Seraph Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 The original math never made sense to me. I honestly don't remember the exact figures, but Tangiers calculated it for me when I was down there. A cigarette weighing X grams has a nicotine content of Y%. If a bowl wieghts Z grams, therefore it has Z*Y% nicotine, assuming that the tobacco leaves have the same % of nicotine (they fluctuate a little, but they're all around the same). Right?Wrong, because the weight of a bowl also includes the weight of the molasses (or whatever else they use) and flavoring, which is fairly heavy compared to the dried tobacco leaves. The only way that you can get a decent estimate is to measure out a bowl, and attempt to measure out the same amount in dried tobacco leaves (fairly difficult, likely to be fairly inaccurate), and then take the weight of the dried tobacco leaves * Y%. I have no clue how to do this more accurately, but this would give you the a more accurate account of the nicotine content of a bowl of shisha.So... does this make sense to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafedelmar Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 This is also based on the assumption that a cigarette is pure tobacco in there. You'd also have to find out the weight of the tobacco in the cigarette, and then compare that value with the weight of the tobacco in the bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraph Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 True, but at least everything in a cigarette is dried.You could also get a more accurate account based off of this tidbit of info that I found on wikipedia: [quote]While this is true for many brands of cigarettes, in Canada the major cigarette brands all contain 100% natural Virginia Leaf - no additives.[/quote]I don't know what brands to look for, but if we could get the info based on one of these cigarettes it would be pretty dang accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krautle87 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Isn't it true that pure nicotine, in and of itself, is not actually harmful? The problem is that the nicotine causes people to become addicted to tobacco, which contains other harmful elements.As far as I'm concerned tobacco isn't what's addictive, it's people who have addictive personalities. No one ever gets addicted to second hand smoked. And I dip and chew on and off, which is supposed to be more addictive than cigarettes, and I've put in two a day for a week, not done it all for two weeks, put one in, stop, ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waffler Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 pure nicotine is deadly. i believe its often used as a pesticide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
web250 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 [quote name='waffler']pure nicotine is deadly. i believe its often used as a pesticide.[/quote] Correct. And nicotine is addictive, the thing with cigarettes comapred to hookah is this:1) Much higher percentage of nicotine, ~7% (brand dependant) compared to .5/.052) They add other chemicals to cigarettes to make them more addictive (something the tobacco companies would probably deny) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speel Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 But doesn't shisha have larger peices of tobacco compared to a cigg? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraph Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 [quote name='speel']But doesn't shisha have larger peices of tobacco compared to a cigg?[/quote] It's the weight that really matters, not the size of the piece.And I also just realized I made a huge mistake. Tangiers uses the .05% to calculate the amount of tobacco in his bowls, not the cigarette %. My mistake I'm an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Ok, first off, some shisha is WASHED. This removes a HUGE amount of the nicotine, which can be found on the OUTSIDE of the leaf.I'd also bet there is nicotine actually added to cigarette tobacco and perhaps the paper. There are also types of tobacco that have been engineered to have higher nicotine contents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukasa Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 In a 20g bowl of shisha, I would say that the mollasses accounts for a good 10-15 grams of the total weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 That a scientific estimate?I have some crapy nakhla at hom I may weigh, wash and weigh again for kicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calcartman Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 [url="http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco_nic.shtml"]http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco_nic.shtml[/url]An average cig contains 1.2 mg of nicotine, with some coming closer to to 2mg and some as low as .05mg..5% of 10 grams of shisha = [b]50[/b]mgMeaning, if you do a 25g bowl (big bowl, but not abusrd), you probably have 50-100 cigarettes in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvansLight Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 mmm lots of nicotine i honestly gotta say one of my favorite aspects of hookah is the nice nicotine buzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claytron Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Me points to Calcartman.Unwashed shisha does not have less nicotine than cigarettes. A lot of people here seem convinced otherwise. I'm not sure why. With washed tobacco you can get alot closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenuineHookahs Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 All in all a cigarette and hookah are too different to be compared. Even if a point has been made that the nicotine level in hookah tobacco is