Texas To Outlaw Hookah And Maasell Sales?

[Lakemonster]

I dropped into one of my tobacconisht in Tyler today and asked them if they carried hookah tobacco ( I knew they didnt). They said no and I asked them WHY!?!?

The guy said that they tried to get the boss man to get inot the hookah lines but he told them that in approximately 3 months the State of Texas was going to ban the sale of Hookahs and Shisha.

I looked at him like he was nuts..... and he went on.... "yeah, we wanted to carry them especially as more of our guys are coming back home from the gulf.... some of those guys are getting the taste for em. I think they are beautiful."

I expressed that I was doubtful as to the validity of it... I could have sowrn I heard something like this a year ago.

Anyway... I figure to do so would contradict the finding of the US as to hookah NOT being an lillegal device in of itself.

Perhaps SS or someone else here that would be closer in the know about this might chime in and let us know if theres any validity to this. If so.... its time for us Texans to get on our State Reps asses and rail against it... we need to find out what steps to take to fight this properly.

Personally , I think it was a crock of shit..... but if theres anything to it... the faster we are to act, the better chance of us getting something of this nature shot down.

[HookahETC]

Lake...its a lie...or atleast he was misinformed. Hookahs and Shisha are here to stay in Texas...for a long time.

[Social Smoke]

Lake,
I would not put any consideration in the banning talk. Hookahs are 100% legal and as long as tobacco and regular tobacco pipes are legal it would be extremely hard or next to impossible to make a law banning them. I have heard that kind of talk for years and have met many shop owners that have back tracked a little while later when they realized that their competitors we're taking their customers...

In the end, anything can be used illegally but as long as there is a legal use for it is extremely hard for the government to ban them. Thats how people get away with selling the bongs and hand pipes that 99% of the time are not used for smoking tobacco. Hookahs on the other hand have become so popular because of the flavored tobacco, its hard to make a case against them.

Of course, if you the retailer sells hookahs and drug paraphernalia promoting illegal use of the product, none of the above applies.

Now as far as hookah tobacco goes, that is a no brainier. There is no question of legality, its just tobacco, food grade glycerin, sugar/fructose, and flavor. Interesting enough all of those ingredients are found in various ratios in cigarettes. ( I am not comparing them, or saying that they are safe because they are used in cigarettes, I'm simply saying that they are not banned)

On top of that federal and state government is making a killing double and triple taxing the product.

We get notified on all legislation both Texas and Federal that has to do with the tobacco industry. I have yet to hear any state trying to single out hookahs. The biggest threats to hookahs in my opinion are the sweeping indoor smoking bans that may states are trying to or have already enacted. The second biggest threat is high OTP Other Tobacco Product taxes that certain states are trying to or have already enacted. Most of the time, hookahs are effected by these taxes and laws by accident and not on purpose. Hookah bars/lounges have rutinely appealed for exemptions and have at times won. Unfortunately, until legislators learn about hookahs and their culture it will take some time for hookahs to gain enough recognition that they are thought of when these laws and taxes are being made.

My opinions only...

Ali Nadimi
Social Smoke, Inc

[EvansLight]

nice to see multiple sellers chiming in on this one. Yea i can say as well its a load of crap. We have increased tobacco taxes, but theres still not even talks of banning it in Texas, they want to keep it out of public places, but they wont ever be able to ban it, and if they somehow do, i smell another age of prohibition coming on, and like the last one, people will do it anyways

[Scalliwag]

well I would never say never because I don't think that the lawmakers use good reasoning. Common sense is very uncommon in politics. Just because common sense tells us that there is not enough differential between pipe tobacco and shisha and hookahs and all does not mean the idiots that write the laws would not figure out a way.

Hopefully that will never be the case. You can take my hookah when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

[Lakemonster]

OK...

Thanks all for your input on the matter.

I believe I am narrowing down the problem with the story.

About a year ago I went into a tobacconist in a town 30 miles from Tyler with the same question. I recall a simular response... soon to be outlawed. It dawned on me that htese plaes are owned by the same franchise.

As it stands, I feel I am being lied to. Theres better ways for a company to say "We have decided to not carrry that line." than to make up stories... possibly to direct you off of what you enjoy to their tobacco beetle infested cigar stock!

Thats just great. a knee-jerk lie to feed customers.

Buh-Bye Tobacco Junction.

[ghostofdavid]

Don't think hookahs could be made ILLEGAL in your state? They were made illegal in the Florida area of Pinellas County.

http://www.local6.com/spotlight/10052351/detail.html

This is exactly why I encourage all of you to be active in politics since everyone wants to do away with a little thing called freedom.

[angemonkwj]

Don't think hookahs could be made ILLEGAL in your state? They were made illegal in the Florida area of Pinellas County.

http://www.local6.com/spotlight/10052351/detail.html

This is exactly why I encourage all of you to be active in politics since everyone wants to do away with a little thing called freedom.

This story agrivates me. It just goes to show how ignorant and uninformed people and the government are. just like GoD said, we loose more of our freedoms everyday.

[Sonthert]

The State Excise/Luxury Tax Boards have already screwed the lawmakers, by classifying hookah tobacco as pipe tobacco, you make it far harder to ban. Their greed is protecting us! They could make hosed-bongs (hookahs) illegal, but then we'd just make something else that looks like a box (I guess hookah tables are all the rage). I've heard stories like that from somebody else, same thing, they say shit like that, but can't back it up. I guess they want cigarettes they sell to be the only legal tobacco products.

[smiley]

You know the funny thing is that if the Hookah Lounge is paying all of its taxes the city that they are located should be really happy. I know City of Tucson loves use. They get a big chunk of tax money every month from us. That would tell me that haveing this type of business if a Bonus and a Benifit to the City. They should not freak because they don't know the exact info about us. The Hookah Smokers.
Smiley Edited January 21, 2007 by smiley