There is something different across the street. When you approach the new attraction, a blinding sign reads, “Welcome Back Guilford College Students!!!” You walk into the venue and it’s Greensboro’s newest hookah bar: the Royal Hookah Lounge.

Hookah bars are usually popular hangouts among college students, as they are a great place to relax and have a good time with friends — a place of serenity where you leave all your worries behind.

“(Smoking hookah) was a good way to bond with my friends, mostly,” said junior Caroline Peck of her past hookah-bar experiences. “It put everyone in a good mood and was always a good time, and I think it’s popular for those reasons, plus the fact that it’s not illegal.”

Royal Hookah Lounge is co-owned by alumnus Shadi Abdallah ‘07 and Ziad Majjar. Abdallah was a member of the Guilford rugby team and a resident advisor in 2006–07. He also worked for Public Safety.

Abdallah had one thing in mind when he opened up the hookah bar: “I want to give back to Guilford. I went there for four years, so it’s the least I could do.”

The Royal Hookah Lounge has around 150 to 200 flavors of hookah, high-speed Wi-Fi and coffee and teas available, and they plan to have some specials on Halloween.

During the day, the lounge aims to be a coffee shop and a place for students to hang out, play poker or even board games if they so desire. They want to be recognized as more than just as a hookah bar.

“We want this place to be a place where students can enjoy themselves without having to smoke hookah,” said Abdallah. “We also want this to be a place where students can do their homework.”

Cigarette smoking is also allowed inside the Royal Hookah Lounge, as they want customers to enjoy themselves and relax without having to change locations in order to smoke a cigarette.

For those who do not know what a hookah is, it is tobacco smoked from a stemmed instrument with water in a chamber at the bottom. The person inhales through a long tube, called the hose, causing the water to bubble in the water chamber and create smoke.

Majjar stressed that “hookah is not a drug. It is, in fact, flavored tobacco.”

The Royal Hookah Lounge strives to please their customers and guarantee a great experience. Its location close to campus means that this lounge has the potential to become a Guilford hot spot.