Should i smoke hookah

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Hookah smoking is often mistaken as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking, primarily due to the sweet smell and taste of hookah tobacco, and the social aspect that usually leads to hookah smoking being only an occasional habit.

But there's no such thing as a healthy smoking option, and hookah smoking can be just as—if not more—dangerous as cigarette smoking. A hookah is a water pipe that is used to smoke sweetened and flavored tobacco. Other names for hookah are narghile, argileh, shisha, hubble-bubble, and Goza. The pipe is usually quite large and consists of a water chamber, a tobacco chamber, and one or more flexible tubes stemming from it that allow multiple smokers to inhale at the same time.

Hookah tobacco is often sweetened with molasses, fruit pulp, or honey, with additional flavors such as coconut, mint, or coffee. These flavorings sweeten the taste and aroma of the tobacco, making it especially appealing to young people.

Hookah pipes have been in use for about years, originating in India and Asia. In the early s, Hakim Abdul Fath, a physician from India, invented the hookah, mistakenly believing the health hazards of tobacco smoke would be minimized by passing it through water before inhalation. The tobacco chamber in a hookah consists of a bowl containing burning charcoal that is placed on top of the flavored tobacco.

Charcoal is separated from tobacco by perforated aluminum foil. As the charcoal heats the tobacco below, smoke is created. When users draw on the stem hose of the hookah, the smoke is pulled through the water chamber, cooling it before it is inhaled into the lungs.

It is a common misconception that smoking from a hookah removes nicotine and other toxins from tobacco. While water-cooled smoke is less harsh on delicate lung tissue, the toxicity of the smoke is unchanged and the cancer-causing chemicals present in the hookah tobacco are not filtered out by this process. Hookah smoke contains many of the same harmful chemicals in traditional cigarette smoke, including:.

Some hookah tobacco products claim they don't contain tar, but that is misleading. No tobacco contains tar until it is burned, or in the case of hookah tobacco, heated. This difference leads some to believe that the toxicity of hookah tar may be less than that of cigarette tar, which is not the case. Additionally, the charcoal that is used to heat the tobacco contains carbon monoxide, metals, and other cancer-causing agents like polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

This adds another level of danger to hookah smokers. A typical manufactured cigarette contains between 7 and 22 milligrams of nicotine, depending on the brand, with about 1 mg being absorbed by the smoker. An average hookah bowl contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes. Nicotine is an addictive drug, so smoking hookah can be every bit as addictive as smoking cigarettes. This is an opportunity for hookah users and other smokers to quit these dangerous habits and use this unfortunate situation as a fresh start.

Share social-mail Facebook Icon social-twitter. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease in China. N Engl J Med. Narghile water pipe smoking influences platelet function and iso- eicosanoids.

Life Sci. Eissenberg T, Shihadeh A. Waterpipe tobacco and cigarette smoking: direct comparison of toxicant exposure. Although many users think it is less harmful, hookah smoking has many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking. Hookah is also called narghile, argileh, shisha, hubble-bubble , and goza. A typical modern hookah has a head with holes in the bottom , a metal body, a water bowl, and a flexible hose with a mouthpiece. Hookah smoking is typically done in groups, with the same mouthpiece passed from person to person.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. On This Page. Hookah Use Health Effects References. Hookah smoking is NOT a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. Hookah Use. Health Effects. Using a hookah to smoke tobacco poses serious health risks to smokers and others exposed to the smoke from the hookah. Hookah Smoke and Cancer The charcoal used to heat the tobacco can raise health risks by producing high levels of carbon monoxide, metals, and cancer-causing chemicals.