Published: September 23, 2006 09:40 pm         

Purple Catepillar Hookah Bar opens in Terre Haute

TERRE HAUTE — Michael J. Egy wanted a unique name for his new business — the first of its kind in Terre Haute.

His inspiration for the “Purple Caterpillar Hookah Bar” came from the story “Alice in Wonderland.”

“Remember when [Alice] meets the caterpillar smoking the hookah? Well, caterpillar by itself didn’t sound right for a name and I thought purple was a neat color, so purple caterpillar sounded great. That’s how we got our logo,” Egy said.

The new business at 10 N. Sixth St. opened Friday with a planned grand opening to be staged in about a month. The smoking bar offers 39 different flavors of “Shisha” tobacco and 15 non-tobacco flavors which can be smoked through a tall, ornate pipe, called a hookah.

The bar has 24 hookahs ranging in size from 18 inches tall to 30 inches.

Shisha tobacco, a mixture of tobacco and molasses, honey or sugar, and distilled water with fruit flavors, contains no tar and 0.05 percent nicotine, Egy said. Flavors range from margarita to butterscotch and strawberry to cappuccino.

Hookah pipes are most common in the Middle East and southern Asia.

The pipe’s base, or smoke chamber, is partially filled with water, which acts as a filter. The bowl or head contains the tobacco. Aluminum foil is placed over the tobacco and holes punched in it, Egy said. Two small coals are placed on top of that.

“No tobacco is burned until you inhale,” Egy said, which allows a bowl to last 45 minutes among four people.

A hookah can be shared between two to six people. Each person is given their own plastic mouthpiece, which is removed as tubes from the pipe are passed to another person.

The cost is $8 for the first hookah bowl, then $5 to reload the bowl. It cost $1 to mix two flavors of tobacco.

Coffee, water and tea are also offered at $1.50 and Coca-Cola products are $2. An energy drink is $2.75. The business is open Monday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to midnight; and on Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Hookah parlors first opened in the United States decades ago, primarily in the immigrant sections of cities such as New York and Los Angeles. The were patronized mostly by men of Egyptian, Lebanese or Syrian descent.

A nationwide trend, however, has spread in the past two years to “hipsters and yuppies” as parlors have opened in college towns nationwide and has spread to larger cities such as Boston, Washington, D.C. and Seattle.

Most of the tobacco is imported from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia; as a way of catering to Western tastes, tobacco manufacturers are introducing flavors like kiwi, watermelon and blackberry. Handcrafted pipes made of glass and brass are produced in Syria and Egypt, although China is making less expensive pipes out of acrylic.

If purchased, the hookahs range in cost from $50 to $180.

Egy said he got is idea for the business while he and his wife, Debbie, visited a hookah parlor in Chicago about five weeks ago.

“I watched the operation and it was relaxing and entertaining as far as talking to people and it was a real laid-back environment,” he said.

He immediately thought that a location in downtown Terre Haute, close to campus, could be successful.

“I think this is something that Terre Haute could really use. I think it gives us a different look than a normal Midwestern town. It is a good alternative to going out to the bars. You can expect to spend anywhere from an hour to two hours here,” Egy said.

The Purple Caterpillar’s amenities include couches and overstuffed chairs. “It is a hodgepodge of real comfortable furniture. We’re hoping to add some live acoustical music on the weekends,” Egy said.

Egy is already a downtown business owner. He owns Body Art Ink Tattoo & Piercing Emporium at 127 S. Seventh St. He also owns M.J. Egy & Associates, a company he started in 1996 that specializes in the job search and placement of professionals in the steel and aluminum industry.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.