Hookah hoopla

There's no mention of a hookah in the records of Lewis and Clark's journey across the west, but the combination somehow seems right to Sam Alsmadi.

Alsmadi, originally from Damascas, Syria, recently opened the Lewis and Clark Cafe in downtown Cape Girardeau. Part of the cafe's services include hookahs -- a water pipe used to smoke special fruit-based tobaccos.

"I wanted the ancient east to meet the ancient west," he explained.

Alsmadi spent the last 19 years of his life in St. Louis, obtaining a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management and a master's degree in management.

Standing approximately three feet tall, the hookah is a smoking pipe, filled with water to filter out the impurities of the tobacco and create a smoother smoking experience. Sam Alsmadi plans on offering the hookah smoking experience in his newly opened cafe in downtown Cape Girardeau.

But always, the history of the United States fascinated him, especially the Louisiana Purchase. That's why he chose Lewis and Clark as namesakes for his new restaurant.

While the use of hookahs goes back to the 1600s in the middle east, the concept of this form of social smoking has only recently caught on in the U.S., especially on the west coast, said Alsmadi.

The restaurant serves sandwiches and salads, as well as coffee, ice cream and other desserts. As of next week, it will also offer wireless Internet service, which Alsmadi hopes will draw the local college crowd.

The glass hookah stands about two feet tall and the bottom bowl is filled with water, which purifies the tobacco before it is inhaled. Right now, Alsmadi offers two flavors of tobacco -- apple and strawberry -- imported from Egypt. One bowl lasts up to two hours.

"The flavor is out of this world," Alsmadi said. "I hope Cape Girardeau might embrace this.

Alsmadi hopes students will find the environment relaxing enough to work on their laptops while smoking the hookahs. Following middle eastern culture, the hookah is only available in the evening, after 5 p.m.

"Even if someone is not a smoker, they try this and say, 'my goodness, this is nice," said Alsmadi. "It compliments the evening."

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128

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History of the hookah

A hookah is a traditional Middle Eastern or Asian device for smoking and is also known as a water pipe, arghileh/ nargile, shisha/sheesh or hubble-bubble. The hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat, similar to bongs but not intended for the use of marijuana.

There are four fundamental parts of a hookah:

• The base or smoke chamber, which is partially filled with water
• The bowl, which contains the tobacco (or whatever else is being smoked); the heating apparatus is placed on top
• The pipe, which connects the bowl to the base by a tube that plunges into the water
• The hose, which connects to a second tube in the pipe that does not plunge into the water, but only the air of the smoke chamber.

The heating apparatus is usually charcoal placed on foil.

When a smoker inhales through the tube, a pressure difference forces air past the coal, heating the tobacco, which gives off smoke; the smoke is pulled away from the tobacco, through the water, and into the air of the smoke chamber -- whence it is inhaled by the smoker. Passing through the water partially filters tar and nicotine from the tobacco smoke, in addition to cooling it.

The most commonly-used hookah tobaccos (known as tobamel or maassel) are produced using a mixture of shredded tobacco leaf mixed in with a sweetener such as honey, molasses or semi-dried fruit.

A hookah's pleasant, non-irritating smoke has lead many to believe that hookah smoking is less detrimental to one's health than most other methods of smoking tobacco, such as smoking cigarettes. Unlike cigarettes, where smoke is produced by the burning of tobacco, hookahs produce a dense, flavorful smoke by heating moistened tobacco. Research has shown that fewer cancer-causing carcinogens are produced because the tobacco is heated, rather than burned.

-- www.wikipedia.com