Health Concerns

[king_of_fire89]

im kind of a noob hookah smoker, and i was wondering if any more experience smokers have noticed any changes in their health? thanks a lot

[boomhauer]

you are smoking so of course it will have an effect on your health. it will basically give almost all affects of smoking anything else. although with smoking cigs everyone is different though, some people smoke for 5 years and get cancer and others smoke since they where kids and are over 85 and still smoke yet dont have cancer yet. the same thing will be almost like hookah, chances of getting something depends from person to person.

[king_of_fire89]

you are smoking so of course it will have an effect on your health. it will basically give almost all affects of smoking anything else. although with smoking cigs everyone is different though, some people smoke for 5 years and get cancer and others smoke since they where kids and are over 85 and still smoke yet dont have cancer yet. the same thing will be almost like hookah, chances of getting something depends from person to person.

yea i figured it would be something like that. i knew getting into it that it wasnt the healthiest thing, but whatever.hahaha. thanks again

[SafeSearchOff]

my grandpa used to smoke more than a pack a day since he was 17 to about 35. Not only that, but he was a steam fitter in the 40's and 50's, so he pretty much breathed Aspestos 14 hours a day. Not he's 86 and dying of prostate cancer, his lungs have recieved a good bill of health.

its a risk that you take when you smoke. sometimes the results are bad, sometimes, no so much. thats hwy its a risk.

[arik]

I have been smoking Nargila for a while just wondering how much (approximately) is a Nargila equivalent to cigarettes?

a lot of people tell me different things. Edited August 14, 2007 by arik

[SafeSearchOff]

are you smoking washed or unwashed tobacco?
i think i read somewhere that 1 hookah session is like having 8 cigarettes, which i personally dont believe. i really dont know, but thats the stats i got.

[arik]

I always smoked unwashed started in end of gr9 now i am going into gr12... i have heard a lot of things and also dont belive them like a session = a pack of cigarettes

[SafeSearchOff]

i'd say unwashed is like 6 or 7? dunno.

[Whodat1004]

All these numbers are hard for me to believe. If I smoke more than 5 cigs in a day I will feel it the next morning. Where as I can sit and smoke for a 2 hour session and be fine the next morning. Its really hard to say. You know yourself so listen to your body. If you can't lose don't play the game.

[boomhauer]

really there is no study that will be done on hookah's that is not bias since they are working to make smoking illegal everywhere slowly so there is no way to know how many you are smoking. there is a difference between burning tobacco and baking it on how it will affect your body and lungs.

[JoeLipinski]

Although many studies have been done about hookah and how bad it is for your health, how many cigarettes is the equivalent , etc. The bottom line is that you are smoking a tobacco product which is known to be a cause of cancer... although so many other things are also linked to cancer. If you are smoking you will notice some health effects (I believe tangiers doctor said something to him about it) but if you are not excessive then it should effect you too much.

[Sariél]

I don;t have exact numbers on hand, but a couple of years ago I took my blood pressure before I lit the bowl, and then an hour later, mid-smoke. Though I felt more relaxed, my BP and heart rate had risen markedly.



Bottom line: its bad for you. In excess, it will tkae years off your life. And they come off the healthy, middle years, not the end.

[Sayishere]

I always smoked unwashed started in end of gr9 now i am going into gr12... i have heard a lot of things and also dont belive them like a session = a pack of cigarettes

a pack of cigs?
it cant be that bad can it

[amnite]

You cant compare it hookah to cigarettes since the tar produced is completely different and at much lower temperatures plus the tobacco is heated not burnt. So you are exposed to possibly less damage or more to cigarettes (theres wayyy less research to know this, some of you are right we may never know, give it couple of decades)

This is good research below, You smoke hookah low temperatures
"Dr. Wynder told the American Association for Cancer Research, meeting in Chicago, that the villain is not present in tobacco leaves in their natural, unburned state. His research team proved this by extracting tar from cigarette tobacco without burning it: the resulting substance produced virtually no cancers when painted on the backs of mice. But batches of the same tobacco were burned at varying temperatures, and the tars extracted. Tar from the lower-temperature-burning ranges (560° to 720° C.) produced few or no cancers. From 800° to 880° C. the number of cancers increased sharply. Conclusion: evidently, the cancer-causing agent is the result of high-temperature combustion."

I agree with some (not all) of this below
" Is smoking a water pipe just as harmful as cigarettes?
Water pipe smoke and cigarette smoke contain the same harmful and addictive substances nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide. The far lower temperature in the tobacco of a water pipe compared to cigarettes does not mean that the smoke contains no or only low levels of contaminants. Some contaminants or contaminant groups like nicotine or metal ions are even found at higher concentrations in a water pipe than in cigarette smoke. Studies from Jordan show that far more nicotine is taken up from water pipe than from cigarette consumption.

If one compares the average water pipe smoker who smokes one to two water pipes a week with an average cigarette smoker who smokes 20-30 cigarettes a day, then smoking cigarettes is definitely far more harmful. However, based on the knowledge currently available a similarly harmful effect must be assumed for water pipe smokers who smoke two to three plugs of tobacco a day.

