cannabisnews.com: Hookahs, for 'Pseudo-Hippie-Hipster' Crowds Hookahs, for 'Pseudo-Hippie-Hipster' Crowds Posted by CN Staff on April 07, 2004 at 07:58:02 PT By Leslie Hook, Princetonian Senior Writer Source: Daily Princetonian A quick scroll through the list of events at the Center for Jewish Life reveals one event that is slightly out of the ordinary: Israeli Cafe and Hookah Night, Tuesday, 10 p.m. However, hookah, also called narghile, shisha or hubble-bubble, is far from anomalous. The hookah nights at the CJL are part of a nationwide phenomenon. While hookah a pipe that filters flavored tobacco smoke through a bowl of water is still not quite mainstream, the popularity of hookah has been growing. For some students, smoking hookah is about getting in touch with their roots. For others, it's about exoticism and escape a chic alternative to the rowdier drinking scene. The popularity of hookah has spread among Middle Eastern students as well as those with ties to the Middle East a summer trip to Israel, an Arab roommate or a parent who travels there. "It's a kind of feeder activity that leads into good conversation," said Jacob Savage '06. On campus, it attracts the "pseudo-hippie-hipster-stoner crowd," he said. The ritual of starting a hookah can take five or 10 minutes and consists of choosing the tobacco, lighting the coal, and drawing the smoke through the hose. But once it is lit it can be smoked for an hour or two, or the whole night if the bowl is refilled.Young crowd The main demographic for hookah smokers in the United States is the 18-24 age group, said George Egho, co-founder of TheHookah.Com, a two-year-old Internet company selling hookahs and hookah tobacco out of Los Angeles. "Our orders coming from college campuses have been increasing ever since we started," said Egho. "It's definitely been picking up. It's the hip thing to do." For students who are neither Jewish nor have ties to the Middle East, hookah is trendy and ultra-exotic. "I think there are a lot of people with some Orientalist fetish that drives them to do it," said Lihi Ben-Shitrit '06, who is Israeli and has three hookahs in her dorm room. "It's not really like a cultural bridge, but I kind of feel like it is when I'm smoking it, which is kind of ridiculous because every single other person I smoke with is white," said Danny Miller '05. "I do it because I'm really sheltered here . . . When I do this, I feel like I'm escaping into another world." For other students of Middle Eastern descent, hookah has always been a traditional medium for conversation. "I've definitely heard that before . . . 'oh, your grandfather used to sit with his old friends and discuss politics and smoke gheilun' [the Persian word for hookah]," said Miriam Schive '06, whose mother is Iranian. Many other students become familiar with hookah through their Jewish roots, such as on summer trips to Israel. Savage, who attended a Jewish day school in New York City, said that most of the people he smokes with are Jewish, "which is kind of weird, because it's not really Jewish," he said.History of hookah Originating in Turkey about 500 years ago, hookahs spread throughout the Middle East in cafes where men would spend their afternoons, said Gözde Kuçuk '06, who is from Istanbul. However, hookahs went out of style after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and it's only in the last five or six years that it has become popular again, mainly in the big cities and among the young people, Kuçuk said. Not a drug Hookah smokers rave about the communal feel of hookah, and the way it promotes conversation. Miller's roommate James Friscia '05 compared hookah to mature alcohol culture. "You don't get crazy," he said, noting the difference with University drinking scene. That said, the mild high is still a big part of the attraction to hookah: the dizziness, the euphoria and the lucidity. "Sometimes the feel of narghile in your lungs is just better than air," said Adam Brenner '06. Hookah aficionados, however, are quick to defend hookah against the accusation that it is in any way a drug. The most common misperception about hookah is that it is nothing more than an apparatus to smoke illegal substances, like marijuana. Several students said that when they introduced their friends to hookah, those who had not seen it before immediately assumed that it was just an accessory for drug use. Educating the public about the traditional nature of hookah is a big part of making hookah culture more mainstream in the U.S., said Egho, who is of Lebanese descent. For example, smoking hookah is not addictive, said Kuçuk, who used to smoke every day after school in Istanbul. "There's no craving," . "It's looked down upon in the Middle East if you're smoking illegal substances out of a hookah," Egho added. Source: Daily Princetonian (NJ)Author: Leslie Hook, Princetonian Senior WriterPublished: Wednesday, April 7, 2004Copyright: 2004 Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. Website: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/Contact: http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/eFeedback.jspRelated Articles:Hookah Craze Blowing Up http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17306.shtmlHookah Called a Pleasing Smoke or Smoke Screen http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16681.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by afterburner on April 08, 2004 at 14:23:36 PT: Not Just the Same University You'll Never Guess Who Bush Is Related To... http://www.ancestry.netscape.