Docs give warning; Excise dept promises action
Puffing smoke out of mouth with long PVC pipes attached to pitcher shaped metal bowl in one hand and a glass of liquor in another in an ambience flooded with low intensity lights of different colours is slowly catching up in trend among youngsters. But the royal treatment is without any monitoring of what is being served in hookah and its impact on human health.
Hookah is normally served at bars or in hotels which also operates bar in the premises however the service is unregulated in terms of substances that is used for making hookah as well as a violation of the condition to operate a bar. Normally a bar operator is allowed to sell liquor to a customer and not tobacco products. But taverns across the city not only serve tobacco but hookah also which is more than plain nicotine. But the department of Excise is not aware of the kind of substances that is mixed with nicotine products despite claiming regular monitoring of such hookah bars for compliance of rules under which they are granted license to operate.
“They are allowed to sell only liquor and if they want to sell any tobacco products then they need to do it out of their premises. We will take action against those bars that violate the terms and conditions,” said Assistant Excise Commissioner Rakesh Prasad.
The old legacy which once was a symbol of nobility has failed to arouse interest among the enforcing agencies who still believe that is hookah served is not different than what was used in yesteryears. Hookah today has is laced with scores of different flavours that depending on the type of substance costs between `100 to `1,000.
“We use permitted additives like mango, vanilla and mint which is easily mixed with any product. So far we have not found anyone to have suffered because of the hookah that we serve,” said Manager of a bar at Kutchary Road.
There are about dozen independent bars and hotels that offer the facility of hookah on demand like any other item of smoke that is served at plush taverns situated in the city’s busy streets and localities. Although the very design of hookah prevents most of the particles to reach the critical parts of the body the mix of nicotine and artificial flavours can still cause affect health very badly.
“lungs will be affected directly whether there is nicotine in it or not. In the most severe form smoking a concoction that includes nicotine can cause shrinkage of brain. But in most of the cases a person suffers cardiac arrest or cancer before /her central nervous system is affected,” said noted neurosurgeon Dr HP Narayan.
The latest trend has invited unwanted attention of those who are underage. The lust of hookah draws many to the doorstep of bar however operators of bar have been careful about not allowing minors inside the pub.
“Most of the people demanding hookahs normally do so because they think that it is fashionable which does appears as they often click pictures of each other. This is what attracts a crowd which sometimes comprises teenagers. We are careful to not allow them,” said a Food & Beverage Manager at famous hotel in Doranda.