Open Letter

[Bulldog_916]

This was in response to an article in the news section, claiming that hookah had more nicotine than cigarettes and complaining of hookah lounge owners allowing underagers as young as 13 to endulge in hookahs (a practice I highly doubt occurs in this age of smoking restrictions and bans):

First off, I am a hookah smoker, so I'm getting that out of the way. It doesnt have as much nicotine per gram of tobacco as cigarettes do. It is clearly marked on the box that the tobacco is 0.05% or 0.5% nicotine per gram. Cigarettes can be between 6% and 8.5% nicotine per gram. Personal responsibility has gone completely out the window in this country. It is on the box that it can give you cancer. Yet people still choose to smoke. Lay off. Hookah is a nice way to enjoy a good flavor of smoke. I'm sure people know that it isnt healthy for you. Not all, but most.

You show no knowledge of what you talk about. 9/10 hookah bars I have been to card you before you purchase a hookah. The ones that dont, I agree, should be penalized. But if said lounge does card upon entrance, then you have nothing to complain about. People go into hookah lounges of their own volition, and are adult enough to know what they are doing. Stop spreading this deceitful crying about hookahs being dangerous, if I had a dime for every article I found bashing hookahs I would be a millionaire. Your audience clearly isnt listening because hookah is only getting more popular. Deal with it.

Eddie

[antouwan]

+ infinity

[Johnny_D]

It's like the salmon struggling upstream. For reasons that I can't quite fathom Tobacco is the anti christ and anything connected with it is being vilified.

I personally think that it helps keep the masses focused on something maybe. Whilst we are worrying about smoking may be we are not looking at real issues? Kinda like a 'Distract Bait & Switch' kinda deal?

Or maybe I've just been reading too much ATS.

JD

[Bulldog_916]

I agree JD, it seems as if something people have chosen to do under their own free will has been demonized, whether it be for political gain or people's self-righteousness. I think its both.

[Jeff_T]

I'm sorry if this seems off or dumb but here goes. I'll start off by saying that I've never been to Europe, so this may be a completely wrong idea I have. To me it seems that smoking cigarettes seems to be very popular and accepted in Europe much more than here in the U.S. If this is the case is all the negativity associated with smoking, which in turn is negatively affecting hookah, just coming from the U.S. I understand smoking is bad in general and ciggs are terrible, smoked for about 3yrs. I hate in the U.S. just because one thing is bad everything associated with it automatically receives the same treatment. We are a highly developed country and somewhat well educated (I think I may be making a huge overstatement here), so why is it so hard for people to not form some kind of opinion on something they have no experience with. I don't know if its people in general or just people in the U.S. but seriously, how hard is it to keep your mouth shut on something that you have very little knowledge about...
sorry if this was a bit off topic, but I COMPLETELY agree with you Bulldog. Edited May 19, 2008 by Jeff_T

[Bulldog_916]

If anyone wants to add to it, please feel free, I know I'm not the only one to have this opinion. Let your voice be heard.

[melanko]

If hookah tobacco has the same amount of nicotine in it as cigarettes, then I'm sure we'd all be severely addicted by now, including myself. But for some "odd" reason I feel I am not addicted to it. Now-a-days I smoke probably once every day or two days, but a few months ago I went weeks without any "cravings" and I am sure I can easily do that again.

I agree that once the general media latches onto a hot topic in this country they know nothing about but think is bad, it's slandered over the place. It's the same exact thing, if not worse, right now for video games. I'm a huge gamer myself and all the crap the media THINKS video games do to people is pure ignorance on their part. They're just trying to increase they're ratings/traffic preying on the general masses that follow like sheep to slaughter. Edited May 20, 2008 by melanko

[mattarios2]

If hookah tobacco has the same amount of nicotine in it as cigarettes, then I'm sure we'd all be severely addicted by now, including myself. But for some "odd" reason I feel I am not addicted to it. Now-a-days I smoke probably once every day or two days, but a few months ago I went weeks without any "cravings" and I am sure I can easily do that again.

I agree that once the general media latches onto a hot topic in this country they know nothing about but think is bad, it's slandered over the place. It's the same exact thing, if not worse, right now for video games. I'm a huge gamer myself and all the crap the media THINKS video games do to people is pure ignorance on their part. They're just trying to increase they're ratings/traffic preying on the general masses that follow like sheep to slaughter.

You guys couldn't have said it better.

[Anxiety]

i totally agree people need to chill on the hookah bashin, like you said ON EVERY BOX OF TOBACCO it warns you that it can be a cause of lung cancer, it's a risk we take. I don't think people realize that though in some cultures hookah is considerd a dessert, for example my brother-inlaw is from lebanon and he said it was traditiont hat after every meal they would smoke hookah just because it is nice and relaxing and they would just have family discusions. I'm from the us, and unfortunatly it's true that if one thing is considerd "bad" every one just agrees whether they actually know facts about it our not. We know we are risking our lungs by smoking, but let's be real here at least we know hookah dosent have tar, rat poisining and all those other fun deadly things cigs have....

[Majid]

I'm sorry if this seems off or dumb but here goes. I'll start off by saying that I've never been to Europe, so this may be a completely wrong idea I have. To me it seems that smoking cigarettes seems to be very popular and accepted in Europe much more than here in the U.S. If this is the case is all the negativity associated with smoking, which in turn is negatively affecting hookah, just coming from the U.S. I understand smoking is bad in general and ciggs are terrible, smoked for about 3yrs. I hate in the U.S. just because one thing is bad everything associated with it automatically receives the same treatment. We are a highly developed country and somewhat well educated (I think I may be making a huge overstatement here), so why is it so hard for people to not form some kind of opinion on something they have no experience with. I don't know if its people in general or just people in the U.S. but seriously, how hard is it to keep your mouth shut on something that you have very little knowledge about...
sorry if this was a bit off topic, but I COMPLETELY agree with you Bulldog.

At the moment, many European countries from the Netherlands to England, France to Turkey just to name a few, are implementing smoking bans to some degree. In the Netherlands, by the end of this month you can't even smoke in bars and restaurants. To me, it'd be fair to ban smoking from the workplace, inside at least, because you bother and harm other people. Otherwise i agree, someone who knows the facts can decide for themselves.