As of this Friday, Mesa State students will no longer be able to complain there’s nothing to do in town. For students 18 and up, Friday marks the reopening of a relatively new attraction: Grand Junction Hookah Lounge, located at 2830 North Avenue.
Although the lounge opened in late October, it was closed at the end of December for remodeling. The wait seems to have paid off. Stepping into Grand Junction Hookah Lounge from the strip mall parking lot is calming in itself.
Owners and Iraq war veterans Jared Kassaw and Matt Blum became interested in opening a hookah bar on their first tour of duty, which began in 2007. Kassaw had some experience with hookah before their deployment, but Blum had never smoked before. Alcohol and other intoxicants are forbidden under Islamic law, so Iraqis socialize not in bars, but in hookah lounges.
“For Iraqis, it’s a social thing,” Blum said. “It’s their bar equivalent. Smoking isn’t against their religion, so they smoke a lot.”
Although the two often talked about starting their own business and opening a lounge here, they didn’t get serious about their goal until they returned from their second deployment in 2010. When they started researching the prospect they were surprised to discover that a hookah bar had already opened in Grand Junction, but when a space opened up on North Avenue, they jumped at the opportunity to launch a competitive bar with more benefits.
“I know that we’re the cheapest hookah bar in Western Colorado, and I think we may be the cheapest in Colorado. I would put money on it. We’ve got everyone beat,” said Kassaw. The lounge features discounts for groups, and they have a vast tobacco and pipe selection. They use 48 hookahs every day and have over 40 for sale, ranging in size and number of hoses. Grand Junction Hookah Lounge only stocks and sells hookahs and tobacco, no spices or alcohol, in an effort to encourage adults under 21 to stay safe, but it does offer coffee, sodas, and tea.
The re-opening on February 11 will feature additional discounts and price cuts that extend to the twelfth. Grand Junction Hookah Lounge’s Facebook page also features more specials.
“We went to Denver and spent $30 on one bowl. You could smoke for hours here on the same amount,” said Blum. It’s not just the prices that appeal to local hookah smokers, though.
“Other clubs are loud, there’s fake smoke and lasers everywhere. Hookah is a social thing—when the music is that loud, you can’t talk,” Kassaw said. “It’s a good way to vent and for people to relax. Women can come in and socialize without being bothered.”
Since the the lounge is 18 and up, it also reaches out to a much broader audience than most bars and clubs.
“The thing that I always try to emphasize the most is that we offer a safe environment for young adults who aren’t 21 yet who don’t want to go out and drink and get in trouble,” Kassaw said.
More than anything though, hookah is an easy way to relax with friends, and according to Kassaw, that’s what hookah is all about.
“Some of our best memories together are in the blazing hot sun, sweating and smoking hookah,” he said.