Shisha Ban in Jeddah Takes Effect Today as Grace Period Ends

ARAB NEWS: The Jeddah mayoralty had set a grace period that ends today for cafes and restaurants in the city to stop serving shisha to costumers.

The ban will affect 238 restaurants and cafes reported to face an 80 percent drop in their revenue. These cafes would make a daily revenue of 7 to 10 thousand riyals from shisha alone.

The ban has only recently been enforced, with Riyadh and other cities having implemented this years ago. Shisha lovers now have to drive to cafes outside the city to smoke as the decision also applies to residential areas.

Abdul Aziz Al-Nahari, spokesman for the Jeddah mayoralty, said this is an application of the ministry of interior’s decision to protect public health and that such measures have been applied internationally.

Arab News met with café owners who denounced the decision as ‘shocking’. » | Ibrahim Naffee | Jeddah | Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Utah Officials Trying to Ban Hookah Smoking
DESERET NEWS: SALT LAKE CITY — Hookahs could go the way of cigarettes, cigars and pipes if Utah health officials approve a ban on smoking heated tobacco in popular bars and other public places.

Health officials argue secondhand smoke from hookahs is just as dangerous as that of other tobacco products, which state law already prohibits in public indoor spaces. That includes all bars.

"There are harmful effects from the secondhand smoke from hookahs," Utah Department of Public Health spokesman Steve Hadden said Monday. "Just because it's an adult place doesn't mean it's any less harmful." Read on and comment » | Associated Press | Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Smoking Banned for Women in Gaza
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: A new entry has been added to the list of things women are now forbidden from doing in Gaza. Following on from laws banning women from using male hairdressers or driving cars, it's now illegal for women to smoke the famous shisha water-pipes in public.



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Women Banned from Smoking Hookah Pipes in Gaza
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Women in Gaza have been banned from smoking hookah pipes in public after Hamas ruled it was against tradition and lead[s] to divorce.

A Palestinian woman smokes a waterpipe at a cafe in Gaza City. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
The sudden edict, the latest in an often arbitrary campaign to improve moral standards in the territory, threatens to bring to an end centuries of tradition.

Without warning, bearded members of Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza, arrived in cafés and restaurants over the weekend to inform proprietors of the ban.

Amid uncertainty about the details of the decision, a large number of institutions stopped serving the scented tobacco altogether, prompting outrage among patrons, many of whom went home in disgust.

Hamas officials subsequently clarified that only women were forbidden from smoking the narghile, the water pipe better known in the West as the hookah or hubble-bubble [hubbly-bubbly].

"The police have decided to ban women from smoking narghile in open, public places because it is against our customs, traditions and social norms," said Ihab al-Hussein, a spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Sunday, July 18, 2010

Mideast Comes Up with New Anti-smoking Laws
THE TIMES OF INDIA: The Middle East, long associated with the ubiquitous waterpipe, is intensifying an anti-smoking drive as several Arab countries ban the practice in public places, even if success looks difficult.

From Beirut to Cairo, cigarettes are smoked everywhere, not just in cafes and restaurants, but in banks, ministries and even hospitals.

Egypt, the most populous nation in the Arab world and the heaviest smoker, announced on Thursday its intention to make the Mediterranean city of Alexandria the country's ‘first smoke-free city.’

But the health ministry did not say how it planned to achieve this goal.

An existing law that prohibits smoking in public places is frequently flouted -- notably by civil servants and police.

Nearly 40 per cent of Egyptian men smoke, the vast majority of them throughout the day, according to a report published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in January.

On top of this, at least 70 per cent of those questioned for the survey said they were subjected to passive smoking at home or in the workplace.

Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also looking to kick the habit, having all passed anti-smoking legislation in recent months.

In January, the Emirati president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, ordered a ban "on smoking in public transport and closed public places."

Within the UAE, Dubai took the lead, introducing smoking restrictions as far back as 2007. >>> AFP | Sunday, June 13, 2010

Saudi Arabia: Smoking Cigarettes
BLOG – STUFF SAUDI PEOPLE LIKE: It’s well known that when you start a habit when you’re young; it is really hard to get over it. A lot of Saudis start smoking at a young age, usually their first experiment with cigarettes will be with their peers in schools. From hiding in school’s restrooms to standing behind buildings, smoke comes out from every part of the schools. Most teenagers who smoke carry pack of cigarettes in one pocket and a bottle of cologne in the other. No matter how much you wear cologne or drink half of the bottle, in the end parents always find out that you smoke.

