About 50 hookah café, restaurant, and bar owners gathered at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn April 26 to discuss their next course of action in relation to Michigan’s May 1 smoking ban, which could have a disastrous affect on their businesses.

About 50 hookah business owners attended the meeting, but many of them are still confused about the best course of action to take regarding the May 1 smoking ban as well as the details of the law.  PHOTOS: Nick Meyer/TAAN

While cigars bars have been granted an exemption and will be allowed to serve approved food and drink with their cigars, places that serve both hookah and food will be forced to choose between the two under the May 1 law.
While hookah business owners feel that the law is unfairly targeting them, they now realize that the cigar bars’ lobbyists and unified approach were the driving forces behind them gaining the exemption.

In response, hookah business owners have formed the new National Heritage Association (NHA), which is supported by the Arab American Chamber of Commerce and was founded by Akram Allos, owner of Sinbad’s Grand Café in Dearborn and a distributor of hookah products to other local cafes.

Allos along with LoanMod.com co-founder Moose Scheib and 360 Lounge owner Mike Berry co-founded the group as a 501-C3 non-profit organization with a special focus on the preservation and deeper integration of Arabic heritage into local communities.

A major goal of the NHA, which represents over 120 hookah bars across the state, is to explore the possibility of fighting the smoking ban as it relates to hookah businesses.

“We’re here today because we have not lobbied ahead of time, so it’s going to be an uphill battle but if we stick together and have a common united front we may be able to get somewhere with the state,” said Sheib.

Also speaking at the meeting were three lawyers the group has brought aboard to look into possible lawsuits against the state for the right of business to continue selling hookah, food, and drink together.

The attorneys include Nabih Ayad of the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), David Steingold, who is on the advisory board of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and Hugh “Buck” Davis, who has handled several cases involving Arab Americans in the past.

Steingold said that while challenges to similar laws on behalf of hookah businesses have been successful in the past, including a recent Florida challenge, he said that Michigan lawmakers have gone to great lengths to limit hookah owners’ options.

For example, in other states, hookah lounges have turned themselves into private clubs to continue serving food and drinks, but that won’t be an option for owners in Michigan.

Steingold said that Michigan State Rep. of the 15th House District Gino Polidori took great steps to ensure that hookah bars were accepted as cigar bars in the first incarnation of the law, but that the classification was changed in the bill at some point in the Michigan State Senate to only allow cigar bars the exemption.

“The anti-tobacco lobbies maintain that hookah is more of a gateway type of thing for kids to smoke cigarettes than cigars, but I have not seen any scientific studies or anything like that,” Steingold said.

Steingold added that he believes ignorance to the importance of the hookah to Arab and Muslim culture was the main reason why hookah bars were not exempted.

The lawyers believe that cases relating to the constitutionality of the law, deprivation of property without due process of law, and equal protection rights are possible.

Now, current and prospective NHA members have to decide whether to commit the necessary legal funds to fight the ban while taking the risk factor into account.

Fawzi Al-Shohatee, owner of Yemen Nights Café in Detroit and Lava Java in Dearborn, said that he plans to support the potential lawsuits.

“We have to, we don’t have much of a choice, but as long as everybody gets together we have a chance.”

But Allos said that he is fearful that there won’t be enough time to set a lawsuit in motion before hookah businesses suffer major losses and is still unsure about whether or not the NHA should continue down that path. The smoking ban is already affecting his business.

“I have a 65-year-old cook and I told him that May 1st is possibly his last day,” Allos said. “He said, ‘What am I going to do at my age, who will hire me? I have a family to feed.'”

Allos already let a 19-year-old dishwasher go as well and fears he may have to lay off his waitresses since he plans to switch to a hookah bar only while eliminating food. He said a city inspector also came by, to his surprise, and told him that he needed to remove his kitchen equipment, which costs about $200,000.

Confusion still exists as to the enforcement of the laws according to Ayad and hookah shop owners but both patrons and owners can be fined for non-compliance.

Further complicating matters and raising the stakes according to Allos is a potential tax increase on tobacco that could make individual hookah prices skyrocket into the $30-40 range, he said. If current hookah bar owners decide to stick with hookah and give up food, their chances of long-term viability could also be badly damaged by the potential taxes.

Lobbyist Gary Reed, who helped win an exemption for cigar bars, also was brought in to speak by the NHA on the evening.

Reed also recommended that hookah bar owners band together and seek as much media coverage as possible to draw attention to their plight.

So far they have responded with several articles in local media. One Detroit News article quoted Mike Nolan, president of the Michigan Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association, which represents cigar bars, as saying he supported the hookah bars’ quest for an exemption.

Reed also mentioned that hookah business owners who make 10% or more worth of total profits from cigars have the option of filing as a cigar bar, which can buy the time to make decisions should the NHA decide to seek a court injunction. Reed said that such shops would likely be declined the cigar bar exemption but they can continue to operate as is, selling both food and smoking products, until they receive a reply.

To print out an exemption form to apply as a cigar bar, click here.

Visit www.michigan.gov for more information on the May 1 smoking ban.

The NHA’s Web site is Nationalheritage.com and the phone number is 248.808.3333.