How Bad Is Hookah For You?

[HookahDude831]

A while back someone left an article on my desk about how hookah is worse for you than cigarettes. im unable to find any legitamate studies or recources that compare the two. im my opinion its not nearly as bad for me!

what do you think?

[shisha fan]

it`s hard to find an objective study on the subject these days, with all the anti-tobacco lobbys and all. but then again, exhaust gasses can also give you cancer, hell anything gives you cancer nowadays.

[Nutshell]

it`s hard to find an objective study on the subject these days, with all the anti-tobacco lobbys and all. but then again, exhaust gasses can also give you cancer, hell anything gives you cancer nowadays.

That's for sure.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=05...;show_article=1

[gaia.plateau]

My perception is that it is generally much, much better for your immediate health than cigarettes, because of the absence of toxins including but not limited to rat poison and rocket fuel.

In the long term, however, I think that hookah is probably worse for your lungs, due to the sheer volume of smoke that you're putting in them. I've read in a variety of sources studies that show 1 bowl of hookah is equivilent to 100 cigarettes in regard to the amount of smoke you breathe in.

If you smoke 2 bowls of hookah every day for 10 years, you've probably got a very high chance of getting seriously messed up lungs. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes every day for even a year, I think you're probably going to see a gradual decline in your overall health, and in 10-20 years you've got a good chance of having lung problems.

For me, it's all about the smell. Hookah smells delicious, cigarettes smell disgusting.

[Get Crunk!]

yeah, I've also heard that because of the length of time smoked of hookah can be anywhere from 45 minutes to longer where as a cig is around 5 minutes, I really dunno how bad it is for u but like some other people said...u can get cancer from anything nowadays. All I know is that I love hookah! w00t w00t =)

[mushrat]

You are still taking hot particulate matter into your lungs for an hour or longer...you want a safe hobby, this aint it.

[spankzit]

I think it is highly variable. A lot of it depends on how you pack a bowl. Let’s examine two different techniques used to pack a bowl. Let’s say technique #1 uses a large bowl with the coal placed very close to Shisha and very little if any air space between the coal and the Shisha. This is going to vaporize a high amount of matter. It is also going to vaporize chemicals that won’t be vaporized in our second example. This is going to generate the large smoke clouds that we are used to seeing on YouTube.



Let’s say in technique #2, we pack a smaller bowl with about 5mm of distance between the coal and the Shisha. We also use a smaller amount of coal. Shisha temperatures in this example are going to be much closer to 200 degrees rather than 600 or 700 degrees as in our first example. Less matter and fewer type of matter are going to make it to the lungs.



The current research does not standardize these variables. It is easy for researchers to ask how many times a day you smoke the hookah, or how much shisha do you use, but I haven’t seen anything that controls for the differences in technique. I think if you are going to get any reasonable interpretation of the data, you need to control for this in your study.



And, finally, as Mush says, it ain’t good for you. But there is much more to it than what has currently been studied. It’s obvious that smoking more is worse than smoking less, some people can smoke tremendous amounts and live to be 103, some people will get lung cancer at 40 from second hand smoke, I shouldn’t drink any alcohol, mountain climbing is dangerous, etc. My frustration is that I haven’t seen any good quantifiable research to answer the question of how dangerous smoking a hookah is.



Sorry about the long post.

[bubbascigars]

I am trying win the race of life first one to die wins. YEYE YE I am winner.

Serious I smoke 2 hours of hookah a day. and about 8 to 12 cigars a day.

But I do not do drugs and do not drink.

So I am healthy

What is a healthy hobby now? I didn't ever know there was a healthy hobby maybe its the Billion dollar care bears or ty toys or some other bankrupting collectible.

Sex sure as heck isn't safe but man its fun!!!

Later all

Bubba

[gaia.plateau]

8 to 12 cigars a day.

Oh my Jesus.
Cigars, not cigarillos? That is impressive... you must have lungs of diamond.

When I was living in Guatemala this year I was going through 10+ cigarillos a day because they were like 10 cents each and delicious... and after a month I was really starting to feel it, especially when climbing volcanoes and etcetera. I can't imagine smoking 8-12 full sized cigars a day, especially on top of hookah. I would die! Edited November 20, 2007 by gaia.plateau

[bubbascigars]

8 to 12 cigars a day.

