Hookah Health Impacts

[mathuv]

i was just wondering, do any of you non-cigarette/cigar smokers (those who smoke purey shisha) feel that smoking hookah has taken a toll on your health? do you become out of breath easily? do you constantly cough and hack out this weird mucus or feel anything has changed in you since you started smoking hookah? please include the number of bowls you smoke per day/week. thanks. Im not saying this happens to me but i was just wondering. i dont really feel anything different in me and i smoke maybe 1 or 2 bowls a week with friends at the moment.

[Johnny_D]

Moderation is the key my friend.

I probably smoke, on average, around 5 bowls per week [1 bowl per night, average 2hr session]

The problem with any health question in regard to hookah comes down to a fairly simple basic fact... 'Smoking anything is going to do you any good' It just won't. You just have to mitigate the risks against your own personal biology.

IE : If your entire family has a history of cancer and cancer related problems, then smoking is not a hobby for you.
IE : If you suffer from asthma. Again this is probably not the hobby for you.

There is no direct answer about smoking hookah.

As someone who only smokes Shisha I cannot, personally, detect any immediate affects on my heath. But I am conscious that's still not the most life-extending activity I have. Two hours walking the dog would be a better use of my time rather than smoking.. but that's my choice!

JD

[Canon]

right after if i smoke the night before i work out it does affect my workout, but if i smoke 2 days before im fine. it all depends on how much you smoke. if i smoke a little then work out im fine but if i go 2 hours of smoking every minute im not.

[gaia.plateau]

Three days ago I smoked 5 bowls at about 90 minutes a piece... I just had nothing else to do. Lungs and throat killed me the next day, and my weakened immune system led me to catch a pretty bad cold to which my current hookah abstinence is credited.

Like JD said, moderation is key. I workout 8-12 hrs a week and unless I've done some marathon smoking sessions like the aforementioned, I don't find that it negatively affects me, future cancer exempt. Edited December 26, 2007 by gaia.plateau

[lemmiwinks]

I've never really noticed an effect of hookah on me, I smoke anywhere between 0 and 6 bowls per week, usually mostly on the weekends. Especially compared to something like cigarette smoking, which I can usually feel the next time I run.

[jerrysalem]

Based on the responses, I mean at least compared to the mostly lethargic tobacco smokers I know, we are a pretty active lifestyle excersizing bunch of people. I exersize 5 times a week on a treadmill for half hour at a time and really watch what I eat. This is my one vice, and I think compared to many others it's a fairly decent one.

[Victim026]

I'm with the camp that theres no true way to measure how bad it is for you. I'm not a horribly active person, never have been since I had all sorts of injuries to my knees and back from soccer, I also can smoke anywhere from 1-10 bowls per day and up until last week when I moved 10 bowls was normal. I haven't seen or felt any difference at all as to the way I feel or look due to that much smoking either. I'll also smoke a cigar or a few cigarettes maybe once a month at a party if even that often. I can definetly say that 4-6 cig's make me feel a million times worse the next day then any long session of shisha has made me felt.

[ZenSilk]

Well my family on both sides has a history of Arthritis, I can already feel it and i'm pretty young.

My Grandma and Grandpa both smoke cigs, and have for over 40 years. They are around 75 or 80 now, only have terrible teeth and smell like asshole.

And that's cigs, not hookah.

SO i think i'll be fine with 3-5 bowls a week. i havn't noticed anything bad with my health at all, and i run every single day, or ride my bike and don't feel a thing. i have actually gotten back in shape, in regards to my breath capacity.. .. while smoking hookah.

i don't think it adversely affects your health to even 1/10 of the extent of ciggarettes.

But hey, there'e no studies, only biast reports, so there's no way to really tell until the Swiss do a study.

[Gold Wing Gunner]

I smoke about once a night, shisha only, and I have not noticed any problems. I got sick recently but I really dont think it was smokign that did it. The only time its ever bothered me is one time at a party I did about 9 or 10 with like me and just a couple of other ppl and the occasional stoner who takes a hit and says thats the smoothest weed hes ever had /sigh.

