 "Photo: Mia Victoria Cortez")
 "Photo: Mia Victoria Cortez")
 "Photo: Mia Victoria Cortez")
The smells of Mediterranean food and fruity smoke permeate the atmosphere as clusters of people sit around tables and talk under the glare of black lights. Loud music, with beats ranging from Middle Eastern music to American hip-hop, gives visitors the opportunity to sing along, dance or simply sit back and enjoy.
At first glance, it has the appearance of a typical bar or night club, but it is a hookah bar, where many people, especially teens, have found an escape in smoking the ancient Middle Eastern water pipe.
According to Smokeshop Magazine, at least 300 new hookah bars have opened in the past five years in the United States. In San Antonio an estimated eight hookah bars have opened in the past two years.
Hookah smoking, also called shisha, uses an argileh, or water pipe, which consists of a water bowl, a water line, a body, a hose and a pipe.
Like many young adults, Mike Martinez, 20, has found that relaxing with a hookah at Sultan Cafe on the city's North Side is far better than the usual night of partying.
"It's always good to come chill and relax and feel comfortable," said Martinez, who used the hookah to help quit smoking cigarettes. "The service I get here is another reason I come back."
Martinez said the owners make each customer feel like a friend, which is evidenced by the steady stream of customers who stop by to greet Haitham Werfelli, one of the cafe's owners along with Wefelli's brother, Hesham; their sister, Howaida; and Jamal Abed.
Majeed Alobaidi, owner of the first hookah bar in San Antonio, Shisha Cafe, attributes his success to American curiosity.
"Customers in America like to try everything," Alobaidi said. "They like to taste different things."
When Alobaidi, a native of Iraq, shared his idea of opening a hookah cafe with his friends three years ago, they thought he was crazy. In December 2003, when Shisha Cafe opened, Alobaidi spent no money on advertising the business, relying on his customers spreading the word.
The first couple of months were hard, but with a few parties that all changed, he said.
"Good service attracts people, and that's what customers find when they come to Shisha for their very first time," Alobaidi said. "After my customers find such service, my business boomed thanks to the spread of word."
The legal age of 18 to smoke tobacco also applies to hookah smoking. Both Sultan and Shisha cafes take IDs from customers and hold them.
"I value my business and don't want to get into any trouble," Alobaidi said. "If a customer does not surrender their ID or they do not cooperate, then I tell them to leave."
There is sound reason to believe hookah smoking may be safer than smoking cigarettes, Werfelli said.
"(People) who like smoking are going to be more inclined to want to try hookah because of its flavor, taste and it being safer than smoking cigarettes," he said. "They are probably going to turn to something they like, and in this case the shisha might be more appealing than cigarette smoking."
Although there is less nicotine and tar in the tobacco used in hookah pipes, there is no solid research showing that it is safer than cigarette smoking.
"No one knows if the risks of hookah smoking are less, the same or greater than cigarettes - the necessary studies simply haven't been done," said Thomas Eissenberg, professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Eissenburg, who specializes in drug and alcohol studies, emphasized that researchers do not know enough to inform water pipe or hookah users of the chance that hookah smoking might carry substantial health risks.
The Middle Eastern water pipes, which originated in Turkey some 500 years ago, contain only a small amount of tobacco mixed with flavored molasses, Alobaidi said, adding that the flavor should last for an hour and a half.
Because of Muslim law banning the consumption of alcohol, shisha bars in the Middle East provide men with an opportunity to socialize and relax, Alobaidi said.
Werfelli, a native of Libya, said there are many similarities between hookah bars in the United States and those in the Middle East. In Libya, however, women are not seen in hookah bars at night unless they are tourists, Werfelli said.
"There they don't really have the option to do much else," Werfelli said of the hookah's significance in the Middle East.
Teens who try hookah smoking do it as an alternative to going to bars and clubs.
"People go to hang out," said Zuben Mistey, a 16-year-old Reagan High School student. "Teens aren't allowed inside of bars, so they go to a hookah cafe to socialize and have a good time."
Some teens attribute their attraction to hookah lounges to the atmosphere and the opportunity to hang out with friends.
"Hookah bars are a good place to meet new people, and teens become more and more attracted to the atmosphere," said Guillaume Louis, a 17-year-old foreign exchange student from France.
Josh Spain, a 21-year-old business associate of Werfelli, goes to Sultan Cafe for business and pleasure.
On a busy Wednesday night, Spain talks with a friend between intermittent drags off the water pipe as he works on a new menu for the cafe on his laptop computer.
"Besides being a business partner, the enviroment is what I really enjoy," Spain said.
Spain also mentioned that it is not unusual to see teens who just turned 18 at the cafe.
"The big hype is people might be unfamiliar with the scene," Spain said. "It's not unusual to see teens who barely turn legal to come to a hookah bar and make a big hype about such a thing."
He added: "It's a way for kids to be liberated."
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