Despite the comparatively low level of exposure, water pipe consumption spanning several years leads to a worsening of pulmonary function and increases the risk of tumours. Furthermore, women who smoke water pipes during pregnancy run a higher risk of giving birth to babies with a low birth weight."

My belief is smoking a hookah once in a while is less harmful than cigarettes, plus whats the point of smoking hookah all the time, if the nicotine is less addictive then why smoke it all the time, what are getting out of it. You smoke it to socialise and relax (the whole idea in the first place). People these days dont seem to follow the idea except smoke it 2/3 times a day and most of the time, its them smoking it alone! Edited August 14, 2007 by amnite

[ioannisds]

I smoked for a few years before quitting just a few months ago. I started when I was maybe 28 or so, and am now 33. I quit because I am determined to stay healthy for our young daughter, and after just a few years of very light smoking (a few times a week at most), it was very easy to notice that it had an effect on my health. I'd get a cough regularly, my breath would get short more easily, lots of phlegm sometimes, and so on. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it though. I'm still on the board almost everyday, mostly because I just like this place, but I'm always interested in reading about new flavors, pipes, and whatever else comes along in these online conversations. In the end, it is your choice to make, and YOU have to decide if the benefit outweighs the risks for you, regardless of what the scientists, government, or the peanut gallery have to say.

[SafeSearchOff]

very thoughtful post, ioan. I agree, though, I'm much younger. I plan on stopping in my 30's but thats a far way away.
I'm going on my 3rd year of smoking, and after running up 3 flights of stairs not to be late for class at school I'm visibly winded...

[Sonthert]

My father smoked a pipe for over 60 years. Died of natural causes at the age of 79.

[everydayshisha]

in a properly set session what you inhale mostly is not smoke but vapour. If you try any kind of smoke (even filtered with the latest technology is still harsh).I am not suggesting that there is no smoke. There is but i believe its less than half of what you inhale. The vapour comes from glycerin and mollasses ( dippy tobacco smokes for much longer [e.g. AF] and the smoke from the heated (and not burned) tobacco. Tar is minimal , i cant give you any numbers because its filtered by water (there still is some tar though mostly when the shisha is dry and starts burning).
The reaserches that were done, use 600 degrees Celcious instead of the 150-200 degrees that the coal gives you, which burns the tobacco producing massive amount of tar and other stuff. Also there is nothing chemical like in cigarettes.
*The above is not a result of any research but based on my own experience and knowladge on hookah/shisha and a bit of science

Enjoy hookahing and dont worry
Respect.. Stefanosssss

[boomhauer]

even if you are smoking vapor and not burning the tobacco what extra crap may be released due to the slow heating? any study out there is either bias towards smoking or against it by who they are funded by so you cant really trust them.

only going to use this example because i made some tortillas last night, pain in the ass to make...go get a tortilla and put it on a 600 degree stove and watch it burn quickly, do the same thing at a 300 degree one while it takes a while it will eventually burn. that in the same aspect is what happens to the tobacco as as the glycerin evaporates there is less smoke slightly but people may make up for this with a wind cover or more heat should cause the gap of no smoke to be filled in by tobacco burning. then again when the tobacco burns people dont like it because it is harsh yet some go smoke a pack a day normally

[amnite]

the cancer causing agents according to research are above 700 degrees plus when they lowered the temperature the cancer causing agents decreased at around 560° to 720° C, shisha is no were near that, read wot i posted above earlier... am not saying shisha is less harmful at the end of the day smoke is harmful to your body no matter what Edited August 15, 2007 by amnite

[everydayshisha]

I never said you dont inhale smoke. Its about half of it. My sister is a biochemistry teacher and i learned that 99% of carcinogens are filtered in water. Water also picks up most of the tar produced by the slow burning of shisha. Its almost tarless smoke/vapou mixure. The reaserches that say that hookah smoke goes deep into lung cz of inhaling deeply has a point but since its almost tarless its not very harmfulll... Still is though so watch out smokersssss/
I am also an athlete and i never noticed decrease in stamina. I did notice decrease in consentration though sometimes after smoking and going to practice, but its probably due to the buzzzz

[sdmopar]

Smoke it 'til you drop, just enjoy it. We are all going to die from something, might as well be something you love

[lilbrownindian]

Smoke it 'til you drop, just enjoy it. We are all going to die from something, might as well be something you love

yeah for all we know we will die by getting hit by a bus or something

[sdmopar]

I ride a motorcycle everyday, who knows one of these days I might not make it home so why stress over it. The relaxation and the social times it brings me is worth the health risks. My 2 cents

[MechAnt]

Its obvious that smoking anything is a hazard to one's health. All of here chose to smoke hookah and it is a lifestyle choice we all made. We know its bad for us, we still choose to do it anyway because its our hobby and something we love to do. Why fret over things like this when we choose to do it?