Redwood City, Calif., voted 4-2 to adopt San Mateo County’s tobacco retailer ordinance, eliminating the city’s longstanding exemption for hookah-serving businesses and effectively banning the sale and on-site use of flavored tobacco shisha. The move primarily affects three downtown establishments that built their business models around traditional hookah service. Under the ordinance, retailers must comply with county restrictions on flavored tobacco products and obtain county tobacco retail permits, while future provisions will further restrict tobacco marketing and sales practices.
Business owners and industry supporters criticized the decision as a disproportionate response to concerns over youth access to flavored tobacco products. “I have never seen a kid walking on the street with a hookah and two charcoals on top,” said David Kassouf, owner of The Sandwich Spot, arguing that regulators were conflating adult-only hookah lounges with vape shops accused of selling youth-oriented products. Opponents described the ordinance as a blunt policy tool that targets established hospitality businesses and cultural gathering spaces in order to address enforcement issues involving a relatively small number of alleged bad actors, while supporters maintained the county framework was the most practical way to strengthen tobacco enforcement and reduce youth access.
