A proposed exemption of hookah bars from the new statewide smoking ban has gone up in smoke.

State Rep. Cullie Tarleton, D-Watauga, had been pushing a bill that would have allowed hookah bars to stay in business after North Carolina's smoking ban for restaurants and bars goes into effect in January.

But Tarleton said yesterday that he has withdrawn the bill, effectively eliminating any chance that the General Assembly would act this year to carve out an exemption for hookah bars. Tarleton pulled the bill at the request of owners of hookah bars, who complained that amendments to the bill would have put new, unfair restrictions on them.

"That would have just been a slow death as opposed to a quick, clean death," said Adam Bliss, the owner of Hookah Bliss in Chapel Hill. "We'd rather go out clean than be bled to death."

A hookah is a pipe used to smoke flavored tobacco. The pipe contains a long tube, which draws the smoke through a bowl of water in order to cool it. Hookah smoking is popular among young adults, and North Carolina has about 20 hookah bars or lounges, mainly in college towns.

Without a legal exemption, hookah bars will have to either stop allowing hookah smoking, or stop serving all food and beverages. As a practical matter, either of those actions would put them out of business, some owners of hookah bars say.

The problem stems from the smoking ban that was passed by the legislature in May. The ban will take effect Jan. 2. It outlaws smoking in indoor areas of nearly all bars and restaurants.

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