Do you remember what happened July 1, 2003? If you are a smoker you do! Banned from smoking in bars you could no longer enjoy a smoke while socializing, sipping on a drink, relaxing as you listened to the DJ. Enter the Hookah bar, first opened in the U.S. decades ago as coffee houses and tea rooms hookah bars have evolved into trendy cafes offering customers a new smoking experience. Think Starbucks with smoke! In Ybor City, on the corner of 7th and 16th Street, you find Habibi Cafe & Hookah Bar, where owner/proprietor Johnny will tell you the hookah experience, "is all about relaxation, about making the customer feel comfortable."
Exploring Ybor | Habibi Cafe and Hookah Bar
The customers at Habibi Cafe & Hookah Bar are not middle-aged Egyptian men, but men and women, hipsters and yuppies alike. Over recent years' hookah has become increasingly popular, "It's at its largest demand ever." said Johnny, "in cities where once there was one hookah lounge now there are there are several." Habibi draws young adults, soldiers who experienced hookah overseas, couples looking for something fun and different to do; hookah is extremely popular with groups of young women. The younger generation has revitalized the market and hookah is growing.
In a hookah tobacco called shisha burns low and slow, stretching time as you relax. With hookah it's about savoring the flavor and enjoying mellow hookah smoke as it bubbles through water coiling its way through a long hose. A centuries old practice a hookah pipe is a shared experience. At Habibi you will find a colorful atmosphere with chic, low to the ground couches and tables holding delightful hookah pipes burning flavored shisha's like kiwi, watermelon, vanilla, honey, chocolate, mint and 27 more. The tobacco is held in a bowl near the top of the pipe, kept lit by red-hot charcoal. The smoke is drawn through water before being sucked through a long tube with a sanitary tip. Pipes can have one tube, or as many as six, so many people can share the tobacco. Habibi Cafe & Hookah Bar is a good place to kick back and relax with friends or a date, if you need anything, just ask, at Habibi it's all about you.
The Details:
- A DJ spins music to match the mood, alcohol is available. Habibi offers
- Alcohol is offered at Habibi, open 7 days a week, with soft drinks, and hookah.
- Pipes cost between $.
- the tobacco is sold in batches for as little as $5 or as much as $20.
- One batch can last a person an hour or longer.
- Friday and Saturday nights Habibi can be crowded
- Habibi sells high-end tobacco products from all over the world, including cigarettes without additives, pipe tobacco, shisha (the flavored tobacco used in hookah pipes), along with hookahs and pipes.
- You can choose shisha with and without tobacco
- Medical research is scarce on the effects of hookah, although doctors agree that smoking any kind of tobacco is not healthy.
Come to Habibi Cafe & Hookah Bar where tobacco is a luxury, not a lifestyle. Smoke socially again in a laid back place where you can drink, listen to music and have fun exploring Ybor and the Habibi Cafe and Hookah Bar!
