where smoking will be illegal.

Roger Valdez is the manager of KingCounty’s Tobacco Prevention Program, whose goals and mission can be found online at SmokeFreeSeattle.org.

“In our view, smoking a hookah is still smoking,” he said. “Our reading of I-901 is that smoking a hookah in a workplace or enclosed public place would be inconsistent with the new law. Further, there is a good deal of evidence to show that smoking hookahs creates many of the same negative health effects created by secondhand smoke from a cigarette.”

Valdez said that the goal of 901 was to remove secondhand smoke from public places – whether the public realized this before voting or not, it does include hookah and cigar bars.

Many opponents of the bill have argued that it was too broad and, rather than simply banning smoking, limits the freedoms of both a patron and proprietor of any given establishment. There was a significant movement of smokers and nonsmokers who took issue with the ban because it essentially leaves private homes as the only suitable places for cigarette and hookah smoking.

Opponents also believe that with this law, the local economy will suffer from a lack of patrons at formerly smoky bars, taverns and clubs.

Valdez acknowledges that certain businesses may suffer.

“Our program is very supporting of the good work that bars and restaurants in KingCounty do to provide entertainment and opportunities,” he said. “It is always unfortunate to see businesses fail. However, unfortunately for them, hookah bars have built their businesses around something that will be inconsistent with the law [starting] on Dec. 8.”

Another non-cigarette-related organization that will find itself inconsistent with the law is Seattle’s medical marijuana establishment, the Green Cross Patient Co-Op.

According to Valdez, the previously approved Initiative 692 – passed in 1998 and granting permission from the State for sufferers of certain illnesses to grow, possess and acquire medical cannabis – will be trumped by the passing of I-901.

“Smoking of any kind is banned in all public and work places,” he said. “If the Green Cross Patient Co-Op is a public place or a work place as defined by the law, it would be covered by I-901. Smoking in public or in work places, regardless of what is being smoked or how it is being smoked, is covered by the ban.”

The hookah example is one that fits in with the sentiments of many who oppose smoking bans: they believe it represents a limit on personal freedom and broad restrictions that can be loosely applied.

BanTheBan.org is a grassroots organization opposing the capitol’s recently approved smoking ban. Their sentiments, taken from the website, echo that of some Seattle opponents.

“The debate over the smoking ban is often cast as a battle between the rights of smokers and those of non-smokers. But it isn’t,” reads the website. “A smoking ban doesn’t violate the rights of smokers or non-smokers as such. It violates the rights of everyone, regardless of whether or not they smoke.”

They argue that proprietors lose significant control over how they run their businesses, employees lose the choice to work at a smoke-free or smoke-friendly business, and consumers lose the option of “a diverse nightlife that is filled with options.”

This is not the case, according to ban-supporters at YesOn901.org. The “official” website for the smoking ban, it describes some of their endorsers – the American Cancer Society, Swedish Medical Center, the Washington State PTA, the Washington State Council of Firefighters and the American Federation of Musicians – and refutes many arguments made against the ban.

Citing California and New York, both states that have implemented smoking bans in the past decade, the site proves the economic improvement that will hopefully come to Seattle as a result of I-901.

In New York, restaurants increased tax receipts by 8.7 percent and added nearly 11,000 jobs to the workforce. In California, restaurant revenue rose by more than $2 billion in fewer than five years, and a quarter million jobs were created.

But for local proprietors the business growth over a long term doesn’t help their impending situation. Catherine Krogstad is a manager at B&O Espresso on Capitol Hill, where hookahs are rented. Though she isn’t sure how I-901 will affect business there, she is expecting some negative changes.

“Right now we’re just same-old, same-old,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly. We do sell them, so I’m sure there will be plenty of people disappointed.”

B&O Espresso, which began selling hookahs in late 2004, has become one of downtown Seattle’s four locations where hookahs can be rented and smoked indoors (along with the two locations of Zaina Food, Drink and Friends and Diwan Hookah Lounge).

B&O and Zaina both serve other purposes than smoking – one is a coffee shop, the other a Middle Eastern restaurant and bar – and thus will be able to continue operations. Diwan, known exclusively for its hookahs, has already announced that with their main source of business eliminated, options are running out.

Whether or not the voters intended to extinguish the coals of KingCounty’s hookah bars by passing I-901 – as a county it was the bill’s fifth biggest supporter in WashingtonState, with a 65 percent approval – it is apparent that the smoking ban will affect more than just cigarette smokers.

Krogstad seemed hesitant to answer whether she felt I-901 would be helpful or harmful to Seattle in the long run, and her sentiments seemed to echo the divide many Seattle residents feel.

“That’s a hard one. I think it will help keep it so people can go out to more places and enjoy the atmosphere without having smoke around them,” she said. “But I think it will be tough at first, on businesses and everyone.”