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How are Shisha lounges and hotbox cafes in Toronto getting their license??
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| chinaboy1021 |
| Does anybody know how shisha lounges and vaporizer cafes in Toronto getting their license to allow indoor smoking?? Also what kind of license do they need to distribute/serve Shisha in Toronto? |
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| chinamon |
| from my understanding, shisha lounges get away with it because they are not serving tobacco. they serve non-tobacco "herbal" stuff such as Soex (and a hundred other different brands). many of them will serve real tobacco to their regular customers but its not listed on the menu. |
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| -g- |
| they're not 'getting away' with anything and require no license whatsoever because they do not fall under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. |
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| Nobbie Q |
Apparently the city is freezing the issuance of any new vapo lounge licences
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/0...-vapour-lounges
TORONTO - Toronto council voted to freeze the licensing of any new vapour lounges this week.
The move puts licenses on hold for new locations while city staff conduct a comprehensive review of the businesses and their legality.
Council asked for the review to include recommendations on how they can better control the activity and how the city could smoke out any illegal activity happening in the lounges.
Councillor Mark Grimes pushed the issue at council.
In the motion approved by council, Grimes pointed out the businesses are licensed as cafes but advertise themselves as vapour lounges.
“These lounges are permitting clientele to use, water pipes, vapourizers and vapourizing accessories to smoke and inhale substances such as marijuana and herbal mixtures,” Grimes wrote.
“I hear these things are popping up, I have no idea what these things even are but I don’t know how we are even giving these licenses out,” Grimes told the Sun Friday.
He said licensing staff told him vapour lounges have been granted licenses as food establishments.
“It just boggles my mind how are staff are handing out these licenses without any council direction whatsoever,” Grimes said. “I think staff should know this is going to be a contentious item.”
Although he’s never been to one, Grimes said he’s been told “vapour lounge” patrons can bring a small amount of pot, throw it into a vaporizer - a device that shoots heated air through the marijuana - and then the individual or group can inhale the vapour.
“It’s like a smoking social lounge,” he said.
Grimes said he wants council and city officials to “get a handle” on vapour lounges before it gets out of hand.
“You look back on the holistic centres before council figured out what was going on (that the centres often were rub and tugs in disguise) we were inundated with them and it was too late,” he said.
The staff report is due back at the February city council meeting. |
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| kotsy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nobbie Q
“It’s like a smoking social lounge,” he said. |
lol
it pretty much is
I went to one last week for the first time... trying to understand how these places exist lol
it honestly felt I was in amsterdam! good job, toronto! keep it up :p |
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| Adamo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nobbie Q
“I hear these things are popping up, I have no idea what these things even are but I don’t know how we are even giving these licenses out,” Grimes told the Sun Friday.
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:rolleyes: |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nobbie Q
Apparently the city is freezing the issuance of any new vapo lounge licences
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/0...-vapour-lounges
TORONTO - Toronto council voted to freeze the licensing of any new vapour lounges this week.
The move puts licenses on hold for new locations while city staff conduct a comprehensive review of the businesses and their legality.
Council asked for the review to include recommendations on how they can better control the activity and how the city could smoke out any illegal activity happening in the lounges.
Councillor Mark Grimes pushed the issue at council.
In the motion approved by council, Grimes pointed out the businesses are licensed as cafes but advertise themselves as vapour lounges.
“These lounges are permitting clientele to use, water pipes, vapourizers and vapourizing accessories to smoke and inhale substances such as marijuana and herbal mixtures,” Grimes wrote.
“I hear these things are popping up, I have no idea what these things even are but I don’t know how we are even giving these licenses out,” Grimes told the Sun Friday.
He said licensing staff told him vapour lounges have been granted licenses as food establishments.
“It just boggles my mind how are staff are handing out these licenses without any council direction whatsoever,” Grimes said. “I think staff should know this is going to be a contentious item.”
Although he’s never been to one, Grimes said he’s been told “vapour lounge” patrons can bring a small amount of pot, throw it into a vaporizer - a device that shoots heated air through the marijuana - and then the individual or group can inhale the vapour.
“It’s like a smoking social lounge,” he said.
Grimes said he wants council and city officials to “get a handle” on vapour lounges before it gets out of hand.
“You look back on the holistic centres before council figured out what was going on (that the centres often were rub and tugs in disguise) we were inundated with them and it was too late,” he said.
The staff report is due back at the February city council meeting. |
as always in toronto.... YOU ARE HAVING FUN??? STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY! |
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| kotsy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
as always in toronto.... YOU ARE HAVING FUN??? STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY! |
fun or no fun.. what the patrons are doing is 100% illegal (almost everywhere in the world) lol |
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| -g- |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
fun or no fun.. what the patrons are doing is 100% illegal (almost everywhere in the world) lol |
actually it's not illegal as per our existing laws, which is why this is kinda funny. |
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| chinamon |
| quote: | Originally posted by -g-
actually it's not illegal as per our existing laws, which is why this is kinda funny. |
actually, i believe the laws state it is only legal if you have a medical use card but i think that most people at these vapo-lounges do not, hence, it is illegal. |
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| -g- |
| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
actually, i believe the laws state it is only legal if you have a medical use card but i think that most people at these vapo-lounges do not, hence, it is illegal. |
not true.
i encourage you to look up the Act itself. it very clearly speaks only to tobacco or tobacco-flavoured products. |
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| -g- |
i would add, that this is the very reason there is no 'license to smoke' required for hookah lounges; there is no license because there are no laws whasoever that restrict the use of a hookah per se.
the article above mentions council looking at yoinking an establishment's food license, as a means of enforcing some other, unrelated behaviour. this approach deserves every bit of ridicule the courts would throw at it, were it attempted as such. |
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