Ali Alsudani has been in the hookah bar business in Boise for six years, and he believes the lounges were targeted by the city’s new smoking ban.
“I came to the U.S. for freedom because in Iraq we have a dictator who tells you, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that,” he said.
The new Boise regulations are limiting his freedom, he said, and he plans at the end of January to relocate his Ali Baba Hookah Bar, currently on Broadway Avenue.
Two anti-smoking ordinances took effect Jan. 2, prohibiting smoking in parks, bars and varied other public spaces.
The smoking ban exempts “exclusive retail tobacconists” — businesses with sales that are 95 percent tobacco and tobacco products, with no more than four seats for customers.
Hookah bars could fall under that definition, city spokesman Adam Park said, “though perhaps on a more limited scale than they currently operate.”
Alsudani and two other Boise hookah bar owners say they can’t afford to operate if they’re limited to serving four customers at a time. They said they did not testify against the new city ordinances or seek an exemption.
WHAT WILL LOUNGE OWNERS DO?
Alsudani plans to move his business to smoker-friendly Garden City.
Maher Mirdas, owner of Babylon Hookah Lounge in a strip mall at 5805 Franklin Road, said he is confused by Boise’s new smoking ordinances and plans to keep operating as he has for the past six years until he is told otherwise.
If the business has to shut down, Mirdas said, “I wouldn’t know what to do.”
Ahmad Abdulrhaman never got a chance to open his business.
In August, Abdulrhaman and his business partner leased a space at 1505 N. Liberty St., where they planned to open a hookah bar. They began renovating in September, spending $35,000 in upgrades and furnishings.
Abdulrhaman told the Statesman he had conversations with city officials, including a city inspector, who told him he could not open under the new ordinance.
“I came to America to find a good life,” he said. “What’s wrong? I have no one to teach me how to get out of this. … I don’t know the language very well.”
The decision about what to do is up to the hookah bar owners, Park said.
“Following the passage of the smoke-free ordinance, hookah bars must make a business decision as to whether they wish to attain the status of exclusive retail tobacconist and offer hookah or become a social club where smoking is not allowed,” he said.
A MIDDLE EASTERN IMPORT
Hookah bars, brought to the U.S. by immigrants, are lounges where customers pay to smoke tobacco out of a water pipe with a flexible tube. Flavored tobacco smoke is drawn through a vase or bowl of water, which cools the smoke.
These smoking lounges cater to 18- to 20-year-olds who are old enough to smoke, but too young to go to bars.
“I would say that is 97 percent of my business,” said Alsudani.
Hookah bars have been on Boise officials’ radar for several years. After receiving noise complaints, city officials in 2009 amended city code to require tobacco establishments, including the smoking lounges, to be closed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
That limited the hookah lounge business, because some traditional bar patrons would filter over to the lounges after the bars closed at 2 a.m.
ENFORCEMENT PLANS
The Boise smoking ban aims to protect the public’s health, advocates say.
“Secondhand smoke is the issue — where employees are subject to it and can’t escape the damages,” Boise City Council President Maryanne Jordan said.
Boise police are in the process of training officers how to enforce the new smoking ban.
For the first 30 days under the new ordinance, officers are issuing only warnings — unless a violator persists or a citizen insists on signing a complaint.
“No citations have been written so far,” Boise Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said.
The city mailed information to business owners summarizing the ordinance and telling them who to call with questions.
Hightower said business owners should get their questions answered before the grace period is over. Citations for businesses that violate the smoking ordinance will be $119.
“If any business, including hookah bars, are allowing smoking that shouldn’t be under the ordinance, they will be issued a citation,” she said.
Dara Barney: 377-6253
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