Relaxing in hookah lounge

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POCATELLO -- The 110 N. Main Street block of the old Paris building off Center Street isn't empty anymore and has turned out to become a new point of interest in Old Town.

Sanju Choudhury, a local restaurant owner, expanded his business endeavors in mid-July when he opened the first and only hookah lounge in Southeast Idaho. Choudhury said the nearest lounges outside of this region are in Boise and Salt Lake City, adding that he has even formed a small clientele from Idaho Falls.

Stepping into the Maharaja Hookah Lounge is a unique experience for interested visitors who live within a few hours driving distance from either Boise or Salt Lake.

Matt Foster, an Idaho State University student who has become a weekly regular at the Maharaja, recalled visiting a lounge in Boise where the only hint of the hookah culture was apparent in the few smoking sets scattered across tables. The rest of the place, he said, was basically an alcohol-free night club that admitted 18-year-olds.

Now Foster has a place where hookah smoking is embedded into the larger scope of Indian culture, and into an atmosphere where deafening club music is replaced with acoustic guitar players and traditional Indian genres played softly from a back wall stereo.

"It's really grateful to have a business that's one of the only things in town that has nothing like it," Foster said. "They have occasional acts going, such as belly dancing occasionally, pianists, guitar players and Sanju even actually plays the drum himself."

And there is more to the Maharaja.

Choudhury spent weeks in June purchasing authentic decorations, which included artistic Indian drapes, twin-sized mattresses, low coffee table level chairs and glass tables. The Maharaja also has two large Taj Mahal tableaus that overlook the lounge's main client room, and provides accessories to emphasize Choudhury's main intentions to create a sophisticated social area.

Aside from 11 hookah sets, the Maharaja offers a piano, an antique metal chess set, and a glass counter where Choudhury sells Indian jewelry.

But while the Maharaja's decor emphasizes the lounge's intended Southwestern Asian look, its Feng shui helps it attain an atmosphere that clients have preferred to the often noisy and crowded bar and club scenes.

On Friday's, acoustic guitarists entertain clients while Choudhury occasionally picks up a tambourine to drums out to the rhythms of the stereo's Indian music.

The Maharaja is divided into two client accessible rooms.

The main room is a large living room-like lobby occupied with two larger rectangular and round tables and two more smaller spots that have two coffee tables on front of a sofa and futon.

In the middle of the room, there is a burgundy-colored stage that occasionally features a belly dancer.

The second smaller room is found at the far right of the Maharaja's entrance and is barely visible to street passerby who attempt to gaze through the thin openings between the window drapes. There, Choudhury has a squared seating area and an elevated platform occupied with two pillow crowded mattresses covered in red bedding sheets.

The Maharaja offers hookah socials at each sitting post inside the lounge. Some groups come in small numbers while others come in larger parties that Choudhury places in the main room.

Hookah smoking is undoubtedly the main activity, but clients appreciate the atmosphere that is built around the smoke of the many fruit-flavored flavored molasses.

The Maharaja offers two kinds of flavored molasses, ones with tobacco and ones that are solely made up from herbal fruits.

Choudhury recalled the initial public reactions that came after announcing his intentions to open a local hookah lounge. He said some locals were concerned that he was promoting illegal smoking.

However, Choudhury, who also owns the Taste of India Restaurant on Main, said his main intentions was to establish a social venue that would feature entertainment, a quiet atmosphere and hookah. He stressed there is nothing devious or illegal about hookahs, and that customers can even choose to smoke the tobacco-free type.

Choudhury briefly explained how hookahs work. He lights a piece of coal and places the small item on top of a aluminum foil-covered cup found at the top of the hookah.

The coal allows the fruits to be smoked, and Choudhury said water at the bottom of the hookah smoothes out the molasses and softens the effect of the tobacco. He added many first-time hookah smokers at the Maharaja have coughed much less or not at all compared to when using regular cigarettes.

Choudhury, though, said he has been pleased at the Maharaja's success so far. He said orange, mango, peach and mint are some of his customers' favorite flavors.

The clientele is also diverse.

Aside from college students, Choudhury said he gets older local, doctors, businessmen, real-estate agents and young professionals.

"We get a mixed crowd," he said. "To my friends in the community, I want them to come and enjoy the lounge."

And while some come to get a first state of hookah, others find the dimly lit Maharaja as a late evening get away.

"I'm able to sit down and hang out with some girls after a trying week," said Katie Segrue, 21. "I can sit here and relax, and it's a humble atmosphere."

By Yann Ranaivo

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