[ZenSilk]

The only bad think i got was a Viral Mouth Infection. Some kid i guess had something like it. It was terrible, i gto a canker sore and these bumpy gooey red lumps under my tongue that didnt hurt. And i had the WORST pain/ache in the area at my lower gumline...

[CrazyIsraeli]

Actually no, If anything it makes me feel better....
Whenever I'm sick, a mint flavord shisha opens up and cleans my lungs just fine
I do not go out of breath easily, I am in great shape (Not so great, Just caust I'm lazy).
I don't feel that shisha smoking had ruined my health in any way.
Perhaps, not in the short term. Every good thing in life comes with its toll.

[Perrj99]

Actually no, If anything it makes me feel better....
Whenever I'm sick, a mint flavord shisha opens up and cleans my lungs just fine
I do not go out of breath easily, I am in great shape (Not so great, Just caust I'm lazy).
I don't feel that shisha smoking had ruined my health in any way.
Perhaps, not in the short term. Every good thing in life comes with its toll.

I had asthma when I was younger, but pretty much grew out of it. I can smoke for a couple of hours with no affect, yet some of my friends feel like shit while smoking or shortly after. I also lift regularly and have yet to notice a difference in lung capacity, etc. I guess as most things in this world, it varies from person to person.

[EvansLight]

We probably will never know exactly how hookah effects your health, but i doubt its really all that bad. Common cig. knowledge has us believe that smoking any tobacco product ups your risk of lung cancer to like 80%, when in fact its only an 8% increase in risk. Standing outside in LA on a very hazy day is more likely to give you lung cancer then smoking hookah in moderation.

As they say its about moderation; smoking every day for 14hrs is not in moderation. Smoking a bowl a day for a 2hr session is fine. But you also have to remember each person is different in how there body reacts, and that explains why some people get sick off of it and some don't. Its not to do with the smoke itself, but the nicotine in the smoke. Some people can tolerate the high does of nicotine while others can't. I myself smoke nakhla and tangiers without a problem. One of my friends can't touch anything thats unwashed, he has to have washed only.

Also in hookahs more of the risk comes from the coals we use to vaporize the tobacco in the bowl. QL's especially are dangerous, the gases they give off can make you very sick quite fast. Even everyones precious natural coals give off the same kind of gases, just not as much as QL since they dont have the lighting agents in them like QLs do. So if you can eliminate the coals, and still smoke you more then likely could smoke your whole life without a single problem.

Hell if i remember right one guy on here recently had a chest xray, and he was fine, yet he smokes hookah quite a bit. In this country your more likely to die from a heart disease then lung cancer. So smoke up, but be smart about it, and remember everyones body is different.

[Ralleac]

i was just wondering, do any of you non-cigarette/cigar smokers (those who smoke purey shisha) feel that smoking hookah has taken a toll on your health? do you become out of breath easily? do you constantly cough and hack out this weird mucus or feel anything has changed in you since you started smoking hookah? please include the number of bowls you smoke per day/week. thanks. Im not saying this happens to me but i was just wondering. i dont really feel anything different in me and i smoke maybe 1 or 2 bowls a week with friends at the moment.

Normally I smoke 1-2 bowls a week with multiple people around. I rarely smoke alone. These past two weeks have been pretty heavy, but I'm getting bored with it again and classes are starting to pick up so it'll probably be back to weekend smoking for me.

As far as health goes, I've had a couple bad headaches from extremely long smoke sessions, but it hasn't had any noticeable impact on my running, and I haven't developed any bad coughs or anything. If I try to do anything strenuous right after I've smoked, it does slow me down a bit.

However, just because we aren't noticing any difference doesn't mean it isn't having some sort of impact on our health. Certain things may be going on in our bodies that we may not find out about for years to come. Edited January 11, 2008 by Ralleac

[BillySoCo7]

I started smoking hookah slowly about 4 years go. I've progressed through the years and now i'm up to roughly 3-4 bowl packs a day. Some days I'll go without and some days I'll do more. I haven't noticed an effect except a slightly lower lung capacity. I have been a competitive swimmer and rower for 8 years so I had a pretty good lung capacity before hand. Recently I have gotten lazy and stopped working out so I've noticed it. I don't know if I can contribute it to the smoking or the lack of exercise. Either way, everything in life will kill you sooner or later. I may cross the street and get hit by a car, hopefully i'll have a hookah in my hand when it happens.

