For Hookah Lounge, the Pipes Are a Calling

Drive by Smithtown’s Fire & Ice Hookah Lounge at day and you might think the business has gone up in smoke. But the truth is, the fire’s never gone out, despite a few setbacks and troubles with the law.

“People are always saying they think we’re closed,” said manager Amar Patel, 28, who opened the lounge with financial backing from his mother four years ago after his father died of diabetes. Patel was in his senior year as an economics major at when he left to earn an income for his family by opening Fire & Ice.

While the term “hookah” specifically relates to the ornate water pipes used to smoke a thick and syrupy blend of tobacco, molasses and fruit flavoring, it’s become more about the entire experience of gathering with friends around the pipe and sharing a smoke for the two hours the tobacco is lit, Patel said. For an extra flavor, Patel fills his hookahs with either fruit punch or astronaut favorite, Tang.

“We get a lot of people who don’t want a club-type of scene and want to relax with music quiet enough so you can have a conversation,” Patel, a graduate of Setauket’s , said.

But while Fire & Ice has settled in to its own, the business had its bumps, which Patel chalked up to inexperience.

On 2009, the Smithtown Fire Marshal briefly shut down the business for violating fire codes that Patel said he wasn’t aware of. To pass inspection and reopen, fabrics had to be fire-proofed, cloth couches were replaced with leather ones and exit signs had to be clearly lit.

“It was actually a very good thing,” Patel said.

Then in 2010, Patel and several of his employees were arrested by the Suffolk County Police for allowing underage drinking on the premises, something Patel said was happening outside in the parking lots without him knowing. Since then, Patel has hired a security guard who checks all IDs and walks through the lot outside to make sure people aren’t drinking or smoking illegal drugs.

Fire & Ice employee Sharuk Farooq said the place has since picked up a better reputation, specifically for offering an above-quality hookah experience. Fire & Ice uses glass pipes that cost $100 each. They’re cleaned nightly and replaced every six months. As for the tobacco, which comes from either Dubai or California, it’s all natural, he said.

The business already features soft red and blue lighting, a row of leather couches, music and a large-screen TV, but more often the owners are holding live events including performances from local belly dancers and local bands. They've even hosted fundraisers.

And while the owners admit the crowd tends to be between 19 years old and 30 years old, they say the sophistication level is growing as older locals are making an after-dinner hookah their nightcap of choice.

“We want this place to be elegant, it had been too rowdy in the past,” Farooq said.

Ahmer Sauman, a 22-year-old Stony Brook University science major from Holbrook, said he often visits Fire & Ice with members of his fraternity for after-meal smokes. “The best thing to do after a meal is to have hookah, and this place has the best hookah quality around.”

Patel said he’s overcome a lot of the same challenges other local businesses face to establish his hookah lounge.

The region’s brain drain means the area is bleeding young locals, Patel’s biggest customer base. And while there were no hookah lounges – incredibly popular in Astoria, Queens – in Suffolk County when Fire & Ice first opened, other hookah lounges have since sprouted up in Holtsville, Huntington, and Centereach.

As for costs, they are relatively low for Patel, including rent and supplies from his tobacco and hookah distributors. But since he charges $5 a person, plus $10 for a hookah use, the amount spent on a given night isn’t huge. For example, three people sharing a hookah for two hours costs a total of $25. Patel sells non-alcoholic drinks as well, but his liquor license was revoked following a paperwork error, he said. He hopes to have it reinstated soon.

Then there’s the nocturnal lifestyle that comes with the gig. Patel works nightly from 6 p.m. to until 4 a.m., all while he’s going back to Stony Brook to finish his degree.

“I want this to be a great place for people to come out and hang out in,” he said, “but when I have kids I’m not sure I can be up late like this.”