(Newswire.net — October 28, 2015) — When the smoking ban was introduced to the UK in 2007, many pubs and clubs reported big downturns in business as smoker customers stayed away. But for shisha bars, the impact was much worse. More than 800 were forced to close as the law, which made any smoking within an enclosed space illegal, came into effect, according to the National Association of Shisha Bar Owners.
Since so many of shisha bars affected were small-scale establishments in buildings with little to no outside space, it became effectively illegal for them to continue trading.
They had to become non-smoking establishments, which is rather tricky if what you are operating happens to centre entirely on being a smoking establishment.
But shisha bars are on their way back, without a single legal loophole being sought out and exploited. It’s thanks to the use of a new device, which negates the need to smoke anything at all, and it’s come about thanks to the boom in vaping.
The e-shisha is based on the same process e-cigarettes use to deliver their hit. A heating element is triggered as a user begins to inhale; the element rapidly heats a liquid mixture of flavourant and nicotine, forming a thick vapour cloud that the user gently inhales.
Manufacturers such as EL Science will even create bespoke flavour ranges for suppliers.
The Shisha Shop points out that a general lack of knowledge of e-shisha is holding back its take-up among hookah fans, which means that for home use at least, traditional hookah smoking is still king.
When it comes to smoking shisha in bars however, the electronic process is the only means to do so. That may be the way to convert regular hookah smokers into e-hookah – or e-shisha – smokers. The big, impressive clouds of vapour and the social aspect could be enough to tempt those shisha smokers who would otherwise be a little intimidated by the new technology.
Sam Mallach is co-founder of an e-shisha supplier. He told The Independent: “When the smoking ban came into effect, it wiped out around 30 per cent of sales but, after seeing the vaping craze everywhere, one of our former employees and friends stumbled upon the e-shisha. It looked really interesting and there was nothing of its kind around.”
He went on to say: “It creates a lot of vapour so it looks good. This looks like you are smoking but it’s all legal and legitimate. It’s not healthy but it’s healthier,” he added. “Not enough research has been carried out yet to really say.”
Binit Patel, a GP, agreed with Mallach in the article: “E-shisha is likely to be safer than traditional shisha use in terms of direct health consequences,” he said.
“However, this needs to be balanced with the risk of e-shisha attracting other users who would not have considered smoking traditional shisha.”
E-shisha sales are relatively low at present, especially when compared to e-cigarettes. But as the technology advances it can’t be long before e-shisha smoking moves out of the revitalised hookah bars and into people’s homes.