Davis County health officials snuff out possibility of hookah bars

FARMINGTON — Davis County health officials are trying to clear the air — literally — about the possibility of hookah bars popping up.

The Davis County Board of Health this week voted to approve a policy directive stating that hookah smoking in commercial facilities violates the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act.

"This really is quite prevalent — surprisingly so," county health director Lewis Garrett said about hookah use. "I've got a number of friends with college-age students, and they all have hookahs. That's a personal choice, and although I would like to nanny government enough to say these are illegal, we can't do that. But we do have a charge under the Utah code to prevent secondhand smoke exposure."

Davis County has no hookah bars now, and the ban would be for commercial facilities, not personal at-home use, which is legal, he said.

Hookahs are waterpipes for smoking flavored tobacco. The smoke is cooled and filtered by passing through water.

Garrett said health officials in Salt Lake County, which has three hookah bars, and Utah County, where one is proposed, are not convinced that the tobacco in a hookah is lighted and thus in violation of the state act. And hookah supporters contend that water vapor, not smoke, is produced.

But Garrett says that's just clouding the issue.

"I think that's a nonsensical argument, because if it's not lit, where does the smoke come from?" he asked, adding that the secondhand-smoke exposure risk is clear.

Garrett said some filtering takes place through the use of water but contaminants in the smoke remain in high levels.

"It's pretty clear you're not filtering all the hazards out," he said.

Sam North, health education specialist for the county, cited statistics showing that hookah smoking exposes the user to 72 times the amount of tar, four times the amount of nicotine and 11 times the amount of carbon monoxide than cigarette smoking.

"The argument that there's no danger from secondhand smoke is, to me, pretty ridiculous," North said.

"One of the reasons this is so prevalent," Garrett said, "is it smells good. It doesn't smell like tobacco. It smells like incense or something flavorful. And I think there's a misconception that this isn't nearly as harmful as cigarettes because it's filtered through the water and it smells nice."

Garrett said state health officials plan to clarify their rules to say hookahs violate the state act.

The county board's action alerts cities to not issue permits for hookah establishments because county health officials consider them illegal for commercial facilities. Garrett characterized the board's approach as pre-emptive, saying the county does not want to be in the position later of closing down any hookah bar that opens.

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