Iran seeks to extinguish hubble-bubble pipes
Tue Jun 22, 9:57 AM ET
By Christian Oliver
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian authorities are trying to snuff out one of the country's favourite pastimes, the smoking of hubble-bubble water pipes, whose apple and citrus tobaccos waft through most Persian restaurants.
Reuters Photo
Police told Reuters there was no particular focus on the pipes, saying the after-dinner relaxants had just fallen victim to a directive banning smoking in all public places.
Health Ministry official Hassan Azaripour confirmed the ban, however. "According to Health Ministry directives, the ban on water pipes will be implemented," he told the Sharq daily on Tuesday.
The paper added that restaurant proprietors and patrons risked fines from Monday if they puffed away on the cool smoke of the long-necked bottle pipes.
Iran's government earlier this month passed measures to control cigarette smoking. It is now banned in public places, vendors cannot sell to under 18s, steep tariffs have been slapped on imported brands and all packets must carry health warnings in Persian.
But in the move against water pipes, or qalyoun in Persian, many detected the hand of the morals police who associate them with drug use and flirting.
The hardline judiciary announced a crackdown, also starting on Monday, against mingling of the sexes in cafes and sports clubs and against women who flout strict Islamic dress codes.
VICE AND FORNICATION
Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, from the conservative judiciary, told Sharq his department would not be directly policing traditional eateries where qalyoun are smoked but would take up any cases of loose morals that came their way.
"Of course we will be rigorous in dealing with the promoters of vice and fornication," he said.
Young men and women often spend their evenings chatting round a qalyoun in restaurants or on carpet-decked platforms in parks. The more rebellious sprinkle hashish among the tobacco on the smouldering white charcoals.
In Darband, a mountain retreat north of Tehran, panicky restaurateurs were packing all their water pipes into boxes on Tuesday. Waiters nervously declined to discuss the pipes purge.
But in one old-style restaurant in central Tehran, diners smoked away oblivious to the new rules after a hearty platter of kebabs and chicken in walnut and pomegranate sauce.
When asked why authorities had banned qalyoun, waiter Peiman tapped his forefinger against his temple: "They are mad," he said.
Some waiters said traditional restaurants had received letters allowing them to continue providing qalyoun, so as not to lose tourist trade.
Restaurant manager Iraj dismissed moral arguments against water pipes.
"It is not vice," he said. "People are scared of these men who quote the Koran to make law but vice is not in external things like water pipes. Vice is in your own heart." |
