Winter Nights are Smokin' at Off the Hookah

If you are looking for an unusual night out, consider visiting Canton's only hookah lounge.

, at 45610 Cherry Hill Rd., is a great place to have an enjoyable time. Hookah is a device for smoking flavored tobacco which uses a water urn and a long tube which passes through the water.  Some hookahs have multiple tubes, so friends can share a smoke.

Off the Hookah is currently the only such business in Canton.

Ahmed Makki, 48, of Dearborn, owns the lounge, where doors open daily at 5 p.m. Makki said he took over the business from a business associate in January of 2009. Though Off the Hookah is the only such lounge in Canton, there are many similar places in the metro Detroit area. Makki's customers come from Dearborn, Plymouth, Ann Arbor, and Ypsilanti even though each of those communities have their own hookah resources.

Off the Hookah offers live entertainment from local DJ’s such as Deejay Fares and DJ Ehab. They are there for music purpose only, but you will see customers get up and dance. You can also celebrate birthdays or other special occasions, but make sure you call ahead because the place can become overcrowded. Off the Hookah can be a great place to watch the Super Bowl Sunday: Makki has five HDTVs with 40-inch screen along with a large projection screen.

Depending on what a customer orders, the price of a hookah smoke can range from $10 to $20, based on whether the tobacco is put in what's called a fruit head, which adds an orange, apple or lemon flavor to the tobacco and costs $5. Another option is to fill the urn with juice instead of water, which costs $3.

. Mustafa 19,Ypsilanti, Chehab, 23, Dearborn, and Thabata, 35, Ypsilanti.

 It is a fun and enjoyable atmosphere, the staff loves to work there so much, they often stick around after their shifts are done, to mingle with the crowd. The customers love to go there.

“This is my niche," said Mohamad Mustafa, 19, of Ypsilanti. "I feel so comfortable here. I do everything here, whether it’s studying or watching the big game. This is my second home.”

The state law passed last May barring smoking in most public places impacted many businesses because it bars smoking in places where food is prepared.

"We were never a food-based business, but we did have to stop selling pizzas. Other than that, it did not change how we run things," Makki said.

This is not the same for many other restaurants in other areas which had to adjust to the law, whether they had to stop selling hookahs, or stop selling food, or even buying another building to separate the hookah customers from the diners. Food can be catered or brought into Off the Hookah by the customer.

Off the Hookah's customer loyalty includes providing personal hookahs for some regular visitors.

“We are like a huge hookah family when we are here,” owner Makki says.  Whatever Makki is doing it seems to be working.

Off the Hookah Lounge is open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday and on Sunday. The lounge is open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday. To learn more, call 734-895-7534.