?Most people believe the hookah came from Turkey,? says Sameer Melwani, manager of Hubbly Bubbly Hookah Lounge at Yacht Haven Grande in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, ?but in fact the hookah came from India, my home country.? (The first hookah might have been a coconut.) As he speaks, Sameer is watching me draw on a hose coiled from the shapely bulbs of the glass and metal water pipe set on our low table. A hot coal sits on pierced tin foil atop the apparatus. When I draw on the hose, the coal?s heat burns the tobacco packed in the chamber below, and the smoke bubbles down through the water in the base then up the hose. The cooled smoke tastes of watermelon and rose. ?A nice starter flavor,? says Sameer. Colored fabrics billow from the ceiling. Comfortable red settees line the walls of the dim-lit space. The moody, mellow scene is not exactly what I expected to find in St. Thomas? high-polish yacht harbor. But the place attracts a cruise crowd looking for something not available on most cruise lines. When the ships sail, a local crowd takes over and often stays all night thanks to the lounge?s late-night license. Not incidentally, the food is fantastic ? hummus, rolled grape leaves and other pan-Middle Eastern favorites ? worth a visit even if you?re not going to hubble or bubble.
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