SHISHA BARS, LOUNGES AND CAFES TO CITY; LET US OFF THE HOOKAH

By STEPHANIE GASKELL

April 8, 2003 -- Mahmoud Rico has been serving shisha pipes (hookahs) at his East Village shisha bar for more than a decade. But now that Mayor Bloomberg has banned smoking in bars, Rico says he might have to shut down for good.
"It just breaks my heart," he said. "I love the mayor. I voted for him. But he doesn't respect our culture."

Rico owns Sahara East, an Egyptian shisha bar that serves fruit-flavored tobacco in a water pipe, or hookah. He said the ban should not apply to him because most of his revenue comes from tobacco - much like the city's half dozen cigar bars, where it's still legal to light up.

Shisha cafes are an ancient tradition in the Middle East. Men gather to smoke tobacco, play cards or backgammon, and chat. The tobacco comes in many flavors and costs around $3 for about an hour's worth of puffing.

There's only a handful of shisha bars in the city but they are not exempt from the citywide ban or the new tough statewide ban, which goes into effect in July, and that has many owners puzzled.

"If you don't come here to smoke, you don't come," said Labib Salama, who owns the Egyptian Coffee Shop on Steinway Street in Astoria, home to several shisha cafes. "We should be exempt."

Several Queens Democrats agree and have sent a joint letter to Albany to try to amend the law to exempt hookah bars.

"The hookah is a very important part of the culture of the Middle East and the livelihood of the owners of these cafesor lounges would be decimated if smoking is not permitted," said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. He is joined by Sen. George Onorato and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, in calling the law unfair.

Men still gather at the shisha lounges on Steinway Street to puff their pipes, play cards or backgammon and watch war news on Egyptian satellite TV - even though it's illegal.

The Health Department said it would only issue warnings until May 1. After that, fines can be as much as $2,000 and shisha bars that violate the law more than three times will be closed.

For now, hookah smokers say they will wait and see what happens to their local hangouts. "If they see smoking, they'll smoke," said Alandor. "When they don't see people smoking, they won't."