mefy Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Hello all, this is my first post on this lovely forum that ive been trolling for quite some time, glad to finally start posting Anyways, in about a year or so we may very well be well on our way to opening a hookah bar up here in hawaii. We have investors and a plan set up with an entire business model. The only problem that I can see right now is the bans against smoking in public and the 'clean air laws' that seemed to permeate through out most of the US now. I am calling anyone with knowledge in this area to please come forward! Any sort of info you can provide will be much obliged. Even if it's just a basic loophole around the system From what I understand, sometimes a special permit may be obtained specifically for hookah bars, does anyone know how one might go around to obtain this? I have a friend here in hawaii who also has a hookah lounge, however they are primarily a smoke shop, which means that most of their $$ comes through the selling of merchandise, however they have a separate smoking area with live music etc, but it seems they beat the system by being a smoke shop- would this be possible solely as a hookah bar? I wouldn't mind selling some pipes or shisha actually- however I would not want it to be a big chunk of the shops income. I guess that's about it. Hawaii doesn't seem to have the most harsh laws but they are definitely there. Im sure there's a lot of gray area though so that something can be worked around. Please help me brainstorm! Thanks so much to everyone on this forum, smoke on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mefy Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 Alright, did a bit of research on state/county laws here: Basically, it could work if the business was a 'retail tobacco store' which i'm assuming means as long as I sale shisha tobacco, then I should be able to have a hookah lounge area and still be legal. But now the question arises, what must I do exactly to be defined as a retail shop, are there certain licenses for that, etc? Seems like it's more possible then I thought though, I just have to tread through these uncharted waters haphazardly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snugz13 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I personally do not know very much about this topic, however mushrat knows a great deal and you should just wait for him to chime in, or if you search there has been many threads about starting a hookah lounge and they will help you out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 The thread on starting a hookah bar has been pinned at the top of this section. It includes spread sheets t use as guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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