How Often Is Too Often?

[CzhD.2u2]

I know it varies by person, but generally, how often is too often if you want to smoke hookah but not get addicted?

[dizzbizz]

I smoke every day and I'm not addicted.
I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT!

[MichaelLCP]

hmm. There is a thread like this floating around somewhere, but I'm too lazy to dig it up. Anyways, I like to smoke daily. But as far as getting addicted, I'm not sure how possible that is with hookah. Yeah I like to smoke daily, but I can also not smoke. Went to Spain for 16 days and didn't smoke. Didn't have a problem with that. It's just a hobby imho.

[magick777]

Can't speak for everyone, but for me it is self-regulating; I have phases of smoking several times a week, then I get bored and leave it alone for months, then something or someone inspires me to break out the shisha and off I go again. However, that's with plenty of other distractions to choose from; if I lived in Morocco and rarely if ever drank alcohol, I'd probably smoke far more.

This is important - what's healthy depends not just on the substances consumed but the situation, the context and the company. I rarely go to shisha cafes, and if I smoke, it's usually at home. Therefore, right now it's healthier for me to go out and do something else. But, that will again change; friends have recently shown an interest, so I'm going to invest in a travel bag and take the pipe out with me. When shisha is primarily a social activity, I'd say smoke as often as you like. As with drinking, you'll get a gut feeling when you're going a little too far...

[vendetta_revived]

No one can tell you how often is too often mate. Suppose a guy who smokes as often as 6 hours daily comes here and tells you that he has no health problems at all and he doesn't think he is overdoing it, will you listen to him and base your pattern on his?

Or a guy comes and says he smokes once in 2 weeks and thinks that anymore than that is bad for you?

It is, as magick777 said, self regulatory. There was a time when I smoked couple times a month and I thought it was fine, then it came to few times a week and I thought that was fine too. Now I smoke 2 bowls a day and I am fine with it, but when I had a surgery on my back, I didn't smoke at all for a few months and at the time, that was fine (too many "fine"s in here huh?).

So smoke as often/seldom as you like.

[mushrat]

Once is too often, send me your stuff.

Seriously though, I'll throw in one more voice to the "it depends on you." vote.

[S3cretz]

1. Theres a search function try using it

2. Depends on wich kind of tobacco you smoke.
And what kind of person you are.
And honestly if you want to be addicted or not.
Above statement might sound stupid but there are people who find it "cool" being addicted to something if you or anyone else that in the future might read this post fall into this category wich I hope and
believe you dont Think hard and long about The choice you want to make addiction is a life ruining condition.

Ive gone weeks without a session and no symptoms of withdrawal. If thats worth anything to you.

[Epoch]

I find that 75 bowls a day is too often.

[atalanta]

[quote name='Epoch' timestamp='1318354370' post='527378']
I find that 75 bowls a day is too often.
[/quote]

Then your heat management or you're not packing it properly if a bowl lasts you only 20 min. Or less.

[Epoch]

[quote name='atalanta' timestamp='1318357254' post='527390']
[quote name='Epoch' timestamp='1318354370' post='527378']
I find that 75 bowls a day is too often.
[/quote]

Then your heat management or you're not packing it properly if a bowl lasts you only 20 min. Or less.
[/quote]

That's not the case at all. Sometimes a man needs three hookahs at once.

[Floataround]

It all depends what your looking for IMO.

For me, I enjoy a kick ass buzz. So if I stop getting any buzz at all from a bowl of Nak, then its time to slow down for a few days. But thats just me. If your smoking an unwashed shisha, I would say that it is possible to get addicted due to the nicotine, but how long/how often, who knows.

At the end of the day, I feel like it could be more of a mental addiction then a physical one. If we are used to coming home from work/school/wherever and smoking every night from 7-10 and for some reason out of our control we cant, our minds would have much more of an issue than our bodies IMO

[Coyote]

I smoke every day... sometimes twice a day. but I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to nicotine already so its cool.

[Stuie]

Pretty sure what I smoke is too much for most people. But genetically I am not worried. Great Grandfather smoked to 93, Grandfather smoked to his early 60s, now just cigars and he's 76.

[CzhD.2u2]

Thanks for the input. It obviously depends on the person but it's helpful to have a default baseline as a reference when you're starting out.

I gather most people are okay smoking once a day if their goal is to avoid addiction.

