The first bans
Shah Abbas I of Persia disliked tobacco and banned it, but people kept smoking.16
In Istanbul in 1633, after a great fire, Sultan Murad IV closes the coffeehouses and introduces the death penalty for public smoking. Only his successor Ibrahim lifted the ban.12
In Persia in 1890 the shah grants a Briton a tobacco monopoly. After Mirza Hasan Shirazi's fatwa in December 1891 people stop smoking, and the concession falls in January 1892.3
Indoor smoking bans
On 29 March 2004 Ireland became the first country to ban smoking by law in all enclosed workplaces, pubs included.4
On 19 July 2009 Turkey extended its ban to bars, restaurants, village coffeehouses and hookah cafés. Owners quickly moved the hookah onto glassed-in terraces.56
Lebanon's Law 174 of 2011 came into force on 3 September 2012. According to L'Orient-Le Jour, it was strictly enforced for only about four months.78
In 2013 Russia passes a law against smoking in public places, giving restaurants and cafés until 1 June 2014. At the time, hookahs were offered in about 40% of Moscow's restaurants and cafés.910
2016: the hookah becomes its own topic
In May 2016 the US FDA brings hookah tobacco under its authority, from 8 August 2016. The rule also covers hookahs, flavour enhancers and flavoured charcoal, but not accessories such as tongs.11
On 12 November 2016 the conference of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted a separate decision on the control and prevention of waterpipe tobacco.12
COVID, 2020
The WHO warned that sharing mouthpieces and hoses could spread the virus. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait banned hookahs in cafés.1513
On 16 March 2020 Cairo banned hookahs in coffeehouses and public places, under threat of closing the venues.14
Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina
From July 2022 hookah tobacco in Germany could only be sold in packs of up to 25 grams, and after carbon monoxide poisonings states require ventilation and CO detectors.1718
In 2022 the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a law banning smoking in enclosed public places, with special conditions for venues with smoking areas.19
On the journey through 14 stations
How we know
- 1Daily Sabah, "Mighty sovereigns of Ottoman throne: Sultan Murad IV"
- 2Atlas Obscura, "In Istanbul, Drinking Coffee in Public Was Once Punishable by Death"
- 3Wikipedia, "Tobacco Protest"
- 4European Respiratory Journal (2004), uvodnik o irskoj zabrani / editorial on the Irish ban, 24(3): 337
- 5Wikipedia, "Smoking in Turkey"
- 6Hürriyet Daily News, "Turkey's nargileh culture under threat"
- 7L'Orient Today, "Lebanon's anti-smoking law: will it be amended for better enforcement?"
- 8WHO EMRO, "Lebanon: protecting people from tobacco smoke"
- 9Deutsches Ärzteblatt (2013), "Putin unterzeichnet Anti-Tabak-Gesetz"
- 10Bloomberg (2014), "Russia's Tobacco Ban Takes the Buzz Out of Hookah Bars"
- 11GrayRobinson (2016), "FDA's Deeming Rule Extends the Agency's Authority over Tobacco Products"
- 12WHO FCTC, odluka / decision FCTC/COP7(4) "Control and prevention of waterpipe tobacco products" (2016)
- 13Al Arabiya (10. 3. 2020), "Saudi Arabia bans shisha tobacco to prevent spread of coronavirus"
- 14Ahram Online (2020), "Cairo bans shisha in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus"
- 15Arab News (2020), "Has coronavirus killed off shisha cafes forever?"
- 16Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Ḡalyān"
- 17KriPoZ (2022), "25-Gramm-Regelung im Vertrieb von Wasserpfeifentabak"
- 18Baden-Württemberg, "Konsequenzen aus Kohlenmonoxid-Vergiftungen in Shisha-Bars"
- 19Génération Sans Tabac, "Bosnia and Herzegovina enacts anti-smoking law"