No Tar? No Nicotine?

[Rayneuki]

.....but they cant sell food or something like that.

That's a gripe. The 3 hookah bars here in Memphis that I am aware of do sell coffee, desserts & Middle-Eastern foods. I have only been to one of them. I think the other 2 mostly cater to the collage set. Which is fine of course, but just a tad too lively for me.

I think the bar you're referring to is University Hookah Lounge, (their page is a Myspace account). They sell Black-label. It's the Hookah-Hookah brand herbal 'baccy. It sucks... Hookah-hookah baccy kinna sucks too... It what I first smoked so... At least it got me to researching better stuff xD!

I know of three hookah-bars.. but I've only been to the University Lounge... I'd like to go to the one downtown (aparently it's a tea-shop in the day-time?) but I have no clue where it is~!

[Sonthert]

To answer your question, TAR, in cigarettes is quite technically all non-tobacco components (that burn into...carcinogens), TAR is an acronym for Total Aromatic Residue. So hookah tobacco is loaded with it in the forms of molasses and glycerine. The real question should be "Is Hookah tar as bad for you as cigarette tar?" I don't think so, but no studies have been done. Hookahs operate at a much lower temperature than cigarettes do and there was a study I heard about relating specifically to cigarettes that the lower the temperature the cigarette naturally burned at (700-800F), the fewer carcinogen were produced. If that applies to hookahs, then something operating at 500F is producing appreciably less carcinogens. This is all opinion, there has been a dearth of evidence to back this up.

As far as nicotine goes, I would be surprised if they were able to (or willing to engage in the additional processing and cost of) remove all the nicotine from hookah tobacco, so I would say "Virtually no nicotine" might be a stretch too. Very low nicotine maybe, depending on the company processing it.

[Dirk Skene]

.......I know of three hookah-bars.. but I've only been to the University Lounge... I'd like to go to the one downtown (aparently it's a tea-shop in the day-time?) but I have no clue where it is~!

I think one is closed now But I know exactly where the downtown hookah bar is. I have never walked in yet. But we could together.