Caravansarai Hookahs

Hey, folks, it's been a while since I had time to do any posting to the blog, and I'm really sorry for that. Lots of things have been going on since my last post, so here's a quick recap:

• Because California's budget sucks right now, I took a REALLY early retirement from teaching. It was getting too stressful having to worry about whether or not my contract would be honored and if I'd lose my health insurance. When you've got a serious brain issue or having seizures like I do, you just can't afford to be without health care coverage. So to guarantee that I keep it, I had to retire. Maybe now I'll have time to post more regularly!


• We've got an air cargo container of Khalil Mamoon (KM) pipes coming to us in the next couple of weeks. It should have 10 of each style they make, so that's kind of exciting. Keep your eye out here for the announcement of their arrival and sale.


• The response to Saalaam Herbal Shisha surpassed anything we could have imagined. We know that some people prefer the buzz that comes along with using the tobacco brands, but we are thrilled to be supplying two local hookah lounges that serve Saalaam exclusively! It has also gone international, with representatives now in Russia and Latvia, and and negotiations on-going with reps in the Netherlands (Holland), Germany, the UK, Canada, and Australia. It's hard to imagine that back a couple of summers ago, when we recruited some of our regular customers to be samplers for us, that we'd see the success that we have. Thanks again, guys -- you know who you are!

We're working on a summer contest for one of those KM pipes I mentioned and as soon as we get the details all worked out with the legal peeps, I'll post it here. In the meantime, look for more regular posting from me as I branch out into areas that are related to hookahs without spending all my time talking just about the pipes. You'll soon find recipes for Egyptian food, photos of people and places to see in Egypt, virtual vacations to the Land of the Pharoahs, and lots more. I hope that you'll hang around and join in the fun!

Congressman Henry Waxman, of California's 30th District (Los Angeles), can now play Yankee Doodle and add a feather to his hat with the House passage of HR1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Regulation Act. The bill, which seeks to assign the authority of tobacco regulation to the FDA, passed a House vote yesterday with 298 representatives saying AYE and only 112 saying NAY. The New York Times has provided a roll call of the voting here. How did your representative vote?

Today, the House voted to put Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) tobacco bill up for a vote. Waxman's bill seeks to give regulatory control over tobacco to the FDA and has specific stipulations that will have a tremendous impact on hookah tobacco:

"His bill wouldn't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright, but the agency would be able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients, prohibit flavoring, require much larger warning labels and strictly control or prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children." (Source)

The prohibition on flavoring tobacco means no menthol cigarettes and no flavored pipe or hookah tobacco! What is hookah without flavored tobacco?

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the FDA does not have the authority to regulate tobacco, but Waxman and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) have worked tirelessly to change that. Considering the FDA's recent track record of failures in monitoring food safety, I can't imagine what they'll do with tobacco.

So, hookah smokers, now is the time to step up to the plate and let our voices be heard. Get on the phone and call your state's senators, both of them, and your district's Congressional representative before the opportunity passes by. Your voice counts!

The taxman cometh, and he wants you to pay more for tobacco products this time around. I love my home state, but I must admit that Californians' tendency to tax anything and everything with which we disagree or disapprove is about to drive me over the edge!

Last night, on the way home from class, I had to stop at the local 7-11 for a pack of cigarettes. As I walked into the store, I noticed a neon orange sign on the front door suggesting that smokers stock up before the latest cigarette tax takes effect on April 1. "Crap!" I thought, "Another tobacco tax coming down the pike?" So this morning, I decided to do some investigation to uncover the when, where, and how much of the latest round of tobacco taxes across the country.

In California, AB 89, which passed the Legislature on January 5, 2009, increases the tax on cigarettes only. On April 1, 2009, each pack of cigarettes will go up in price by $1.05. Although I scoured the bill, which you can read here, I didn't find any increase for other tobacco products. The cost of hookah tobacco should not go up as a result of AB 89; the language of the bill is specific to cigarettes. We got somewhat lucky this time around. Other states, though, weren't as fortunate.

