Cairene

Elite Cairenes are watching their savings vanish and their businesses falter.

Set apart from Cairo’s hurly-burly, they were private spaces floating in plain, tantalizing sight, offering some Cairenes a refuge where they could drink, drug and mix freely in the heart of a deeply conservative city.

Cairenes are struggling to come to terms with a rapidly changing city, where many public spaces have been taken away or commercialized, she said.

Still, Cairenes in want of a smoke know there are still plenty of establishments flouting the ban and serving up the pipes.

But some Cairenes recognized that Diwan was a crucial missing piece in the city’s literary landscape and relished the shop.