Progress

December 30, 2009

Lounge targets the smoking bond

Also offering gourmet coffee, bar will be for patrons sharing communal hookah.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – A new lounge is coming to the city where you can pay a fee, sit down with friends and smoke.

Michael Pasquini will open The Crimson Lion – the region’s first hookah bar. Pasquini will appear before the city zoning hearing board on Jan. 20 to seek a permit to open the business at 35-37 E. South St.

Pasquini, 25, said a hookah lounge is a place where patrons are invited to share the smoke from a communal hookah. A hookah is a water pipe used for smoking.

Pasquini’s place will also feature gourmet coffee; his friend, Joe Grocki, 26, will handle that end of the business, serving up lattes, iced coffees and cappuccinos.

“Every hookah lounge I’ve looked at has been successful,” Pasquini said. “Our target demographic will be college students, ages 18 to 21, but everyone is welcome.”

Once Pasquini gets zoning approval, he plans to make some renovations and open The Crimson Lion in early February. The building formerly housed a dress shop, he said. It’s located near McCarthy Flower Shop and next to Pete’s Place Restaurant.

“Hookah lounges have always done well in college towns,” Pasquini said. “The concept is you sit around a water pipe that you can smoke out of; I guess it’s not really too healthy, but not as bad as cigarettes. It’s an alternative to the bar scene.”

Pasquini said alcohol will not be sold at The Crimson Lion.

Patrons will smoke out of pipes that have a base that holds water. A stem allows smoke to go through with minimal filtration. Each water pipe has one hose, and each user is given his or her own disposable mouthpiece to place on the hose when drawing from the pipe. The tips are discarded after use, Pasquini said.

“It’s a social gathering,” said Pasquini, a King’s College graduate. “People sit and chat with their friends and smoke their favorite blend of flavored tobacco.”

He said a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system he will install will remove the smoke discharged into the air.

Pasquini said an “average session” at a water pipe will cost around $10, shared by the participants. Each session lasts about an hour or more, he said.

About two dozen tobaccos will be offered, Pasquini said, and cigarette smoking will not be allowed for now. Some of the flavors to be offered include blueberry, key lime pie, apple, cherry, strawberry, mint and orange soda.

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.

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