Oh my Jesus.
Cigars, not cigarillos? That is impressive... you must have lungs of diamond.

When I was living in Guatemala this year I was going through 10+ cigarillos a day because they were like 10 cents each and delicious... and after a month I was really starting to feel it, especially when climbing volcanoes and etcetera. I can't imagine smoking 8-12 full sized cigars a day, especially on top of hookah. I would die!

I smoke big fat nasty dark cigars, and My lungs are Tar and coal not meat. I figure with luck I will have about 2 maybe 3 years left so I will die at around the age of 40 not a bad life. Cool with me I have had a great life.

I do have a air tank that I hit for extra air every now and then.

Easy said I live life to the very fullest now. And I am healthy just diabetic but thats controlled with diet and meds.

I look at it this way the last 10 years I have woke up and been happy thats better than 80 misserable boring years where its the same crap everyday.

[Mr. Hookah]

yeah, I've also heard that because of the length of time smoked of hookah can be anywhere from 45 minutes to longer where as a cig is around 5 minutes, I really dunno how bad it is for u but like some other people said...u can get cancer from anything nowadays. All I know is that I love hookah! w00t w00t =)

This may be true but if you think about some cig smokers smoke a pack or more a day. If there are 20 cigs in a pac then thats 1 hour and 40 minutes of smoke time for a pack of cigs. Plus cig smoke is burning at a much higher temp then hookahs. I mean both are bad for you because they are both inhaling smoke but i like hookah alot better. So... just pick your poison.

[Johnny_D]

So... just pick your poison.

Very well said.

What else can anyone add. Smoking anything ain't clever. But neither is eating jelly babies*

JD

* - Those old enough might remember 'jelly babies give you cancer thing'

[bubbascigars]

I ate pop rocks and drank seven up. I exploded alright I gained like 100 pounds.

[Get Crunk!]

yeah, I've also heard that because of the length of time smoked of hookah can be anywhere from 45 minutes to longer where as a cig is around 5 minutes, I really dunno how bad it is for u but like some other people said...u can get cancer from anything nowadays. All I know is that I love hookah! w00t w00t =)

This may be true but if you think about some cig smokers smoke a pack or more a day. If there are 20 cigs in a pac then thats 1 hour and 40 minutes of smoke time for a pack of cigs. Plus cig smoke is burning at a much higher temp then hookahs. I mean both are bad for you because they are both inhaling smoke but i like hookah alot better. So... just pick your poison.

yeah, no doubt. I read that somewhere too but I pick my poison and mine is hookah

[Patzke]

it`s hard to find an objective study on the subject these days, with all the anti-tobacco lobbys and all. but then again, exhaust gasses can also give you cancer, hell anything gives you cancer nowadays.

That's for sure.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=05...;show_article=1

HAHAH thats too funny. Anything, and everything under the sun, including the sun, will give you cancer these days...

My perception is that it is generally much, much better for your immediate health than cigarettes, because of the absence of toxins including but not limited to rat poison and rocket fuel.

In the long term, however, I think that hookah is probably worse for your lungs, due to the sheer volume of smoke that you're putting in them. I've read in a variety of sources studies that show 1 bowl of hookah is equivilent to 100 cigarettes in regard to the amount of smoke you breathe in.

If you smoke 2 bowls of hookah every day for 10 years, you've probably got a very high chance of getting seriously messed up lungs. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes every day for even a year, I think you're probably going to see a gradual decline in your overall health, and in 10-20 years you've got a good chance of having lung problems.

For me, it's all about the smell. Hookah smells delicious, cigarettes smell disgusting.

Hookah's got to be way better for you than a cigarette. And, it does smell and taste delcious.

IMO, all the researches i've read about Hookah's health are bullshit. Next time (or if you're smokin hookah now) you smoke hookah, watch the smoke after it leaves you; It disapears rather quickly, and if you think about it, it's a lot of steam/evaporation, and i'm willing to bet that only 5-20% of the giant cloud you puff out is "smoke"... All the documents i've read regarding hookah health have related the quantity of shisha smoke to that coming from a cigarette, which is not a valid comparison, in my opinion.

Someone tell me i'm crazy?

[ZenSilk]

To answer the OP question, Very bad of course! smoking anything is bad for you.

But hookah is fun, and life should be fun right?

