Hookah - Origin
The hookah is said to have originated in India, or perhaps even as far afield as China. In the 17th century, smoking sheesha took off in Constantinople, where it is known as nargileh.
Nowadays, hookah-smoking is a seemingly unbreakable social habit that, despite a vigorous anti-smoking lobby, is growing in popularity, especially among non-Arabs. All across the Arabic world, sheesha-parlours (coffee shops) attract their clientele with an almost irresistible waft of scented tobacco, luring people inside for an evening of cards, backgammon and, of course, smoking.
ndia
The hookah was invented in India[2] by a physician during the reign of Emperor Akbar as a purportedly less harmful method of tobacco use. The physician Hakin Abul Fath suggested that tobacco "smoke should be first passed through a small receptacle of water so that it would be rendered harmless."[7]
In India, where it originated, the hookah is becoming better known, and cafés and restaurants that offer it as a consumable are popular. The use of hookahs from ancient times in India was not only a custom, but a matter of prestige. Rich and landed classes would smoke hookahs. Tobacco is smoked in hookahs in many villages as per traditional customs. Smoking molasses in a hookah is now becoming popular amongst the youth in India. It is a growing trend amongst youngsters and adolescents. There are several chain clubs, bars and coffee shops in India offering a variety of hookahs. The new trends emerging are that of non-tobacco hookahs with herbal flavors. Several modern restaurants are famous for this.
Initially the hookah was only smoked in rural areas until about 3 years ago, when the youth took to it with a vengeance because it was suddenly hip again due to its widespread acceptance in Europe.There are many flavors in hookah like mint,chocolate,strawberry,etc.These flavors do not always contain tobacco.
Is hookah smoking safer than cigarettes? I've been told that the water used in the hookah makes the tobacco less toxic??
It's a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes. The tobacco is no less toxic. Hookah smokers actually inhale more tobacco smoke than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale.
Hookah — also called narghile, shisha and goza — is a water pipe. The device has been used for centuries in the Middle East and Asia to smoke tobacco. Now, hookah bars and cafes are popping up across the United States — fueled by the growing popularity of hookah smoking among teens and young adults.
The hookah device consists of four parts:
* A base, or smoke chamber, which is partially filled with water
* A bowl, which contains tobacco and the heating source
* A pipe that connects the bowl to the base and dips into the water in the base
* A hose, a second tube in the pipe that does not dip into the water but opens into air in the base and allows users to inhale the hookah smoke
When a smoker inhales through the tube, a pressure difference forces air past the heating source and heats the tobacco, which gives off smoke. The smoke is pulled away from the tobacco and passes through the water and into the smoke chamber — from which it is inhaled by the smoker.
Although many believe that the water in the hookah filters out all the "bad stuff" in the tobacco smoke, this isn't true. According to a World Health Organization advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even after passing through water, tobacco smoke still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). Hookah smoking also delivers significant levels of nicotine — the addictive substance in tobacco.
The trend of hookah smoking has doctors and public health experts concerned because — despite claims to the contrary by many users — smoking from a hookah is just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.