• Arkansas' HB 1204 will increase the tax on non-cigarette tobacco products from 32 precent of the wholesale price to 68 percent. The governer's website has more information on the tax increase and the allocation of the funds collected.
• Kentucky's HB 144 doubles the current tax on "snuff and other tobacco products," so that means hookah tobacco prices will increase.

Several other states have tobacco legislation in the works, but the process that each state requires for a bill to pass into law has not been completed yet. If you like in Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, or South Dakota, you need to know that your states' governments are actively pursuing an increase in tobacco taxes. To find out more, check out the 2009 Proposed State Tobacco Tax Increase Legislation website.

Maybe it's time to learn the fine art of tobacco agriculture!

• How delegates and Senators voted on Virginia smoking ban


• Economy of Virginia Including Virginia Agriculture and Manufacturing


• The Tobacco War: Industry Intrinsic to Virginia Now Vulnerable

If I had a dime for every time I heard an older adult lament the bad behavior of youth, I'd be a gazillionaire! The older generation complains about young people all the time, yet they never seem to offer a viable solution to the things they see as problems among the youth. Take for example, an interesting situation that has been going on in Napa Valley, California.

Napa Valley, long known as California's wine country, is a popular destination for tourists. As a result, businesses in the Valley cater to visitors. Hot air balloon rides, winery tours, fine dining, and wine tasting events are great for tourists and, I'm sure, provide them with a wonderful vacation. However, there are people who actually live in Napa Valley -- people who have families. The teens of Napa Valley aren't old enough to participate in the alcohol related events and don't have the disposable income to afford the fine dining experience (and probably wouldn't be interested in it anyway). So what is a bored teen to do in Napa Valley?

Evidently, nothing. Businesses designed to cater to the locals tend to have run-ins with neighbors who don't want the teens in "their neighborhoods." The case of the Smoking Cat, according to a recent article in the Napa Valley Register, appears to be the norm. Kids come, they enjoy themselves in an environment where no alcohol is served, and neighbors complain. The Smoking Cat planned to serve hookahs on an outside patio, but the idea got neighbors up in arms. The old "not in my neighborhood" prevailed, and complaints from a neighbor and a nearby religious school brought the Smoking Cat before the Napa Planning Commission, where they were told that clients could not smoke, even on the outside patio, and that live music could not continue after 8 p.m.

With all of the adults howling about teens wreaking havoc and making trouble, it makes no sense to me that we wouldn't be seeking viable alternatives for them. Give teens a safe place to hang out with friends, allow them to express themselves on live mic night, and offer those who are of legal age a non-alcoholic way to socialize, and we might be surprised at what could happen. Provide teens with a solution to their boredom and we just might see them enjoying themselves in ways other than vandalizing property, partying without adult supervision, and generally causing mayhem.

Remember what John Milton said about being a careful considerer of human nature?

I've admired John Milton's work for many years. Scholars consider his epic work, Paradise Lost, the greatest poem ever composed in the English language, and I concur; however, it is a piece of his prose that I prefer.

"To sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian polities, which never can be drawn into use, will not mend our condition. . ."

Written in 1644, Areopagitica is a passionate argument against censorship. But much of what Milton has to say about why banning certain books is a bad idea can also be used to argue that the current trend toward smoking bans is equally futile.

The notion that society must be "protected" from harmful things fuels much of the debate on smoking. The same argument is used to challenge books that certain groups of people find offensive. Instead of exercising their right to choose reading materials for themselves and allowing others to do the same, these groups seek to "protect" us from what they perceive to be "harmful." In essence, this means that the rest of us are too stupid to make the "right" choices. Rather than relying on the individual to decide the value of a book, special interest groups want to tell the rest of us which books have "true" worth based upon their value judgments with the underlying assumption being that their values are superior because they are "right." Milton contends, however, that attempting to construct a Utopian paradise where only good exists will not solve the problem and gives us a rational explanation why:

"They are not skilful considerers of human things, who imagine to remove sin by removing the matter of sin . . . Though ye take from a covetous man all his treasure, he has yet one jewel left, yet cannot bereave him of his covetousnes. Banish all objects of lust, shut up all youth into the severest discipline that can be exercised in any hermitage, ye cannot make them chaste that came not thither so; such great care and wisdom is required to the right managing of this point."

