Question About Smoking Hookah

[SweetCarolinaGirl]

I've recently heard a lot about hookah and I'm interested in trying it. But before I do - I was hoping someone could give me some information about hookah and how it is different from smoking a cigarette.

I don't have anything against smoking cigarettes at all - but I just don't perfer to not to due to the side effects. (I have no will power and would NEVER be able to quit if I happened to get hooked) :-)

My questions are:

Does hookah have tobacco in it?
Can one become addicted to hookah?
Can hookah cause lung cancer and gum cancer like cigarettes can?

Basically, what are the negatives to smoking hookah? I've heard that it's totally tobacco free and totally healthy and it's not bad for you at all - and I've also heard it's like smoking 4 cirgarettes...so my information has been mixed :-)

If anyone could help me out - that would be great!! I have chronic anxiety and I've heard that the action one takes when smoking (the breathing in and breathing out slowly) can help one relax - so I'd be interested in trying it if it is as harmless as I've heard :-)

Thanks!!

[r1v3th3ad]

Hookah's tobacco is called shisha, it is tobacco combined with molasses or honey, and glycerin + the flavoring...this is nowhere near as bad as cigs imo because cigs have over three thousands chems added to them...hookah tobacco doesn't produce any tar...
also, if you don't want to smoke the tobacco, there is always SOEX which is the same, except made with fruit, although most say it is crappy.

any form of smoking puts you at risk of any form of cancer...imo this is a healthier form of smoking...but once again, there is no healthy form of smoking

[MechAnt]

It's a very controversial topic. Someone even mentioned that the addiction to hookah is more mental than physical. The physical ill-effects are, frankly, still not very well known at all. There is a lot more VOLUME of smoke being taken in but not necessarily as "bad" as cigarettes. Yes, hookah does contain tobacco. No one really knows the real answers. There are lots of things that lead us to believe that hookah is not as bad as cigarettes but there is no scientific evidence to prove or disprove it. Smoking hookah is all a personal choice and you must be aware it's not just the healthiest of things.

[Tea&Hookah]

I think smoking shisha does create tar as burning of tobacco creates tar but then again you heat up shisha so I have no idea.

[manic007]

I think smoking shisha does create tar as burning of tobacco creates tar but then again you heat up shisha so I have no idea.

I'm pretty sure you're correct. I read somewhere that the higher the temperature the tobacco burns at, the more carcenogenics its produces. Also the composite of tar produced by heating tobacco at high temperatures is very different from the low temperature case. In either case I'm certain that tar IS produced. However I dont know how much, or wether the water has much filtering effect. I've read information to push the argument in both directions.

Quite simply there is no scientific consensus on the affect of shisha smoking on your health.

[Canon]

Yes it has tobacco in it, yes its addicting, no its not healthy or safe for you. But it is easier to quit then cigarettes. When i dont smoke the most thing i miss is the taste of flavors and ill crave certain flavors.

[heebo]

You can find a lot of health info at the Sacred Narghile

[Scoop]

shisha is actually a synonym for hookah. Massell (Molasses) is the name of the tobacco in arabic I believe (at least according to the Nakhla site, however i've heard it many times before by that name)

[AKammenzind]

shisha is actually a synonym for hookah. Massell (Molasses) is the name of the tobacco in arabic I believe (at least according to the Nakhla site, however i've heard it many times before by that name)

Eh, what it's called and what the tobacco is called differs by geographic location.

But yes, it does create tar, and yes it isn't good for you. It's probably a fair deal healtheir than cigs, though there is no real good scientific study to say either way to my knowledge. I don't think it's physically addictive at all, because if it were I'd be a junky, or maybe I'm just less susceptible than some. I smoke probably over 12 hrs in an average week, and have no problem whatsoever not smoking hookah for a week or two if I'm on the road, or simply don't feel like it.

The biggest plus for me over cigarettes is that it tastes worlds better, and the smoke is cool so it doesn't irritate the heck out of your mouth/throat/lungs when you smoke hookah.

[leadpipecinch21]

gonna go ahead and toss this out there.

you're smoking tobacco. tobacco has never been good for you. you're getting nicotine into your system while smoking tobacco, and we all know that nicotine is addictive. inhaling anything that's burning will also cause you to inhale the tar that's produced during the burning process

so, take that as you will...if you feel you can smoke it without being addicted(which is very easy...just don't smoke that often, and smoke washed tobaccos that have very little nicotine), go for it. if you feel like you're going to get addicted, and that's not what you want, steer away.

[KipMaslonka]

ahh but the tobacco isn't burning in a hookah as compared to cigarettes (it's the actual burning that produces the tar).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah has some good stuff on there. not all of the information is cited, but i probably trust wikipedia over 99% of the other sites out there.

that sacred narghile site probably has the most difficult font to read i've ever seen lol!

[mattathayde]

no matter what smoking is bad for you hands down. hookahs do not burn (at least shouldnt) the tobacco but steam it.

ive never seen a study that really represents how one does smoke shisha in reality and compare the smoke volume for volume to cigarettes. some studies say 4-5 cigs some say 100.

i dont know of many that get smokers cough the next morning after hookah compared to cig smokers.

you can get addicted to it, it has nicotine (unless you smoke the herbal substitutes).

its a choice, think before you make a choice

-matt

[Tom1]

You can find a lot of health info at the Sacred Narghile

Fuck that website, nothing but propoganda.

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/hea...-cigarettes.htm

third paragraph in... I died a little inside.

[cymptom]

I wouldn't listen to anyone who says that smoking hookah isn't as bad as smoking cigarettes. The principle behind it -- to inhale vaporized glycerin, flavoring, and (for some) nicotine -- is less dangerous than the principle behind cigarettes, which is pretty much to inhale the fumes of burning tobacco. The problem, however, is that the hookah requires that charcoal be used to heat the tobacco, so you do actually end up inhaling burning matter.

At least it can probably be said that hookah has the potential to be less dangerous than cigarettes -- that is, once someone figures out a way to heat the tobacco without adding anything harmful to the smoke.

[aldonb1]

It's difficult to say which is worse. Hookah produces more CO2 and tar than cig's. While hookah does have more tar (NFDPM - nicotine free dry particulate matter) its composition is relatively ignored / unknown. People are usually satisfied with a quantitative analysis rather than a qualitative one.

This is one really good, unbiased journal on hookah:
http://webfea-lb.fea.aub.edu.lb/aerosol/do...gilehpaper1.pdf

[Itami]

I used to be a pack and a half a day cigarette smoker, and it got to the point where I couldn't run, skateboard, or play DDR at the arcade anymore without my body completely kicking my ass for it. For the last 5 months, I've been strictly hookah (1-3 bowls a day on average) and haven't smoked a cigarette once in that time, and my body is much kinder to me since. I don't get winded just running up the stairs to my apartment like it got with the cigarettes. I can can confidently grab my skateboard and hit the streets for hours and feel no extra ill effects because I'm a hookah smoker...it's soo much better than before. Is this scientific? no, and it's only one case, but I know from my experience that it's working much better for me as far as "feeling" better goes, which can't be measured.

Basically, my walls aren't turning yellow, the smoke doesn't linger in the air like when you walk into a smoky bar. Also, I don't wake up in the morning coughing my throat sideways ignroantly reaching for the pack of cigarettes. I can quit if I felt like it, and have gone a week without it without freaking out or getting "fits". It's your choice, and to me I only get to live once and absolutely enjoy everything about smoking, and since I have the option to have it taste great, have huge clouds, and still happily be in shape and level headed, this is the way I'm going to smoke tobacco from now on.

Just my .02