[Pavo21]

never to much smoke unless you got a head ache then smoke through it lol, idk i smoke once or twice a day no addiction issue here just passes time when i got nothing to do my sesions last form like 4-6 hours after work or when im not working i smoke solo then erica gets home and smoke more

[littlec]

[quote name='Coyote' timestamp='1318362643' post='527400']
I smoke every day... sometimes twice a day. but I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to nicotine already so its cool.
[/quote]


^This

[atalanta]

[quote name='Stuie' timestamp='1318369624' post='527420']
Pretty sure what I smoke is too much for most people. But genetically I am not worried. Great Grandfather smoked to 93, Grandfather smoked to his early 60s, now just cigars and he's 76.
[/quote]

Thinking like that, I should be pretty good. My grandmother smoked Marlboro and drank until she moved in with my dad in her 80's and lived to be 90 (she had a odd strain of parkinsons, nothing to do with the sherry and cigs!)

[A13lackFish]

Depends on what your smoking and your affinity to addiction.

I know I smoke mine 2 times a day on average at 4 hours each session and can tell you that I am not addicted nor do I face health problems due to it.
For someone who is easily addicted to things though, you will get addicted to the experience I believe, more so than the washed shisha.

[magick777]

[quote name='A13lackFish' timestamp='1318434125' post='527496']
I know I smoke mine 2 times a day on average at 4 hours each session and can tell you that I am not addicted nor do I face health problems due to it.
[/quote]

So you're smoking for eight hours out of every twenty-four? I'll accept you don't suffer ill-effects if you go without, I'll accept you have no health problems you can attribute to shisha and I'm the first to say it's horses for courses - but can it really be healthy to do 56 hours a week of the same thing? It's all subjective, obviously, but my natural upper limit would be maybe a quarter of that; can't see I'd want to smoke more than a couple of hours per day on the average, and I probably don't do that every day.

[Hassouni]

When I'm in Lebanon and smoking every day, that's often enough that if I go long enough without it, it doesn't feel right. However, this may also be because they're EVERYWHERE in plain view. Otherwise 1-3 times a week and I don't get a strong desire to smoke.

[Fusion]

Oh god I used to hardly smoke at all, now I'm at 1-2 heads a day. I feel fine with it, but do get some judgment from others (usually non-hookah smokers). I've met people in the business who smoke just insane amounts, like a lounge owner who used to go through 15+ heads a day!

[A13lackFish]

[quote name='magick777' timestamp='1318435867' post='527505']
[quote name='A13lackFish' timestamp='1318434125' post='527496']
I know I smoke mine 2 times a day on average at 4 hours each session and can tell you that I am not addicted nor do I face health problems due to it.
[/quote]

So you're smoking for eight hours out of every twenty-four? I'll accept you don't suffer ill-effects if you go without, I'll accept you have no health problems you can attribute to shisha and I'm the first to say it's horses for courses - but can it really be healthy to do 56 hours a week of the same thing? It's all subjective, obviously, but my natural upper limit would be maybe a quarter of that; can't see I'd want to smoke more than a couple of hours per day on the average, and I probably don't do that every day.
[/quote]

Sure its not healthy for you in the long term, but in the current i do not face any ill effects as you put it. But think of it this way, yes I smoke hookah, so does everyone here, 2 4 hour sessions was a bit exuberant, its probably around 6 hours total each day at roughly 5 days a week. I stop on days that I want to, and on days that i'm too busy such as Friday. I'm not sitting on edge during this time because I haven't had my hookah fix like a cigarette smoker would be though...

But to each their own, and I do respect that you smoke a quarter of that, fact for me is I do enjoy the finer points of hookah being its flavor and smoke rings. Its not purely a nicotine thing but rather a hobby that I have adopted into my daily life (such as building a model train, or playing a video game) and tend to enjoy it as such.

But the main point I was trying to make was that I have had times that I had no shisha on hand, for days, weeks, even a month. None of these moments led to me having withdrawal's or even hacking up a lung since my body was healing its charred counterparts lol. Everyone does bad things be it drinking, smoking, or sitting on the couch writing on hookah forum while you watch tv and eat potato chips.....point is being able to pull yourself away from it when you need to and not feel distressed without it... which from a heavy hookah smoker, I can tell you has never happened to me. Edited October 12, 2011 by A13lackFish

[Bawhee]

^ to add to that, I do sometimes really feel like smoking a bowl, but not being able to has not ever proved to be aproblem, and infact since I have been smoking I tend to drink less alcohol since I prefer enjoying myself with a nice smoke (dont get me wrong, I still go for a couple beers a few times a week but not like before I started smoking regularly, back then I would drink at least a few beers a day hanging out). I also tend to smoke cigarettes way less (lowered from a few boxes a week to one or two every month). Just distracting myself and enjoying a hookah has actually been quite a positive thing for me imo