The hookah pipe is still a mystery to many people, but Adam Moffett and Jonathan Zamora are working hard to expose the world to their hip way of smoking tobacco.
Originally from the Middle East, a hookah is an intricate water pipe that is used to smoke "molassed" tobacco called shisha. Mixed with fruit, the shisha's molasses melts when heated, and the hookah vaporizes the tobacco and flavorings.
"You smoke the vapor. There is no actual combustion of organic material," said Moffett, co-owner of Hookah Kings, an Internet "hookah empire" that has spawned a Nob Hill retail store, which opened its doors last month.
"Hookahs are starting to become very popular," said Zamora, the other stakeholder in the fledgling business. "People are really picking up on them. They are very social."
Zamora also said hookahs are catching on due to the growing popularity of hookah bars and in part because of the war in Iraq.
"A lot of soldiers are coming back and buying them for their homes," Zamora said. "We sell a lot of them to people from the base."
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Hookah Kings, boasting New Mexico's largest selection of hookahs and shisha, is also one of the country's only direct importers of hookahs.
"We import everything directly from Egypt," Moffett said. For this reason, he said they are able to keep costs down.
"Everybody else sells (hookahs) for too damn much," Moffett said.
Moffett and Zamora said despite their early popularity, becoming a direct hookah importer in Albuquerque has been a challenge.
"We had to lobby in Washington for permission from customs to import," Moffett said.
He said because many people think hookahs are used for marijuana smoking, they, and other water pipes, are classified as drug paraphernalia and as a result are prohibited from being imported to the United States.
"Yes, a pipe is a pipe," Zamora said. "But anyone who would smoke weed out of this is wasting their money. We don't encourage it."
Zamora also said Hookah Kings received a ruling letter from U.S. Customs allowing their business to import the hookahs. Since then, the store has attracted clients from around the world. A map stuck with pins shows the various and unusual places their hookahs have been shipped to and include Sweden, Japan and Cyprus.
People from all over the nation visit the Hookah Kings store as well. Daniel Lilly, visiting Albuquerque from Little Rock, Ark., said he has always wanted a hookah.
"They are so affordable. I thought I would grab it while I could," Lilly said.
Lilly said he thought his multihosed hookah would make a great and colorful addition to his loft back home.
"I love the interchangeability and style of it," he said. "It will without a doubt be a conversation piece."
While hookahs are a trend, Moffett and Zamora both warn of the health risks associated with smoking out of a hookah.
"There isn't a lot of research that has been done on hookahs, but tobacco is tobacco, and we don't want to jade anybody," Moffett said.
