Hookah lounges growing in popularity around CMU
Hookah lounges are becoming increasingly popular in Mount Pleasant.
Two recently opened businesses are offering students options so they can choose the atmosphere that fits for them.
The Smokers Club, 100 S. Mission St., is adding two rooms to its establishment that will be used as hookah lounges and should be open by the end of the month. The S.I.X. Lounge, 1901 S. Mission St., opened last fall.
Smokers Club owner Dave Sprunger said he thinks hookah is becoming more popular because it is the cleanest way to smoke. He said as people become more aware of the dangers of smoking tobacco products, they are turning to hookah as a safer option.
“You still get the nicotine, which is why people smoke,” he said. “But it uses steam and water vapor, so there’s no tar.”
Some college students, he said, might see it as a way to get around smoking bans in apartments.
Sprunger knows a lot of students who smoke hookah because it does not leave stains and a strong smell like tobacco does, and users can choose from a variety of flavors.
The Hookah Lounge, inside the Malt Shop, 1088 S. University St., is Mount Pleasant’s oldest hookah hangout.
Owner Rosie Haddad said she thinks hookah has always been popular among students, but other business owners are just now starting to realize the potential of the lounges in a college town.
“We’ve been here for five years, and business has been about the same for the last four years,” she said.
Haddad is not concerned with the addition of competing lounges, and said “there’s enough business for everyone.”
The addition of the other lounges, she said, just gives students a chance to pick which atmosphere is a better fit.
A ‘nice social activity’
Travis Smith, a St. Johns junior, and Jacquelyn Simon, a St. Johns sophomore, said they like smoking hookah because it is a nice, relaxing way to spend time with friends.
“I like the atmosphere,” Simon said. “It’s a nice social activity.”
Smith and Simon said they go to The Hookah Lounge about once a week.
Haddad said her business is not dependent on hookah sales, since hookah is only a portion. The Malt Shop, she said, has been in business for 40 years selling food, coffee and smoothies.
Sprunger said The Smokers Club also is not dependent on the hookah, since it also offers all kinds of tobacco products. However, he wants to make hookah a bigger part.
He said he is in the process of acquiring new lines of hookah from Las Vegas so he can offer the latest trends along with traditional flavors.
Hookah sales have been up since the addition began, he said, and he expects them to go up even more once it is finished.
