Cops.

[Fanfare]

I live in Minneapolis and I just bought my first hooka and some friends and I were smoking in a park in the city, we were near a bike path but no where near kids, playgrounds etc.  We were visible from about four houses and some people passed on the path, some one called the cops and told them we were smoking narcotics. The cop drove up into the park and bitched at us about it, searched us all took out ids for a while did background checks on all of us and overall took about and hour and fifteen minutes out of our day. Has anyone else had alot of trouble with cops?

[Lukasa]

Don't smoke in public places, people are bound to think its weed.  At least in the US.

[nuschultz]

Carry around a fact sheet about hookah's to give to law enforcement when they stop you.  Try to educate them about our hobby so that they can understand it better.  Don't be rude, ever, as this will just piss them off.  Be respectful, as you represent the entire community of hookah smokers.

[mushrat]

Then politely ask for the field supervisor. Ask him or her which laws exactly you had broken to be held under such scrutiny. You might also ask if the police we trained to detect drugs by their smell and did the officers on the scene smell anything to suggest illicit activity. Do it all VERY politely, but make it clear that as citizens, you have certain rights against unreasonable search and harrassment.
Make it more a trouble than its worth to bother you every time they see you. But do this EVERY time they harrass you.

[mushrat]

For additional coverage..bring a pocket recorder....

[yashman19]

This happened to me a while back. Way back when when my parents didn't know I smoked hookah, and summer vacation started... my buddies would take my hookah to the park and set up shop on some picnic tables. Sure enough, a "concerned" father and his two sons walk past us looking pretty damn angry on their way to the b-ball courts, and apparently called the cops after they had passed us.15 minutes pass and sure enough, Roseville's finest come strolling up. Funny thing is, they were very cool about it. The introduced themseleves, and told us they were called out here because "some kids are smoking out of a bong the size of Mount Everest".... They told us right away that they knew we wern't smoking weed because they would have smelt it, and that technically, we wern't breaking any rules so we could stay, but that if more people called to complain that they would have to come out again and again, and asked us NICELY if we wouldn't mind re-locating. We only had another 20 minutes left of the bowl, and because the cops were so cool and polite, we obliged and packed up shop. We even offered to let the cops try it, but they said no. Although that one guy looked like he really wanted to ;)So to sum up, even if you're not as lucky as we were to get nice, polite cops, try not to sass them. Remember that they are just doing their jobs, and many people out there have never seen a hookah before, and if they had to guess, would guess it was a bong.Sure some cops like to just give people a hard time, but let it go. And I'm not saying you were rude to the cops, or that the cops were justified in hassling you guys for an hour. Just saying that cops are just doing their job

[Fanfare]

Understandable. I assure you my friends and I were nothing but polite, we didn't lip off, as we had no reason to. It's more of an annoyance than a serious problem.

[mushrat]

Yahs: ah..but having sveral friends who are cops, including one I smoke with on a weekly basis..its also the cops jobs to KNOW when someone is breaking the law and when they are not. Onc eit becomes apparent that illegal activity is NOT taking place, 30 seconds after they smell the bowl, they should do what Rosevilles finest did, agree thats nothing was wrong and bid you a good day. The continued harrassment calls for POLITE and LEGAL harrassment back.
Easier said than done I know when you are 18 and facing the MAN, but remember, you DO have rights still...a few....mostly....

[The Pope]

My dad's a cop so I'm pretty familiar with that kind of thing. Yash
pretty much covered it all. If the cops are dicks to you (and there are
dicks out there for sure) just stay polite and courteous and if you
really feel it was a problem, file a complaint. Make sure you're polite
and courteous when you do that too. Ninety percent of the people who
file compliants are very clear they have a beef with the whole
department and put off a very hostile vibe. If you don't come off that
way, you'll be taken quite seriously. I like the idea about a fact
sheet too. 

[DownZero]

I've always just wanted to sit out at a park and smoke... but I know I would run into some trouble because where I'm from... NO ONE knows what a hookah is. So I could do without the hassle. I mean, whats the point of smoking if you can't relax. But there was this one case where we were at my friends apt... just smoking on his balcony and this lady called the cops on us saying we were smoking weed... of course we weren't and the cop knew nothing illegal was taking place and that was that.

[dikydave]

ya, you cant expect the cops to leave you alone, they are just doing their job.  if someone calls up, they cant just ignore it.  but that fact sheet idea is a really good idea.  hookah is still a pretty new thing here in the US, so theres still spots where a cop might not know what is going on, but the more people you can educate, the better off we will all be.  but normally cops are the first ones to know about things like this, the only problem is everyone else that is going to call in saying they see bad things going on.

[gunsboy]

We had the cops come to us three times for smoking hookah.
First time on the waterfront, in a very quite area no people passing by but common area for weed smoking and other illegal activities.  One male and one female officers walked to us but they were very polite and asked us what we were doing and left.
Second time, in a more common place on the waterfront. Someone called the cops and this time they were very polite again. 
Third time was in a park, this time a young officer asked us if he can open the foil to check the bowl, because one of the morons with us had just finished a doobie and the place smelled like a crackhead on fire, then he said that we have a ban on fires in the park because it had not rained for a while, and we were burning our university books and old stools and wooden chairs.
Once I almost got into a fist fight with a stupid neighbour because I smoked hookah on my door steps, while his nephews and nieces were playing like two houses away.  The funny thing is that he had just came out of jail for assault and was on probation and he deals "weed, crack" and his sister's boyfriend was the biggest drug dealer in that neighbourhood (Yes back then I lived in a gehtto).  But the his sister talked him out of coming to my place and then she came telling my little brother how her idiot brother would have messed me up, like there is no law or i was gonna go down without a fight.
Other than that 100's of people (especially alot of nice hippies) sat down with us and tried it and loved it.  Alot of them were saying they will buy one too.

