The city's crackdown on smoking isn't just about cigarettes and other tobacco products. The City Council held a hearing Thursday on legislation taking aim at hookah smoking. NY1's Erin Billups filed the following report.

As many as 300 businesses now sell hookah products or provide space to use them, up from 72 in 2012.

City officials say it's time to impose regulations.

"There's been a real explosion, I mean, with the number of hookah establishments growing many fold," said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett.

Legislation before the City Council would expand the city's ban on tobacco smoking in restaurants, theaters and workplaces to include non-tobacco hookah, also known as shisha smoking.

Businesses that already generate at least half of their revenue from hookah products would be exempt after securing a Health Department permit. But even in the grandfathered businesses, hookah use would be prohibited for anyone under the age of 21. The businesses also would have to meet new air quality standards.

"The effects of even non-tobacco shisha smoke can be as dangerous as cigarette smoke. So it's not imposing anything more than what is imposed on any other entity that is covered by the Smoke-Free Air Act," siad City Councilman Vincent Gentile of Brooklyn.

It's not clear how many businesses would lose the ability to allow hookah use under the legislation, but the city's goal is to see the number shrink. 

Public health officials and bill sponsors are optimistic that this is the year hookah regulations will be adopted, because the data now shows how popular hookah smoking is among teens.

"That number now stands at 16 percent of high school students, makes us all realize that we have to do something to reign in the use. This bill will do that."

The hookah legislation was debated during a City Council hearing on several anti-smoking bills supported by Mayor Bill de Blasio. He backs the hookah measure, with a spokeswoman saying, "While we respect the cultural significance of the practice, smoking presents a clear health risk to all New Yorkers."