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=5217&sourceid=10429 "George W. Bush is a descendant of Edmund Reade and Elizabeth Cooke... as is Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. But despite their divergent political backgrounds, the distant cousins boast similar achievements." [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 07, 2004 at 15:49:20 PT Just a Note I wanted to mention why I don't post certain stories. The case with the priest is sensational. It hasn't hit any papers other then the AP or UPI unless I missed one. The priest lost his rights to be the pastor of his church as far as I know. He might not want to be able to find news in the future about this case. I've had that happen before and upset people contacted me and asked whose side I was on by posting a article about their case. Once a parent found an article in a search and it upset the person and they let me know. I removed articles that offended those who were trying to rebuild their life and that made them feel better. The priests case hit a nerve with me so I weigh on the side of caution when bust stories happen. I hope this makes sense to others. MMJ Activists are different because they are out their fighting the system but I still want to know that it is ok if something is published for me to post it before I do. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by sukoi on April 07, 2004 at 15:40:21 PT Nuevo Mexican Here is a short article about that priest:Pot growing priest gets 2 years probationhttp://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040407-031714-5980r.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on April 07, 2004 at 13:24:45 PT Someone tell Kerry! He's Catholic. Maybe this will help make sure he doesn't immediately betray us all to the WOD the minute he gets elected. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Nuevo Mexican on April 07, 2004 at 11:20:06 PT Ohio priest gets probation for growing pot: AP Let's force this story into the mainstream, it is on AP, but it was emailed to me and I couldn't find the link, so I'm posting it, maybe you can find the link! If not okay, just remove my post, and good luck finding the link!Ohio priest gets probation for growing potApril 6, 2004 | AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest received two years of probation Tuesday for growing marijuana in his church residence. The Rev. Richard Arko, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of illegal cultivation of marijuana related to 35 plants in the rectory of Prince of Peace Roman Catholic Church.Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove also ordered Arko to undergo random drug testing and perform 100 hours of community service.Cosgrove asked Arko why he jeopardized his career by growing marijuana.Arko said he strongly believes in the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and has seen it benefit people with illnesses. He said he looked forward to the day when it would not be illegal.Arko said it's unlikely he will be able to continue as a priest, but hopes he can "move on in my life and continue to serve others."Police arrested Arko in January after they searched his living quarters in Barberton, about eight miles southwest of Akron.Church officials put Arko on paid leave after the arrest. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on April 07, 2004 at 10:59:38 PT Did Jackie O use MMJ? There's a new book about Jackie O., she died ten years ago this May. Here is a bit about it from the NY Post Rush and Molloy:"Klein also quotes another friend, who reports that when Jackie had lunch with her at Le Cirque shortly before she died, she broke from her usual dining discipline and tasted from four or five desserts at the table."A terminal cancer patient who shocks friends at the dinner table by scarfing down all their desserts?Oh where have we seen THAT before?If that's not a classic MMJ anecdote I don't know what is.Well, we don't know what the truth is. But it sounds intriguing. She knew pots of people in the arts world who could have gotten her pot. Her son could have gotten it for her even, maybe he gave it to her.Gosh I wonder. This story makes me wonder. It's such medical marijuana classic, how can anyone read it and not wonder. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on April 07, 2004 at 10:10:44 PT How kind of them A $100 fine for being sick. When we call that progressive, I guess we just have to remember it was a Republican governor. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 07, 2004 at 08:02:25 PT News Brief from The Associated Press Frederick Woman Proves Medical Need for Marijuana Wednesday April 07, 2004 Frederick, Md. (AP) - A Frederick County judge has granted probation before judgment for a Frederick woman caught with marijuana because she was able to prove she needed it for medicinal reasons.It was the first Frederick County case since the state adopted a new law ending jail time for people who use the drug out of medical necessity.A lawyer for 32-year-old Jodi Delli says his client had a letter from her doctor explaining that smoking the drug had done more to ease her pain than prescription pills.She was arrested in November after her neighbors told police they smelled the drug.Under the new law, Delli faced - at most - a one-hundred dollar fine. Without a showing of medical necessity, the penalty could include a year in jail and a fine as high as 1,000 dollars.http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0404/137829.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment