The Rise of Smoking House Culture
Since the passing of Avatar Korra, numerous cultural and economical changes have taken root in the Fire Nation. Dozens of formerly subjugated states have gained independence; the Posthumous Edicts of Izumi the Kind have revolutionized the arts and diplomacy; the tea house has fallen out of favour, and the smoking house risen in its place. Why is that last development so often overlooked - and how did it happen?
Our first clue presents itself in one of the birthplaces of the electrical revolution: Anchi Airport. Situated on the northeastern isles, Anchi was not initially a favourable port. The notoriously dangerous reefs off its coast sank many an earth kingdom ship in the 170s AG, and the surrounding mountainous enclaves were long considered preferable for trade despite their lacking road infrastructure.
Then, of course, came the air plane. Fast enough to deliver fresh goods from the Earth Kingdom (and, to a lesser extent, Republic City), the plane transformed the flat region of Anchi into an economic hub for food, tea, and volatile electrical components, and the populace took notice - restaurants and tea houses sprang up around the air ports formerly used by airships and nomads. Initially, these served as the seed for smoking halls as we know them today, in spite of the much different appearance! People gathered; people ate good food, drank good tea; people smoked the already popular "Daima Hay", a precursor of the many cultivars known today as smokeleaf or simply anchi. This is where the story might have ended, with restaurants and tea houses frequented by the occasional smoker. Might have - had it not been for the Hu-De Monopolies Incident.
Hu-De was once a town. There is no sugarcoating it, though it is regrettable: barely anyone today even recognises the name, let alone its importance in the tea trade. The place is dead, for all intents and purposes. Formerly it was a great grower and reseller of white and green teas, though, and for reasons that need not concern the reader of this piece, it tried to capitalize on this position by forcing the world's entire trade in tea and related goods through its own handful of companies, and this plan would become known as the Hu-De Monopolies Incident.
Needless to say, the plan failed - connoisseur readers will recognize the region of Silver Hills as the chiefest producer of white tea. Still, the incident left impressions. Tea was, in the eyes of those with a growing nationalistic sentiment, an Earth Kingdom export forced upon the firebenders by coin-greedy merchants. Especially those concerned with trade themselves, as in Anchi many were, saw tea as an insidious personal attack. While that is, of course, complete nonsense, tea houses began to lose customers, with many only staying in business by operating at a loss.
Some pivoted to readeries. A few became restaurants. Crucially, however, some enterpreneuring individuals recognized the opportunity at their hands: buying up large quantities of Daima Hay, they rebuilt their tea houses as smoking spots for the politically minded woman, calling her to theorise, chart infrastructure plans (a precursor of the artistic supplies found today!), and socialise in the new "smoking house" - rebranding to avoid associations with tea. The sudden increase in mass buyups of material also forced growers of Daima Hay to identify their goods in more detail, putting a hefty markup on species thought to increase willpower and architectural genius, and leaving strains that merely increased appetite and joy to the specialist grower. This is how the tea house, at least in Anchi, became obsolete in favour of the smoking house. But how come the smokery doesn't look anything like a tea house?
The answer to the question of smoking house decoration grows, as it were, from several roots. One of the more obvious reasons lies in the Warring Avatars Period. The smoking hall became a place for small communities to plot their protections against the wars between the Avatars, then a place of gathering for comfort in community, then a place of comfort more generally. The tall, hard chairs were supplanted by soft seating bags imported from the New Northern Air Temple. The air nomads' influence did not stop there, however - their traders and diplomats worked with locals, causing a more general exchange of ideas. The incense hall used by the nomads inspired the use of soft chimes (or on occasion, quiet music) and the use of incense; ventilation procedures and infrastructure were copied almost directly from the structures built into temple rocks, making for the unobtrusive but numerous tubes leading into the ceiling and walls; even the snacks so synonymous with smokeries only became predominantly fatty and vegetarian due to Southern Temple cuisine, as with the tall, refreshing fruit drinks.
The air benders in turn brought home ideas from the smoking hall: drawing boards and painting materials, now inextricable from the community halls of the Temples, are an export from the smoking hall of Anchi!
In modern times, the vibrant smoking house culture of Anchi hardly recalls the tea houses of yesteryear. With a great variety of leaves to choose from, creative supplies, and unobtrusive food and drink consumed without any ceremony, it is no wonder that the smoking house has started to conquer the entire fire archipelago with its charms. On its way through the islands, it is steadily picking up innovations from the states it passes through. Sweet Kukkuri herbs are gaining popularity for smoke flavouring; off-tempo Biku music suffuses many a house in the west. Where will the smoking house go next, and what wondrous changes may this icon of the Fire Isles undergo? The vibrant styles shall arise from those of its people, and one day, the smoking house may be a reflection of your very heart.
