Tobacco Purchase Age Requirements
A new California law has increased the minimum age to purchase or to smoke cigarettes including any tobacco products to 21 years old. Public Health (Restrictions on Tobacco Products) Regulations 1999, Sec. 2(e)(i) indicates it is illegal to sell or supply tobacco to a minor. Federal law now requires a 21-year-old to purchase all tobacco products. So you must be 21 years old to smoke hookah legally in the United States. Up until 2019, the smoking age was 18 years old. If you are 18 years old, you can smoke in most places except Utah, Arizona, Alabama and New Jersey where it is 19 to smoke. New York and Vermont require 21 years old.
Hookah Lounge Profitability and Health Facts
A hookah lounge can make about $150,000 average profits, if successful. Hookah smoke contains 36 times more tar than cigarette smoke, 15 times the carbon monoxide, and 70% more nicotine than one cigarette. Hookah smokers may absorb more toxins and cancer-causing chemicals than cigarette smokers. Even after passing through water, hookah smoke has high levels of toxic agents.
Regulatory Compliance for Tobacco Sales
No tobacco product can legally be supplied to anyone under 18 years old. Given that waterpipes are shared, you must check ages of the whole group. Whether cigarettes, e-cigarettes or hookahs, nothing is completely safe. Vape and hookah both have negative health impacts and are not ok for minors.