Removing an object of desire from society does not make the desire for that object disappear! The Volstead Act, which became the Eighteenth Amendment, is the perfect example to illustrate Milton's argument.

The Prohibition of alcohol in America was sparked by the ardent desire of a handful of women and religious activists who believed that removing the demon alcohol -- the sin in Milton's equation -- would protect and improve American society. Unfortunately, as history proved, removing the object of sin was not enough to solve the problem, for the desire for the object remained. Instead of creating a Utopian paradise free of alcohol and the negative consequences of drinking it, those who successfully pushed for Prohibition created new problems, some of which are still being dealt with nearly 100 years later. Because Prohibition was unenforceable, the attempt to remove alcohol from society caused an alarming increase in crime and increased alcohol consumption instead of bringing it to a complete stop.

Prohibition failed because the desire for alcohol was not removed with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. The same holds true for the current smoking bans. Closing hookah bars and banning smoking from places where only adults congregate will not convince people to stop smoking, but it will have a negative effect on the livelihoods of those who must now ban smoking patrons from their establishments! Furthermore, just as Prohibition led to a 516 percent increase in alcohol-related crimes, individuals whose businesses depend on smoking patrons will seek ways to get around the laws in order to keep their businesses afloat. To wit, check out Pipe Ban Is a Pane, France's Smoking Ban Chokes Hookah Bars, or Proposed Tougher Smoking Laws Have Some Richardson Businesses Worried.

Clearly a "skilful considerer of human things," John Milton, a man of the 17th century, had a better understanding of human nature than the lawmakers of the 21st century. The good news is that although the British Parliament did not heed his advice regarding the censorship of books, the Areopagitica played a significant role in our Founding Fathers' understanding of the importance of free speech and press. One can always hope that Milton's influence will still be felt and that "skilful considerer[s] of human things" will come out from behind the smoke screen of political correctness.

I can honestly say that I think now I've heard everything when it comes to the hype surrounding hookah use. It's not bad enough that the powers that be manipulate statistics to suit their agendas, but now they are capitalizing on the fear of STDs to accomplish their goal.

A recent article in the Rocky Mountain News (read the article here) states that "College students who opt for the supposedly safe smoke of a hookah pipe are sucking in the chemical equivalent of dozens of cigarettes and are risking mouth herpes and other diseases, a Colorado State University doctor says." We're all used to hearing the tripe about hookah smoking being more dangerous than cigarettes, and I've posted something on that subject in the past, but to use fear of contracting an STD in order to scare people out of smoking hookah is patently unethical and irresponsible.

"Mouth herpes" is nothing more than a cold sore. The Mayo Clinic reports that "Certain strains of the herpes virus cause cold sores. Herpes simplex virus type 1 usually causes cold sores." While it is true that a strain of herpes causes cold sores, it is a different one that triggers the STD known as genital herpes. The herpes virus also causes chickenpox, shingles, various types of cancer, and encephalitis. Without clarifying this matter in the article, both the doctor and the writer who quoted her display a profound lack of ethics and responsibility to the general public. Instead, both chose to play on the fact that when most people hear herpes, they automatically assume the worst -- the genital type.

Since "shared eating utensils, razors and towels may spread this infection" (Mayo Clinic), why didn't the physician or writer caution the public from eating in restaurants, using towels in a hotel, or getting a shave at the local barbershop? Are they making assumptions that college students don't engage in these activities at all, or do they mean to imply that hookah smoking is the only method by which this "mouth herpes" is contracted? In either case, it strikes me as little more than a blatant attempt to scare young people enough that they will stop smoking hookah. After all, nobody wants the social stigma associated with herpes.

