Burnsville is taking a look at regulations for hookah lounges, joining a growing number of metro communities that have examined — and in some cases, snuffed out — the Middle Eastern-style smoking establishments.
"We're just in the beginning stages," said City Manager Heather Johnston. She said the city is researching other area communities' regulations and expects to present that information to the City Council early next year.
Hookahs are water pipes for smoking flavored tobacco. Although used mainly by Minnesota's Middle Eastern immigrant population, they also have become popular with young adults.
A 2007 state law prohibits smoking in bars and restaurants, but hookah lounges have been able to operate because the law allows tobacco shops to offer sampling, or smoking inside.
"In this business sampling means you buy the stuff and then you smoke it," said Burnsville Council Member Mary Sherry at a recent work session. "If you go to Costco, and you get samples, it's something you don't pay for. If you paid for samples at Costco, it would be a restaurant. If you paid for samples at a liquor store, it would be a bar. So why do you pay for samples in a smoke shop? … It's an indoor smoking lounge."
Some cities have acted to close the sampling loophole. Twenty cities in Minnesota prohibit all indoor smoking, including sampling, according to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest. That includes metro-area communities like Hopkins, St. Louis Park, St. Anthony, Arden Hills, Roseville and Oakdale.
Other cities have limited hookah establishments without passing an outright ban. Minneapolis last year passed an ordinance that redefined sampling to discourage long-session smoking, according to city spokesman Matt Laible.
The tighter rules on sampling seem to be a trend throughout the Twin Cities, Johnston told council members. "With the prohibition in other communities, you might expect that we would get more of them," she said.