[Krakatoa]

[quote]Let’s examine two different techniques used to pack a bowl. Let’s say technique #1 uses a large bowl with the coal placed very close to Shisha and very little if any air space between the coal and the Shisha. This is going to vaporize a high amount of matter. It is also going to vaporize chemicals that won’t be vaporized in our second example. This is going to generate the large smoke clouds that we are used to seeing on YouTube
Let’s say in technique #2, we pack a smaller bowl with about 5mm of distance between the coal and the Shisha. We also use a smaller amount of coal. Shisha temperatures in this example are going to be much closer to 200 degrees rather than 600 or 700 degrees as in our first example. Less matter and fewer type of matter are going to make it to the lungs.

[/quote]

Well, you pack Tangiers pretty much touching the foil, but you use very little heat, so It would'nt get that hot. 6-700F & the shisha would be actually burning @ that temp. That's probably the "basis" for the misinformed "hookah studies" we see peddled on the wallscreen on a nightly basis... Somebody needs to tell the talking heads that when properly smoked, the shisha does not actually burn! <Sigh> I'm off to smoke some Al-Fakher mint now...

[HookahDude831]

im at maybe 1-5 bowls a week, maybe, some weeks i dont smoke any and some i smoke a lot, it just depends who im with. i dont smoke cigs or anything else, i feel that hookah is safer than most anything. and still legal were all gonna die, might as well feel good doing it right?

i might add that i have a small bowl on my hookah maybe 15g. Edited November 21, 2007 by HookahDude831

[hookah hippie]

Hookah is 7 bad for you. Did I win?

[ghostofdavid]

I wonder if the "us" in 10 years read this thread will want to kick our own asses? I've gone through phases of smoking a lot and not smoking at all. Smoking is bad, it will kill you faster. It has never made sense to me how anomalies exist. By that, I mean... how many of us have heard of 85 year old farmers who have smoked and chewed every day of their life and never had cancer? Sure, they have no teeth and barely any gums, but they can breath and are hard as coffin nails.

Then there is the opposite force... those who smoked for like a year and found out they have metastasized lung/heart/brain cancer.

If any of you have children, I've heard that seriously impacts your life to a way that you cannot currently fathom. Being married brings a different perspective to life, being a theist brings a separate but also binding perspective on life as much as your life is not your own and both of those have your world shattered when you have a kid with your DNA code running through them. Life can no longer be about yourself because you have a crying/screaming/physical reminder that you should take good care of yourself for at least a solid 18 years before setting one foot in the grave.

Again, the wife and I are not pregnant but I've seen this evidence pop up on the forum.

Something to think about!

[MercedShisha]

There have been no conclusive studies, but if you look closely at your tobacco packages you'll see that it has less then 1% nicotine and 0.0% tar. Plus, in a cigarette you burn the tobacco and with hookah your only baking it. Which is not as bad for you. And its my belief that water is a better filter then a cigarette filter. Also, considering that cigarettes have a lot more nicotine and they are a lot more convenient to smoke, you can smoke more often and frequently. I can't imagine that cigarettes would be better for you then hookah.

[HookahDude831]

my buddy who doesnt drink or smoke at all just got done beating cancer in his lymph nodes, that shit can happen to anybody.

[hungry hungry puffer]

it`s hard to find an objective study on the subject these days, with all the anti-tobacco lobbys and all. but then again, exhaust gasses can also give you cancer, hell anything gives you cancer nowadays.

iT DOESNT MATTER, ITS GOOD FORTHE SOUL

[tj154906]

Why are you shouting?

[MartialTheory]

Why are you shouting?

Seriously. lol.

Well I'm a bio major and one of my proffesors is doing research on the effects of smoking. I'm going to ask her to try and research some of that too. But so far I know this much from all my studies and smoking hookah.

Water doesn't filter very well so there is alot of stuff thats in the hookah that ur still getting into ur lungs. but u already know any smoking is bad for. there isn't as much nicotine in smoking shisha unless u get that special kind so its better in that way. Plus all there is more carcinogens in cigerettes but u do get more carbon monixide in hookah and other heavy metals than a cigerette.

Overall one puff of cigs is more harmful to u but since u smoke hookah anywhere from half an hour to 2 hours then hookah is just as harmful if not worst. the only good news is that if u smoke only once a week or every now and then, its better than a person smoking one cig every day.