When are you going to open?
We're trying to open as soon as possible! Right now we are undergoing renovations and awaiting the Board of Health's final approval. We're doing our best to get open in September. Sorry to everyone who has been waiting patiently, we are going as fast as we can! This is a completely new type of business in this area so it is taking longer than usual to get the appropriate approvals, etc.

What kinds of things will you serve?
Primarily we are a hookah lounge so that will be our main fare. We will also have a selection of fresh local coffee and teas to compliment the hookahs and we will serve natural sodas as well.

How much will it cost?
Pricing has yet to be finalized, but we are going to be charging around $15 for a hookah session which should last around 45 minutes. This can be shared by up to 2 people.

Will you serve alcohol?
We will be serving a wide array of beverages, but no alcoholic ones.

I've heard that smoking a hookah is a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes.
This is a myth and one that we will never EVER tell our customers. Hookah shisha is tobacco bathed in molasses and flavoring. This is what creates the sweet taste, but it is still tobacco and therefore has the same active ingredients. We will offer an herbal alternative that contains no tobacco for anyone who does not want to inhale tobacco smoke.

I thought there was a ban on smoking indoors. Can you elaborate?
While it is true that there is a ban on smoking indoors, the state of Massachusetts has built in a specific exemption for smoking bars. The theory behind it is that the only reason anyone would enter a smoking bar is to smoke and therefore only those who want to smoke will be exposed to the secondhand smoke that is produced. Northampton city regulations are stricter than the state regulations and thus do not have the smoking bar exemption. We have gone through 5 months (thus far!) of meetings with the Northampton Board of Health and are in the process of being granted an exemption to the Northampton regulations defaulting to the state law with some specific stipulations. Rest assured, this has been a long and arduous process and we are working closely with the Board of Health to ensure we meet all of their extremely rigorous requirements with respect to air handling and sanitation among other things.

Ok, but what are you doing about preventing secondhand smoke from reaching Main Street and affecting the citizens of Northampton?
Well first, one of the requirements from the Northampton Board of Health is that we install an extremely expensive and powerful ventilation system. It has been approved by both the Board of Health and the Northampton Building Inspector. It cycles the air inside the lounge 6 times per hour which means air is moving at around 9 MPH out of the lounge. This creates a negative air pressure zone inside the lounge. For the layperson, that means that air is being sucked out of our lounge faster than it is being pumped in and thus whenever a door is opened a vacuum is created and all air is sucked inwards. This means that no smoke will ever be billowing out of our lounge. Furthermore, we have a door on Main Street, and a set of stairs down to our lounge. The Board of Health has required us to install a second door at the bottom of the stairs to create a sort of airlock. Any smoke in the air would have to pass through both sets of spring loaded doors through a vacuum to make it to the street so virtually none will make it out that way.

What about the air you're venting out?
The air we are venting out is vented out the back of the lounge, (aka not to Main Street) to the roof of the building we are in right alongside the venting for the grease trap of the pizza place we share the building with. Though it is difficult to adequately filter all smoke out of the air, venting it to the roof in this manner will ensure that the smoke is completely dispersed before it gets anywhere near the ground level.