Toronto's licensing and standards committee has struck
down a city staff proposal to introduce a licensing system for water
pipe establishments.
   
Committee members weren't satisfied Friday with a staff report
that recommended giving out licenses as a way to regulate the
growing number of water pipe smoking businesses _ or hookah bars _
in Toronto.
   
Cleaning and sanitizing measures, a ban on entry by minors and
efforts to control air quality were among proposed new rules in the
staff report which went before the licensing committee.
   
Hookah, also known as shisha, narghile or goza, comes in either
tobacco or herbal form and is smoked through a water pipe that heats
the substance with charcoal and cools the smoke in a water chamber
before it is inhaled through a hose and mouthpiece.
   
Smoking in enclosed public and work spaces was banned by the
Smoke-Free Ontario Act in 2006, making it illegal for hookah lounges
to serve tobacco shisha indoors. The smoking ban doesn't cover
non-tobacco herbal shisha that hookah establishments offer in a
variety of fruity flavours.
   
Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker, who reviewed the staff report Friday,
wanted a more thorough examination of the health issues associated
with water pipe smoking. An updated report is now expected in the
first quarter of 2013.
   
(The Canadian Press)