Best Smoke Shop & Hookah Lounge Has Your E-Cigarettes & Much More!

By Gary Nager

If there’s a smoker on your holiday gift list, you should visit the clean and comfortable Best Smoke Shop & Hookah Lounge, located on S.R. 54, just east of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. 

Owner Dean Refai carries everything from hookahs and other water and glass pipes to fine cigars, traditional pipes and pipe tobaccos, plus a variety of the now-very-popular E-cigarettes, unique novelty gifts, detoxifying products and more.

Refai says that E-cigarettes (or E-cigs) are now his most popular items, although he says that not everyone takes up the no-smoke E-cigs for the same reason. 

“A lot of people are using E-cigarettes to try to gradually reduce the amount of nicotine they ingest and quit smoking altogether,” Dean says, noting that other  people just want to be able to get their usual nicotine “fix” without having to subject those around them to harmful second-hand cigarette smoke.

“And, because they have the habit of holding something in their hands, (E-cigs) still give smokers the feeling of smoking without actually smoking,” Refai explains. “A lot of our customers say they only smoke when they have drinks because they’re so used to having a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other.”

Of course, E-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough to really know for sure what health effects the chemicals in the water vapor those who “vape” ingest and blow out will have on them or those around them. There’s no doubt that the huge variety of E-cig flavors smell less offensive to non-smokers than cigarette smoke, another great reason to give them a shot, considering all we now know about how harmful actual cigarette smoke can be.

If a customer isn’t interested in actually quitting smoking cigarettes, Refai says, they also have the option of purchasing the E-cartridges that contain the normal amount of nicotine as a traditional cigarette. He adds that, in addition to not getting the typical cigarette odor on your clothes and in your hair from smoking cigarettes and the convenience of still being able to “smoke” them indoors (although some establishments have begun banning E-cigs inside, too), E-cigarettes give smokers the option to wean themselves off of their nicotine addiction at their own pace.

Before opening Best Smoke Shop in its original location on E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa (in 2007), Refai was working for a car dealership in Tampa, but says he wasn’t happy, so he and his wife decided to open the shop. He then decided to move Best Smoke Shop to its current Wesley Chapel location in 2012.

“We sell everything about smoking,” Refai says. “If customers don’t see what they’re looking for, I will special order whatever it is for them.”

But, based on the amazing selection at Best Smoke Shop, we can’t imagine any smoker not finding what they’re looking for, from the popular Raw cigarette rolling papers to the store’s most popular Roor water pipes, every possible brand of cigarettes and fine cigar labels, including Montecristo, Garcia y Vega, Acid, Romeo y Julietta and many more.

And, Refai insists that everything in the shop is legal to sell.

“It’s a clean smoke shop,” he explains. “We believe in clean business. We don’t sell anything that is illegal.”

Hookah, Anyone?

Smoking flavored tobacco in a hookah or water pipe is another popular pastime, especially with younger adults, and not only does Dean carry a large selection of pipes, hookah tobacco flavors and supplies, there’s also a spacious and comfortable hookah lounge, where you and your friends can smoke a hookah on site. But, since there’s a door separating the hookah lounge from the store itself, we’ve yet to smell even a hint of smoke in the shop when we’ve visited.

Check the Best Smoke Shop ad on page 39 of this issue for great holiday discounts, including 50-percent-off select merchandise and 25-percent-off any purchase of $25 or more. 

Best Smoke Shop & Hookah Lounge is located at 28411 Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54) and is open Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sun. For more info, call 991-1188 or visit BestSmokShop Florida.com. And, don’t forget to “Like” Best Smoke Shop’s Facebook.com page to keep up with the store’s latest product updates.