Every once in a while a trend sweeps in that kind of makes no sense but is amazing nonetheless (see: Tamagotchis, pet rocks, Gangnam Style). In Washington Heights and Inwood, that trend is hookah smoking. Over the past couple of years, the tobacco waterpipe has taken uptown by storm, even starring in a Juan Bago & O spoof video and getting a short feature in the NY Daily News over the summer (My favorite quote: “All we do is smoke hookah. Whether we’re in the car, whether we’re in the streets.”)
Anyway, we have good news for the shisha stans that want to keep their lungs clear – there are now advanced “electronic hookahs.” In the same vein as e-cigarettes, a company called Electronic-Nargila recently invented an external adaptor that fits into every traditional hookah and replaces the coals with a mechanism that produces “a huge amount of vapor even thicker than the traditional hookahs [smoke].”
THIS IS THE FUTURE GUYS.
Also, as per usual, the youths are already early adopters. At least, according to our authority on all things hookah (Juan Bago):
