Ottawa committee proposes hookah ban at parks

A committee of Ottawa city councillors has approved a motion to ban the use of hookas in parks, beaches and other outdoor municipal property.

The hookah, or nargile, is a Middle Eastern water pipe that can be used to smoke herbal products other than tobacco.

The city's smoking bylaw was extended this year to extend to patios, city parks and beaches, but the bylaw only deals with tobacco and not other substances.

The city committee was considering a recommendation to close that loophole and prohibit the smoking of water pipes and non-tobacco products on outdoor municipal property.

More than a dozen hookah bars are also in the city, and sell products that are typically a blend of molasses and fruit, although some hookah bars illegally cut the blend with tobacco at customers' requests.

But city lawyers said they want to hear the result on an ongoing court battle in Vancouver before giving councillors an opinion on an all-out ban.

The ban on hookahs in parks must still be approved by full council.

Anti-smoking activists such as Pippa Beck had wanted to see the loophole closed.

"You're still inhaling carbon monoxide, particulate matter and all of the biproducts of combustion, so smoke in the lungs is not a good thing, it's not good for health," said Beck.

Eli Malouf, the owner of the restaurant 73 North, said he's worried about the future of hookah smoking in Ottawa.

Ten years ago he and his brother first got the idea to set up a hookah on his Sparks Street patio. Since he started it, about 15 specialized bars in the city now offer the hookah to customers.

"We have one of the biggest hookah patios in the city, we play middle eastern music and there's many people, both locals and tourists, that sit and enjoy smoking a hookah between 10 and 2 a.m., when it's completely dead cause there's no one around anyways," he said.