Hookah bars are hot in Boulder. With the college town atmosphere, hookah houses on the Hill often fill to capacity quickly and are bumping, banging and raging all night long. Luckily for students seeking a classier, chill environment, there’s no better place than Hooked on Hookah, Boulder’s new hookah venue on 30th Street.
Hooked on Hookah is owned and operated by two hospitable young women, Courtney and Brittany Burgan. But Boulder can’t claim to have the only Hooked on Hookah — there is a second location in the sisters’ hometown of Colorado Springs.
The flaming coals atop a hookah. (CU Independent/Nate Bruzdzinski)
Courtney Burgan, 23, and Brittany Burgan, 25, both graduated from CU Boulder with marketing degrees and now live in Boulder. When they found out that the owner in Colorado Springs wanted to open another location, they say that they told him, “We’re your girls!”
Brittany Burgan said that it took some time for them to get started and eventually open their doors.
“It took about a year to get everything together and figure out if and where we could do it,” Burgan said. “We took out a loan and with all that and we were able to start. The owners in Colorado Springs helped us with hooking up all the supplies like the hookahs and everything. We got the furniture and did everything else.”
The black leather couches keep it classy and art by local artists adorns the walls to add aesthetic appeal. Burgan said that they wanted to create a different environment than other hookah houses.
“A lot of the bars now that we go to are not as relaxing as we’d like them to be,” Brittany Burgan said. “They have loud music and a club atmosphere. When we think about smoking we think of something more relaxing — playing games or watching a movie. Just chilling out. We wanted [to create] something like that.”
The clay bowl that goes on top of a hookah can be pre-packed with shisha in a popular flavor to save a hookah bar's staff some time. (CU Independent/Amy Moore-Shipley)
Board games and playing cards are distributed throughout the store, which invite patrons to challenge their friends to a game or two. Sometimes Hooked on Hookah will feature live music including acoustic guitarists and DJs.
Max Meczyk, a 22-year-old senior political science major, said the ambiance works for him.
“It definitely has an ambiance to it,” Meczyk said. “I hope they do well and I think they will because they have a friendly staff, a good atmosphere and it’s comfortable not sitting at tables — there are couches.
While some are drawn to Hooked on Hookah for it’s laid-back character, others appreciate the quality of their Shisha (also known as Mu‘assel, it is a tobacco mixture smoked in a hookah).
“It’s super milky,” said Zach Walsh, a 20-year-old sophomore finance and accounting major. Walsh said his favorite blend is coconut-raspberry-watermelon, which his friend Jan introduced him to. Walsh calls it, “The Jan blend.”
Burgan said the Shisha is handmade and delivered by one of the Hooked on Hookah owners from Colorado Springs.
“One of the owners in Colo. Springs was a bio-chem major,” Burgan said. “A lot of the tobaccos out there right now have a lot of tars and dyes and additives in them, whereas he didn’t want something like that. [His] only have three ingredients: tobacco, honey-molasses, instead of tar, and flavorings.”
Burgan said that their in-house, custom flavor blends are their specialty. Take-home Shisha is also for sale.
“Our best sellers are mint, watermelon and margarita,” Burgan said. “We really like rose-lemon-mint, watermelon-strawberry-mint, and cinnamon-orange.”
Hookah, however, isn’t the only thing these girls focus on. Burgan said that on top of running the bar every night, both sisters work day jobs.
“I work at Wells Fargo and Courtney works at Flatirons Golf Course,” Burgan said. “This is our relaxing job. We work hard outside so we are happy to be here and happy to work here.”
Perhaps that is why the service they provide is so attentive. Courtney and Brittany are always checking in with their customers and tending to each hookah before a customer can say, “excuse me.” They also take the time to get to know their patrons and make everyone feel at home.
Hooked on Hookah has a welcoming atmosphere. It is a great place to pre-party, relax after a party or head to for a night out with friends. Even those going solo are more than likely to leave having made a few new friends.
Hooked on Hookah is located at 2065 30th Street. Call them at 303-442-4364.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ana McIntosh at anna.mcintosh@colorado.edu.
