Just beyond the intersection of 6th Ave. and N. Anderson lies Smoke Depot — currently a hookah and tobacco product distributor but soon-to-be a hookah lounge.
Smoke Depot is a modest smoke shop, complete with glass-encased tobacco pipes, shisha, hookahs, cigarettes, other miscellaneous tobacco products and an obligatory Bob Marley poster adorning the blood-red walls. I would certainly be comfortable enjoying the simple pleasures of sharing a hookah among some friends here at Smoke Depot.
Smoke Depot has only been open for a few months but the employees are banking on business, hoping the lounge would appeal to a younger, college-aged crowd. Smoke Depot offers their own brand of shisha, Hawaii, and plenty of assorted flavors to choose from. The shop is currently being renovated to include a lounge in the back where customers can enjoy their hookah. The lounge should be open within a few weeks.
They have made good progress. The back room, which will soon become the lounge, is very spacious but obviously pretty bare at the moment. There would be plenty of room for hookah smokers as well as performers. Some of the performers may include belly-dancers, local hip hop artists, and even circus performers, depending on the night.
Walk-in hookah rentals start at around $10 plus the price of the shisha flavoring itself. Smoke Depot also offers some long-term member options: you can pay $20 for a year’s membership or $100 and never have to pay to rent a hookah there again. Unfortunately though, you still have to pay for the shisha flavoring every time you come in.
The opening of a new hookah lounge is attracting student attention.
“The $20 annual membership sounds like a really nice deal. I wouldn’t even mind paying the extra $5 for the shisha. I’d definitely check it out sometime since it’s so close,” one student said.
While some students think an annual membership would be a benefit, others do not think that college students would frequent the lounge enough to make it worthwhile.
Even though many of us are meager, wallet-wary college students, Smoke Depot seems a natural choice for any Loggers craving a good place to smoke some quality hookah, lying only just off-campus.
[PHOTO COURTESY/ ISABELLE CHIOSSO]