DeWitt resident Taylor Curtiss stokes the embers on the apricot, mellow melon and pineapple flavored hookah her and her friend (not pictured) are smoking at Blue Midnight Hookah Lounge on July 20. Curtiss experienced the affects of the smoking ban which went into effect May 1 when her friend asked for a glass of water and her request was denied. “It’s like they’re trying to take the smoke away from the food and the food away from the smoke,” Curtiss said. Curtiss was able to purchase a Monster energy drink from Blue Midnight.
Although most still are in operation, some local hookah bars have watched their profits go up in smoke as a result of Michigan’s workplace smoking ban.
The law prohibits smoking in public areas, but because more than 75 percent of sales are derived from tobacco products, hookah lounges such as Blue Midnight Hookah Lounge, 330 Albert Ave., are not required to cut smoke from the premises, owner Patrick Kent said.
Because smoking is allowed, most foods are not, Kent said.
“Now, the way that the law reads, we can serve food, but it has to be ‘shelf stable,’” he said. “We can’t serve anything hot, we can’t serve anything cold (and) we can’t serve anything prepared.”
Kent said many customers have expressed dismay over the change in the law.
“We had really good hummus and some really good wraps,” Kent said. “A lot of our regulars, they were sad to see it go. But all of my customers have been very understanding of the smoking ban and supportive of the Blue Midnight.”
At Saylis Hookah Lounge & Café, 300 N. Clippert St., in Lansing, restrictions on food being served have decreased sales nearly 40 percent from their pre-smoking ban levels, owner Mahad Bussuri said.
“We had cheesecakes, smoothies, ice creams, light food like a meat pie type of thing, Middle Eastern (and) African cuisine type of stuff,” Bussuri said. “It was different, and people were looking forward to those types of things. Now we are not able to serve those.”
Having opened less than a year ago, Bussuri said he wishes he had opened somewhere outside of Michigan.
“We did not think about this law that was going to come and hit us so soon,” Bussuri said. “If I would have known about it, I wouldn’t even have taken the chance. Basically, I have dug myself in a hole and we can’t get out of it. All the money that went in, we can’t get back.”
Although it won’t affect her trip to a hookah bar, being unable to eat while smoking is unfortunate, advertising sophomore Maggie Ortlieb said.
“(Eating while smoking is) just like a social thing,” Ortlieb said. “We would probably still go, but when we are there, it just makes it nicer.”
Despite customers’ disappointment, Blue Midnight still sees nearly as many sales as before the smoking ban, Kent said. On an average weeknight, he said he gets 45-50 customers, and double that on the weekends.
“It has affected us a little bit, but the bottom line is we still have hookah,” Kent said.
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