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StumbleuponTherapy Cafe introduces hookah bar, will offer Indian buffet lunches
> What do you think of hookah bars?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
DAYTON — One of the first area bars to voluntarily go smoke free now offers a hookah bar.
Chris Cochran of Therapy Cafe said the business has started selling hookah smokings — flavored tobacco through a water pipe — for $10 for the first fill and $5 for refills.
Hookahs will be available for sale on Therapy Cafe's outside patio located at 452 E. Third St. in the Cannery Lofts during business hour Monday through Saturday.
"We fell the hookah is the new water cooler," Cochran said. "It's a social thing. That's what Therapy has always been about, a social place."
Therapy is also teaming with Pawan Kumar, owner of Kohinoor Palace in Miami Twp., to offer an Indian food buffet at lunchtime. Kumar said the venture, called Therapy Spice, will offer three vegetarian dishes, three non-vegetarian dishes, desserts and salads from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for $9.95, starting on Oct. 1.
Hookah bars are growing in popularity in the Miami Valley. The Taste of the Mediterranean in Miamisburg has also opened its Al Madina hookah bar at 47 S. Springboro Pike. And there is a growing number of places to buy hookah pipes in the Dayton area.
Cindy Perkins of The Import House in Yellow Springs, which sales an array of hookahs and tobacco, said smoking hookahs is popular among college students who use it socially.
There are several hookah bars on High Street in Columbus and in the areas around The Ohio State University. There are also hookah bars in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
"It's been taking off," Perkins said of the hookah trend.
Hookahs, also called shishas, are used in many Asian, Middle Eastern and European countries. The tobacco comes in a variety of fruity flavors, including apple, lemon and watermelon.
"Really anything you can think of," Perkins said.
Ohio businesses that receive 80 percent of their revenue from the sale of tobacco and tobacco products are exempt from the state's smoking ban.
Restaurants and businesses with liquor permits are not exempt from the ban.
Therapy Cafe became smoke free under its previous owners before the state smoking ban was implemented.
Cochran said the business has long allowed smoking on it patio. He said the business' interior will remain smoke free.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Comments
By Logan Brown
September 26, 2008 1:14 AM | Link to this
great article, very nice to see hookah being brought into some upper class establishments where people can relax and enjoy themselves without the usual young kids being loud and obnoxious the whole time