Paul Green and Erin Cobb, both 20, studied the smoking ban for a year, looking for a loophole, and health officials have conceded the solution they came up with is legal, The Seattle Time reported Sunday.

The lounge for hookah -- the smoking of flavored tobacco through large, communal pipes -- is not covered by the law, because Green and Cobb set up the business in two parts. At one, the tobacco is sold along with a $1 membership to the nearby club -- and customers can then walk with their tobacco to the hookah lounge and smoke.

Because Green and Cobb are the only employees, the smoking ban does not apply to the club, the newspaper said.

The partner said it was not their goal to confound authorities -- they just wanted to give people their age a place to go, similar to a coffee house, where they could share the communal experience of sharing a hookah pipe.