[web250]

The public safety dweebs around here seem to not mind. They even tried it once with one of the guys in another building who has a hookah

[surfpico]

My brother's a cop AND he owns his own 22" hookah - courtesy of his little sister!Anyhow...just be careful about smoking the hookah in public places. As much as it should be your RIGHT to do so there can still be some pretty sh*tty consequences. Ie: Your hookah could be confiscated to be tested for THC and what not and even if the tests turn up negative you still may not wind up with a whole hookah. Vases get broken, stems get snapped, bowls get crushed...etc. all in transport. So as I tell all my hookah smoking friends who like to do such things in college parking lots and then get upset when a cop stops them (lets not kid ourselves, it looks like a bong  - a very nice bong) just be polite and deal with it, because you might get lucky and have a couple of nice officers who understand - or you might get someone who's not so understanding and then you're screwed. Also, I think it's kinda rude to smoke your hookah anywhere near kids. For one, like I've previously mentioned, it does look like a bong and that right there should be enough reason NOT to participate in this activiity near children.With that said...Enjoy.

[HookahCaterpillar]

Never had an actual cop but ive had security on my ass before. I always
make sure to keep tobacco with me so that they can smell it and check
it out. Once they smell the tobacco they realize it smells just like
the smoke and there usually okay with it. 

[steve07]

You know it's kinda funny I work in the law enforcement profession(corrections officer) and I had metion I was going home and relax and smoke my Hookah and the very next day I had to go take a drug test. They say it was random but I new better. All Michigan state workers are subjected to random drug testing.

[MR Bubble]

It wouldn't be the greatest idea to smoke in public around here. This is a little town in the south (a G.I town at that, with a bad reputation for police harassment that's made national news in the past years) that has made it a POINT to stay little, as the smaller surrounding towns have almost passed it up. Not the best place to whip out the fact sheet. They don't like no "VW drivin', wheat germ-sprinkled-on-yogurt eatin' pansy a$$ed liberal, dope smokin' crack heads" ruining a town with real American values.  Damned, I swear sometimes I can hear the banjo music when I go out back and light a coal.
Oops, got carried away (nervous laugh). At least I'm in good with my neighbor, who's the town Deputized dog-catcher. I just go on post to the Class VI store and get him cheap beer every now and then. Viola, you have a friend for life. Just don't offer him the hose as "I tried that Whacky-tobaccy back in Vietnam and it made me sick as hell."
Hehehe. Looks like I did it again. Just a small glimps into the life of a real, live political prisoner of the Bible Belt.
( Oh God, why, oh, why did the Army dump me off here to retire?....)
MR Bubble

[jmexx]

I live near mini-Arabia. All sortsa neighbors smoke out in the front of their house. I guess I'm one of the only ones who pushes the limit by smoking at the parks. Generally, it's at night, so I guess it doesn't matter.Jon

[Joseph]

I live in a small, hippy town near a small hippy college.  I don't smoke anything other than tobacco, but many others around here smoke other substances in public and no one cares.  The last thing I worry about is smoking my hookah in public.

[SafeSearch]

for those of u in the US who live in NJ... which includes me... NJ has got some new state laws.  Im not sure what its like in other states but it used to be illegal just to sell tobacco to minors.  They have now raised the smoking age to 19 and made it COMPLETELY illegal for minors to smoke, have posession of tobacco, lighters, and all that fun stuff. just a heads up -also, to confirm, the fact sheet works.  i got caught by a rent-a-cop a few days ago in my friends apartment building and we just showed him it was tobacco and now he's cool with us.  until he finds out the laws i guess.

[zombiedepot]

Personally, I've never been hassled.. It all depends on the place and time though.I think a lot of it has to do with stigma and ignorance. Politeness is
good, but it's still annoying to have to justify yourself, when
cigarette smokers can light up just about anywhere. I know they were called and everything, but most stoners won't smoke in such an open area. Many of them seem to be too paranoid unless they are protesting or something of the like. Just doesn't seem very likely they'd have a hookah setup and be comfortable with it, you know?As much as I'd love to take my hookah out in the park on a nice day, I also don't feel like drawing attention to myself because of it. Eventually I'm sure it'll be quite common, but for now I don't think all the fact sheets in the world could make a difference in this small town.

[LestOH!]

very interesting..i'm guessing all of you are over the age of or are at least 18 years old..i myself am a minor, and i too have been stopped by the police to be questioned about what i was doing.many times i've set up in small plazas around places like starbucks.. jamba juice, etc. it's got that cafe feel, just without the cafe. parents being parents, they've called over the security guard or a police officer and reported some kind of drug activity.police officer simply asks me, have you got any kind of illegal paraphernalia(sp?) packed into that bowl?i just say.. "it's nothing but flavored tobacco, officer." & i show him the tub of shisha i brought along for him to investigate, and i even offer him to look inside the bowl & whatnot. never asked for my age.. or any of the other minors who were with me..i guess it's all about #1 appearance, and #2 behavior.if you look like and act like some pothead smoking in public.. then you're most definitely going to be hassled.keep your cool, as everyone should do while they smoke hookahand you'll be just fine. =]