Project: LOOP

I don’t smoke, but the other day I ventured out to a hookah bar (for the third time) to hang out with some friends and shoot the breeze.

It’s kind of ironic how I ended up there, because the day before I watched a report on CBS 2 News (WBBM-TV) about the dangers of smoking hookah. The medical expert they featured said smoking one hour of hookah was the equivalent of smoking 100 cigarettes.You can watch the report here

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=31728@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=5.

I didn’t believe the claim – but then again what do I know? The expert also said that hookah is popular with people who wouldn’t normally smoke. Yep, that sadly was me. Since it’s not a regular act for me, I decided to go out and have a bit of fun. We landed at Sigara Hookah Café, located at 2013 W. Division St. It was a Saturday night and the place was packed. The group I was with got a table up front – all the comfortable pillow spots on the floor were already taken. The back of the joint had a bar. Music (with a Middle Eastern tempo) was playing loudly overhead. People could be heard laughing, seen smiling and puffing away on the hookah. My gang got peach, cheery and mixed fruit hookah. There was a consensus that peach was the best. We sat there, had our pops, engaged in some good conversation, had a lot of good laughs and people-watched for a good three hours. All kinds of people were coming in. Young and old, all races, professional people and normal peeps just wanting to hang out. The night wouldn’t be complete without a belly dancer! Sigara’s bell dancer was extremely skinny and pretty talented. I let out a good laugh when she started waving a cane around wildly while shaking her hips. That was a crowd favorite. The service was good. The price was just right. It’s not something I do often, but something I would suggest for those who haven’t gotten on the Hookah hype yet. If that medical expert in the CBS 2 story was right, I smoked about 300 cigarettes that night!