[Snoopy1966]

I guess the only thing I can say here is that I smoked cigarettes for many many years. I have not smoked in over 4 years. I could not run a block with out feeling like a lung was going to blow. I smoked about a pack a day. As Billy said I smoke 3 times a days on average. So if they say it is like smoking a pack of smokes with one Hookah session, then I am smoking 3 packs a day. I do not feel the crap in my lungs, or the cravings I had from smokes. Sure I cough up a lunger once in a while but who doesn't, smoker or non smoker. Remember those night of heavy drinking where you smoke like a chimney and the next day you wake up and your lungs feel like they are on fire? Never got that from my Hookah.
After my last surgery they gave me one of those things you inhale into to see your lung capacity? I reached the goal they wanted on the first try. Later on I was getting a huge volume of air I inhaled. All the nurses were impressed that I could draw in that much air, so you tell me? I know that smoking is still bad for you, but Hookah is definitely better then smokes... period Plus is smells and tastes WAY better!!

[Bryantos]

I may cross the street and get hit by a car, hopefully i'll have a hookah in my hand when it happens.

Why would you do that to a perfectly good hookah?

To the OP, I've smoked some long sessions and then tried to do some physical work... Never again. I thought I was going to die, but I was in some horrible work conditions which didn't help.

[ZenSilk]

I did notice the low lung capacity as billy stated, this was about 9.. 10 months ago about. I thought it was the hookah, but i was not working out, or doing anything cardiovascular, at that time. I started jogging and running and lifting and i have regained my previous Lung Capacity, if not a better one, while smoking the hookah up to 4 or 5 times a week (no where near some of you others...).

Keeping your body in shape does wonders to your "O" abilities mind you...

[ban me im a spammer]

There is some good, recent academic research into waterpipe smoking, and how it compares to traditional methods of consuming tobacco:

A really good article summarizing current findings:

• Neergaard et al. (2007), Waterpipe smoking and nicotine exposure- A review of the current evidence

This is a nice overview, short and informative, combines the results of experimental studies.
The really short result is that, on average, occasional hookah use is about the same as 2 cigarettes per session, while daily use of the hookah translates to a nicotine intake roughly equivalent to 10 cigarettes a day.


Some of the sources of the data cited in the review:

• Shihadeh (2003), Investigation of mainstream smoke aerosol of the argileh water pipe
• Shihadeh et al. (2004), Towards a topographical model of narghile water-pipe cafe smoking
• Shihadeh, Saleh (2005), Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, 'tar', and nicotine in the mainstream smoke aerosol of the narghile water pipe
• Maziak et al. (2004), Factors related to frequency of narghile (waterpipe) use- the first insights on tobacco dependence in narghile users
• Al Mutairi et al (2006), Comparative analysis of the effects of hubble-bubble (Sheesha) and cigarette smoking on respiratory and metabolic parameters in hubble-bubble and cigarette smokers

These the reports for the studies from the review article.


I have these files in pdf, but I can't attach them, because of the 128 kb limit (the documents range in size from 144kB to 296 kB). I split them up into chunks of a smaller size, and I can post them in several posts, if anyone is interested.

[r1v3th3ad]

I'm a conosewer(I know I can't spell) of all tobaccos really, shish is my preferred and cigs are my addiction.
I usually would take a day off from smoking cigs and hit the hookah...
During that day, I sit on the comp playing games and smoke on average almost non-stop for 5-8hrs. The next day is a little bit worse than my pack of cigs a day addiction, but it also doesn't feel as bad.
I shouldn't smoke, cancer runs in my family and my sister has asthma, but its my oral fixation.
I'll always be a smoker in one way or another, and I love the hookah, so thats where you'll find me.
Keep it in moderation(the thing I rarely do), and I think you should be alright, minus possible future health problems.

[Scheetz]

No it doesn't. I don't smoke anything else but hookah. It has never impaired my running, sports abilities or anything else.

I can range from 1 bowl a week to 7+.