The building was an old house, dirt front, heavy drapes unevenly hung, a plastic tattered Open sign was sometimes in the lower corner of the window. It was rundown. Almost invisible- except for that old sign with it's smooth looking glass hook painted on. More than once I wanted to peek in. I didn't. It was just before I headed onto the freeway so I just always zipped past.
The other new business was further down the street, across from Jack-in-the box, and I watched it progress as they painted it a royal blue, and painted an ape on the side with it's arm reaching around to the front of the building, looked like something from Alice in Wonderland on the building. Maybe a new toy store?
Daily I watched the progress of these two places. The day the blue building, which kept repainting figures on it, put up it's name...The Smoke Shop.
I'm very naive. I'm thinking that they sell tobacco. Imported cigars, maybe. No. not right on either count.
Both shops sell paraphernalia that obviously can be used for our WA State legal to use marijuana. True, at this point they can't sell marijuana but they can sell all the things one might use to smoke it.
The Glass Hook. Their bold new sign has a very barbed hook. Now that would sure make for a great FHE to talk about the wiles of Satan and how he hooks you by legalizing products that we know are not a part of our religious life.
They put up a new sign, spiffied up the store front, paved the driveway, have a flashing neon sign plus other open signs, trimmed the hedges, built a window shelf for flowers, and built a new railing up the stairs. And they have a sign advertising, at least some of their products. Take a look...
I stopped in the middle of the street to get this single shot of the second store. It started off as the Smoke Shop but now it's called Smoke-its. They haven't put their sign in yet. Just have some plastic flapping in the breeze. It started off blue but black is evidently what they settled on. Note the woman on the left blowing smoke. Wonder what the flag with the smiley face is all about? I see the same flag color on the women's earrings. Remember the Caterpillar, in Alice in Wonderland, smoking that pipe? Well, there you go...a blue hookah pipe right there on the front...see it?.....
When Greg was here we got lost and ended up coming off the freeway onto First. He was driving (my directions!) and I was just looking around as I'd not been at that end of town in ages. I was startled to see a Hookah Lounge as we drove by!! I tried to drive and find it but it was not easy, to drive and look!, and I had no luck. I cannot believe how these places are just creeping in. well, actually they have been there but not visible until now.
They moved fast. The law went into effect December 6 that anyone over 21 can smoke pot but the rules and regulations on licensing to sell etc. etc. is not yet in place and they have Dec. 1st deadline. of this year. 2013. In the meantime these enterprising folks are getting their ducks all lined up.
Right now it's illegal to smoke in public places so I'm curious what they are doing in that Hookah Lounge.
Hookah? a shared pipe (you bring your own mouthpiece) here is what one man said....
An elderly patron of an establishment in Turkey describes the advantages of the hookah lounge as follows:
(I was curious about what they do. So I read on Wikipedia. This is what they say but I'm not the least bit convinced that it's just a little chat time. This is a part of a tangled web in my way of thinking!)"The important thing is not what you put in the pipe, but who is with you while you're smoking...it's a complete experience...in a cafe like this one, you find the good people, the old people, the interesting people. As long as there is a need for company and friendship, as long as people want to stop and think, there will be nargile cafes."
Typically a disposable mouthpiece is provided for each user for hygiene reasons. Hookah lounges do not typically have liquor licenses but instead derive the bulk of their revenue from sales of coffee, tea, soft drinks and snack foods, especially snack foods.
Some hookah lounges have well-equipped kitchens and are more akin to bistros. In the broadest sense, any restaurant or nightclub can be considered a hookah lounge if it offers patrons hookahs, shisha and a comfortable place to smoke.
Due to several state anti-tobacco laws, many Hookah Bars have made the transition from smoking traditional shisha to smoking herbal shisha because it contains no tobacco, or nicotine and is legal indoors in areas specific to the prohibition of tobacco smoking. Herbs do produce tar when they burn.
The Hookah in its first and simplest form originated in India.[3] It soon traveled west to Iran,Turkey, and Egypt where it gained mass popularity and are now the sites of some of the best quality hookahs in the world. The hookah lounge has clear antecedents in the tradition of coffee houses in the Middle East and Turkey where people smoke tobacco from hookahs or other styles of water pipe provided by the establishment. In this traditional setting the hookah is typically of the single-hose variety. This is in contrast with the multi-hose variety favored in the hookah lounge and intended to emphasize the communal nature of the activity.
Operation [edit]
The jar at the bottom of the hookah is filled with water sufficient to submerge a few centimeters of the body tube, which is sealed tightly to it. Deeper water will only increase the inhalation force needed to use it. Tobacco is placed inside the bowl at the top of the hookah. Often the bowl is covered with perforated tin foil or a metal screen and coal placed on top. The foil or screen separates the coal and the tobacco, which minimizes inhalation of coal ash with the smoke and reduces the temperature the tobacco is exposed to, in order to prevent burning the tobacco directly.
When one inhales through the hose, air is pulled through the charcoal and into the bowl holding the tobacco. The hot air, heated by the charcoal vaporizes (not burns) the tobacco, thus producing smoke, which is passed down through the body tube that extends into the water in the jar. It bubbles up through the water, losing heat, and fills the top part of the jar, to which the hose is attached. When a smoker inhales from the hose, smoke passes into the lungs, and the change in pressure in the jar pulls more air through the charcoal, continuing the process.
If the hookah has been lit and smoked but has not been inhaled for an extended period, the smoke inside the water jar may be regarded as "stale" and undesirable. Stale smoke may be exhausted through the purge valve, if present. This one-way valve is opened by the positive pressure created from gently blowing into the hose. It will not function on a multiple-hose hookah unless all other hoses are plugged. Sometimes one-way valves are put in the hose sockets to avoid the need to manually plug hoses.
2 Nephi 26:
yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
Moses 7:
26 And he beheld Satan; and he had a great achain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with bdarkness; and he looked up and claughed, and his dangels rejoiced.
Doctrine & Covenants 89:
4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence ofaevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts ofbconspiring men in the last days, I have cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—
It seems to me that this situation is moving from flaxen cord, to strong cord, and into chains. This bothers me so much but all of these things are "legal" so technically they are not doing anything "wrong". You and I both know legalizing doesn't make anything moral!!
Talk about conspiring men in the last days!!! Our only sure bet is living the Word of Wisdom. Loving my religion that gives me such guidance and protection.
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I did read that it's not healthy. (who'd of thunk it? not good for you? really?) Also you can smoke a Hookah singly. It's not always a group setting. I also read that there are Hookah Lounges in lots of places across the country. My question is...how long will it be before they can smoke marijuana in WA Hookah Lounges?2 Nephi 26:
yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
Moses 7:
26 And he beheld Satan; and he had a great achain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with bdarkness; and he looked up and claughed, and his dangels rejoiced.
Doctrine & Covenants 89:
4 Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence ofaevils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts ofbconspiring men in the last days, I have cwarned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation—
It seems to me that this situation is moving from flaxen cord, to strong cord, and into chains. This bothers me so much but all of these things are "legal" so technically they are not doing anything "wrong". You and I both know legalizing doesn't make anything moral!!
Talk about conspiring men in the last days!!! Our only sure bet is living the Word of Wisdom. Loving my religion that gives me such guidance and protection.
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