Soex And Tobacco/nicotine Free Smoke

[Adabeie]

Hey all,

I registered here for this one question and found so much more. First off, thanks for the forum and the philosophizing - I've liked what I've read.

Recently I moved to South Korea and tried smoking nicotine-free hookah at the Hookah Lounge in Apgujeong. "Nicotine free?" I thought. The waiter recommended the nicotine-free kind, and since I was with my other non-smokling friends (save for the occasional hookah session), we were in agreement that a trial was in order. We ordered rose, so I cannot comment on the 'reduced-taste' phenomenon I've read about, and in any case, the fruit stuff I find a bit overhwhelming anyway. The flavor was great and I recommend it to anyone who savors subtlety over the tidal-wave of flavor saturation I find in Egyptian tobacco blends, and in addition, after smoking a bowl for about 2 hours on our second coal (maybe we're subpar inhalers) we discovered that we had none of the nicotine jitters regular hookah gives me (my friends are in agreement on this experience). No headache, no inclination to vomit, and feelign much less oxygen-starved than the times we smoked Egyptian tobacco in Seattle.

There's the backdrop. My curiousity is directed at the health aspect. I've heard of heavy metals - but from the pipe itself? The heated element is an inert, baked ceramic bowl, so are the metals in the smoked herbs? I don't see how the limited ehat from the smoke would free up the metal in the stem, and the pipes are not metal in the hookahs that I've used. Also, I know that smoking something - smoking anything - is a crude and damaging delivery for various reasons, hot smoke in the lungs, carcinogens created from the burning effect, and fast delivery to the blood through the lungs. But I am wondering (because I have yet to find anything on the web) if anyone knows of any solid research on nicotine free hookah, or if anyone knows what exactly is in this kind of hookah and what it's effects on the lungs might be when burned. I know I'm not taking vitamins, but I enjoy hookah and, seeing as how the 'pro' forces don't seem to answer the questions I ask and the 'con' forces are all about sensation and demonizing irrationality, I'm looking for somethign a bit more objective.

Sorry this was so drawn out, but hey, spare no detail.