high, it is nowhere near as bad for you as cigarettes. The water in a hookah acts as a filter to filter out all the nasty crap in the molasses. For giggles I stuck a cigarette where the clay head is supposed to slip into and it fit in perfectly. I smoked an entire cigarette through the hose. It was pretty funny actually, but you could tell how much "cleaner" the smoke was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lantern Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Well no matter the content and stuff like that I still assume it's "bad for you." Moderation is key I guess. Still can't be as bad as cancer sticks though... right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilotaku Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 [quote name='Blue Lantern']Well no matter the content and stuff like that I still assume it's "bad for you." Moderation is key I guess. Still can't be as bad as cancer sticks though... right?[/quote] I personally believe that moderation as well is the key as well. I always that that hookah was pretty much equal to that of a cigarette, maybe perhaps worse. Regardless though in the long run of things, i don't smoke my hookah anywhere near as much as a cigarette user smokes cigarettes. They are both bad for ya, so your screwed either way . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlax Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 I say choose your death and be happy. The way I look at it I'm just removing the Depends year off... or maybe is that making them show up quicker.... Oh, well I really don't have to worry about smoking killing me, because the printing chemicals that I inhale at work will. But in the end we all die it is just a matter of time and if we live long enough cancer WILL kill us. So, be happy and smoke happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skiracerj1 Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 one little oversight on your calculations calcartman, you just straight multiplied the total weight of the tobacco in the bowl, including the "juices", I'll bet if you just weighed the raw leaf you wouldn't come close to 10g, njot saying whether or not its more or less than a cigs nic content, as I have no info to base this on, but your figure is vastly ascew i believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calcartman Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 [quote name='skiracerj1']one little oversight on your calculations calcartman, you just straight multiplied the total weight of the tobacco in the bowl, including the "juices", I'll bet if you just weighed the raw leaf you wouldn't come close to 10g, njot saying whether or not its more or less than a cigs nic content, as I have no info to base this on, but your figure is vastly ascew i believe.[/quote] Very true.My assumption, is there is approximately 3/4 of the weight from molasses, and 1/4 of weight is tobacco. Tangiers or someone more familiar with making their own shisha can probably give a better number.This still means that in a 10g bowl you're geting 12.5mg of nicotine (10+ cigs).My rule of thumb, is a bowl of shisha is a pack of smokes, as far as nicotine content goes.Take it or leave it, but thats how i look at it.Some people smoke a pack, two, or three of cigs a day, I smoke a bowl, two or three, a day or two a week.My guess is overall, i come out ahead of a pack-a-day smoker, cause i take a lot of time off.However, I'm still smoking. Smoking kills. Good thing I'm gonna die anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malakas Posted September 1, 2006 Share Posted September 1, 2006 You live everyday but you die only once. Live it up, you might as well. If your idea of living involves a hookah then more power to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonthert Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Well, I know how much of the finished product is tobacco and how much nicotine is in the tobacco, so its a simple calculation. Standard US tobacco is 3% nicotine or so. In wet years the nicotine levels go down, in dry years the nicotine level goes up.For the past 6-7 years, rains have been poor and the tobacco from the US (Although the stuff from Brazil has been the opposite)has been higher in nicotine.The latest article that cigarette companies have been intentionally adding more nicotine to their tobacco is absurd. It would be way too expensive. The weather's been dry, nicotine levels are higher. Now, you could irrigate the plants, get them growing larger and healtheir, but their nicotine levels would be lower. Two things have to be true for high nicotine levels in the plants: 1. No irrigation and 2. little rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tessai Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 I used to smoke ciggarettes and when I first started smoking hookah (Nakhla)I still needed a cig after I smoked a whole head.In my opinion one head of shisha is less nicotine than one cig. In no way am I saying hookah is safer but you get the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 [url="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/us/31nicotine.html"]http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/us/31nicotine.html[/url]And I have to disagree with GH about the filtering effect of the water. The amount of time the smoke spends actually IN the water is so slight that not ALL that much of anything is filtered out. I know this has been much discussed about water solubility and all..but I think the "filtering" effect is more myth than fact... $.02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenuineHookahs Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 cigarettes just taste disgusting compared to hookah imho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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