Unless you’ve been living under a rock this last decade, you’re probably aware of the recent rapid increase in popularity of hookah. Hookah bars, pipes, and shisha have been the craze these past years, and chances are this gregarious and leisurely pastime is here to stay.
Let’s look at where it all began.
Hookah as we know it today started in the 1400s in India. From there it’s adoration grew rapidly throughout the Middle East with the help of the British East India Company, and an especially strong following with noblemen in throughout India and the Ottoman Empire.
Around the 17th century the hookahs themselves became larger, more elaborate, and an illustrious symbol of wealth and power . Ever since then it has remained an integral part of many Middle Eastern cultures, and is quickly catching on in many countries spanning the globe, Japan and the United States included.
In the US, hookah’s popularity has been on the rise since the psychedelic experimentations of the 60s (just ask your parents) and is a common finding in many smoke shops and college communities across the nation. And as with most habits that are questionable to our health, tobacco companies have been quick to prevaricate the facts about its impact on your body.
Allow me to elucidate the facts on hookah and your health.
Though there aren’t many college students out there that smoke hookah on a daily basis (or who can afford to, for that matter), there are many who do it occasionally with the skewed belief that it is less harmful than cigarettes.
Simply put, hookah is a fancy form of smoking, and is no less toxic than smoking cigarettes. Big surprise, right?
It’s a myth that hookah is safer for you than cigarettes, and that the water filters out all the “bad stuff”. Hookah smoke still contains high amounts of carbon monoxide, heavy metal ions, and many cancer causing agents.
According to the World Health Organization, a single hour session of casual hookah use exposes the smoker to 100 to 200 more times the smoke as a cigarette. A related study showed that a 45 to 60 minute session of hookah use adds up to about as much smoke as a pack of cigarettes.
What makes smoking hookah unique are the longer drags, the increased smoke inhalation, and larger overall smoke exposure to your sensitive respiratory tract. Where a cigarette includes a filter and takes less time to smoke, a hookah doesn’t have a filter and is smoked for a longer amount of time. Both are deleterious to your lungs.
Though it doesn’t give you that burning sensation in your lungs like a cigar, a cigarette, or a doobie, the cooler smoke still damages the tiny alveolar sacs in our lungs. In the long run you’re looking at the same plethora of respiratory complications that accompanies any other smoking habit.
Nargileh, goza, hubbly bubbly, or hookah as most of us call it, is an entertaining and a fun social activity, but as with most things that we do on the weekends, ought to be done in moderation.
But if you’re like me and plan on one day defeating your grown kids in a one on one game of basketball, smoke a little less, breath a little easier, and when it comes to the basketball, take no prisoners.
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