Anyone who has been to a hookah bar can attest to the fact that each smoker is given a disposable mouth tip to use. Smokers can take these tips with them or toss them out before leaving, so the likelihood that they are being reused is minute. The fear of getting a used tip can be remedied by bringing your own to the bar. You won't have to worry about catching herpes from yourself.

It's about time that the medical community weighed in on the issue of hookah usage a little more responsibly than they have in the past. Yes, the hookah is a smoking device. Yes, people enjoy tobacco in it. Yes, tobacco is a known carcinogen. But to inflate statistics to suit an agenda and rustle up scare tactics by blaming hookah use for incidents of herpes is not the way to examine a problem through the scientific lens. And those who engage in this behavior ought to be hanging their collective heads in shame.

It's always interesting to see how the hookah fares in the media, so this morning I googled "hookah" just to see what I could find. In addition to the usual anti-smoking hype, the search brought some some fun reads that I've decided to share.

Bookah Bear, a product created by a couple of enterprising University of South Carolina students, is an interesting way to combine two very different comfort items.

Washington has some of the tightest anti-smoking laws in the country, but a couple of deep-thinking young entrepreneurs have found a way to open a hookah lounge in Seattle by "using the letter of the law to say something about the spirit of the law." Kudos to Paul Green and Erin Cobb, our customers, on the successful opening of the Cobra Lounge!

Since the fall of communism in the former Soviet Union, independently owned and operated businesses have blossomed in Russia. Take, for example, the Om Cafe where an Uzbek transplant to Moscow spent six months in hookah training and six months as a hookah apprentice before earning the title of "Hookah Master."

And so it goes. . .

• Owner finds the Carlisle market has a pent-up hunger for Indian fare

Javid's Indian Grill & Hookah Lounge
240 N. Hanover Street
Carlisle, PA 17013
(717) 240-0100
Hours of Operation: Monday-Thursday, 11-10; Friday & Saturday 11-11
Map / Directions

$2,000,000 -- two million dollars, that's how much! This must be some kind of special pipe, right? Surely it's made from 18K gold and covered in diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other gems if it can command such a hefty price, right? WRONG on both counts! The high-priced hookah is a stamped brass hookah with zip, zero, zilch, nada fancy on it. In fact, it's not even new -- your $2 MILLION will get you a used hookah!

If the hookah isn't made of precious metal and jewels, why would it command such a high price? In the real world marketplace, a brass hookah would never sell for such an outrageously high price. But this hookah sale is the brainchild of a family seeking to hang onto their land and their "father's legacy" by raising enough money to purchase and turn it into a "totally self-sufficient mini-community."

While I don't doubt the seriousness of this family's desire to keep the land that their father probably cared for and about, it's not very likely that their commonplace brass hookah will fetch them the needed funds. Still, I wish them luck in their endeavor and applaud their creativity in seeking financing for their project. If you've got the money this family needs and want a brass hookah, you can visit their site.

Thanks to government intervention, it will soon be next to impossible to buy shisha (ma'assel) online. States such as New York and California that have imposed ridiculously high taxes on tobacco products as part of their rigid anti-smoking laws have complained that online cigarette sales are depriving them of a much needed source of tax revenue. Uncle Sam took notice of those complaints and agreed that consumers who purchase tobacco products online are in violation of tax law and must be stopped. Mastercard has jumped on the bandwagon and has alerted all of its merchants that they will no longer accept credit card payments for online tobacco purchases. At least three of our wholesale accounts have, without realizing it, run afoul of the law with the result being that their bank and merchant accounts have been frozen. None of these companies sell cigarettes online and since the primary target of the grumbling, whining, and complaining has been about online cigarette sales, one would think that a hookah merchant would be safe. Unfortunately, shisha (ma'assel) is guilty by association. How this will all play out in the end is anyone's guess. As it is currently, however, those hookah merchants who continue to offer shisha for sale on their websites will sooner or later find themselves up in smoke.

• 22" 2-Hose Blue Violet Authentic Egyptian Hookah