Every year the price of cigarettes go up, but that doesn’t matter. Saudis will put down money and finance a pack of cigarette, in order to get the nicotine in their system. It’s the illusion of the cool image that is associated with cigarette, makes Saudis want to smoke. Watch any Saudi smoke, from the way he holds the cigarette to the way he blows the smoke, as if he is in a Hollywood movie that is playing in a slow motion. Comment >>> saudislike | Monday, August 17, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Heart attack hospital admissions have fallen since the smoking ban: The number of people admitted to hospital for heart attacks has dropped by an average of 100 a month since the introduction of the smoking ban in England, research shows. >>> Sam Lister, Health Editor | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Thousands of heart attacks 'prevented by the smoking ban': Thousands of heart attacks have been prevented by the smoking ban, according to the first study of its kind. >>> Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

AFP: Unhealthy Scots 'living dangerously': study – LONDON — Scottish people are putting their lives at risk with an unhealthy lifestyle of heavy smoking, high alcohol intake and poor diet, health experts warned on Friday.

Scientists looked at five major risk factor to determine the general health of the Scottish population -- smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, poor diet, physical inactivity and being overweight.

They found that nearly the whole adult population (97.5%) fell into at least one of those categories, the experts wrote in the online journal BMC Public Health. >>> | Friday, June 11, 2010

Smoking Ban Threatens Hookahs
Painting by Jean Léon Gerôme* (1824 – 1904), entitled 'The Teaser of the Narghile' ('The Pipelighter') c.1898. Collection Ghassan Shaker Gallery Keops, Geneve, Switzerland. Courtesy of Google Images.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Hookah bar owners anxious about their survival hope for an exemption such as that for cigar bars

CHAPEL HILL -- A mellow vibe permeates Hookah Bliss these days as college students and other trend-seeking young people socialize over water pipes and burning lumps of pungent, fruit-flavored tobacco in the small lounge on the town's main drag.

That could dissipate, though, when indoor smoking in restaurants and bars is snuffed out across the state at the start of the year.

Hookah bars, which surged in popularity in America's college towns and big cities when tobacco use was in general decline, find themselves battling the smoking bans that are sweeping the country.

In North Carolina, hookah bar owners are joining forces to save their businesses. In the coming weeks, they hope to persuade state lawmakers to make legislative exemptions for them similar to those granted cigar bars and country clubs that will allow smoking after the indoor ban takes effect Jan. 1.

They know of the health risks of secondhand smoke but counter that their patrons choose to come despite the hazards.

The disparity between cigar and hookah bars "just boggles the mind," said Hookah Bliss owner Adam Bliss -- yes, that's his real name.

"Look at who goes to those places -- generally older, affluent white males," he said. "Besides the fact that this law is creating an elitist association between who can smoke and who can't, they're allowing government to put me out of business, and this is supposed to be a free market economy here."

Unlike bars and restaurants, which still attract customers for drinks and food despite the disappearance of ashtrays, the hookah bars could lose the reason for their existence.

The hookah is a centuries-old device of Middle Eastern and African origin through which flavored tobacco is smoked. Tobacco infused with honey, molasses and other flavors is placed in a bowl at the top of the pipe and heated with charcoal. As smokers inhale through a long, flexible stem, the smoke is pulled through gurgling, cooling water. >>> By Anne Blythe, Staff Writer | Monday, June 01, 2009

*Jean-Léon Gerôme was the son of a goldsmith who discouraged him to join the painting studio of a Parisian artist. He worked in France for a while, selling religious cards before moving to Italy. Gerôme was given a commission by the French government in the late 1840’s to paint a mural titled Age of Augustus. In order to acquire source material for this project, he traveled across Europe and Asia Minor and then spent two years working on the detailed painting. Upon its completion, Gerôme spent several months sketching in Egypt. Later in his career, he abandoned the mythological and history paintings for which he was known and began sculpting. He was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts. [Source: World Wide Art Resources]