Hookah, a type of waterpipe that's been used to smoke tobacco for centuries, has recently gotten some traction among the American teenage set. According to a new NYU study, almost 20 percent of high school seniors admit to using a hookah.

Have you ever seen this kind of woven bracelet before? Supposedly all the kids are wearing these things now—errrrr, I mean, planning on wearing them, soon, very soon, like any day now. It's so they can smoke their weed and get high, to spite you!

The East Village is full of hookah bars and yet hookah bars are never full of East Villagers. What up? The inappropriate preponderance of hookah bars is an unimpeachable fact. We count nearly 15 in the strict East Village, each most notable for its complete total lack of patrons. Sure, we see why it seems like a good idea to open up a shisha lounge: a nice detour around no-smoking laws, low overhead, no kitchen needed, smoking is fun. But, the demand for a good hookah bar is limited to 15 or 20 NYU students who relish long discussions about Walker Percy while enjoying a delightful apple-scented tobacco.