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, informs CBC News.
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.
The report's proposed rules would have required hookah bars to retain ingredient lists and packaging to prove that the shisha they offer is tobacco free. They would also have had to maintain proper ventilation to address air quality concerns over shisha smoke and burning charcoal from the hookah pipe.
The licensing division's report estimated there are approximately 80 restaurants, bars and cafes that offer hookah in Toronto.
Toronto Public Health has laid charges against 25 establishments for providing tobacco shisha since 2010.
But some owners of establishments which offer water pipe smoking say there are already enough regulations in place.
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