Ever since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report, smoking has been on a gradual decline in the United States. Indeed, efforts to marginalize the habit have gotten to the point where movies that depict smoking can be rated PG-13 or higher simply for showing it. (We expect an NC-17 re-release of such smoke-filled, but curse-word and graphic sex and violence-free, classics as “Casablanca” and “Now, Voyager” any day now.) Nevertheless, the seductive allure of tobacco remains strong to this day and, despite the efforts of anti-smoking zealots, it’s never going to go away completely.

While we can’t in good conscience downplay the dangers of habitual smoking, we can suggest that, if you’re going to inhale the weed with roots in Kentucky, you should do so stylishly. Why not trade in your prosaic Marlboros and Lucky Strikes for the smooth and flavorful experience of a hookah?

Of course, smoking indoors is an issue for home owners quite apart from health concerns. Having a special room for your water pipe habit is one possibility. In any case, if the smell of tobacco is going to permeate a room in your house, it might as well be of the fragrant, flavored tobaccos available for use with hookahs.

Indeed, having a special room for this type of smoking opens the door to a lot of fascinating design possibilities. Obviously, employing the most gorgeous in Persian, Indian, Turkish, or Middle Eastern design for your smoking room remains one classical approach. Of course, it’s your home and you may go anyway you like. You could even employ a design inspired by Lewis Carroll’s proto-psychedelic classic, Alice in Wonderland. As Grace Slick reminded us in the Jefferson Airplane hit, “White Rabbit,” the book featured a hookah smoking caterpillar who also made it into the recent film with Johnny Depp. Of course, if you take that approach people may assume something other than exotic tobacco is being smoked at your house but that’s their problem.