Alright, I realize I may be treading on thin ice with this subject. Hookah today is the Mary Jane of the sixties and seventies. Though still a very popular drug, Marijuana is not a commonly used now as it was in the times of let just say The Beatles. (Oh yes, John Paul George and Ringo...we all know you were sky high...we loved you anyway) Today marijuana is widely shunned in the public eye and there are clubs set up to inspire the illegalization of this drug even for medicinal uses. Today the legal drug of choice: HOOKAH.
Many of my friends hookah, many of my coworkers hookah, and for a period of time...I used to hookah. The only drug I know of that the name of which can be used as a descriptive noun and an all-telling verb (hey..it’s what you do right?) Hookah is a simple mixture of flavored tobacco and molasses. (Don’t quote me on that...but im pretty sure that’s it)
In regards to the health issues...The big question is "Is hookah bad for you? Is it as bad as smoking cigarettes?" So here’s some facts in my own words from various studies and websites.
1. (Well known fact) Inhaling smoke, whether second-hand or first, is dangerous. It doesn’t matter where the smoke comes from or the substance being smoked.
2. The water in the hookah DOES NOT "clean" the smoke.
3. Hookah smoke contains toxic compounds including carbon monoxide.
4. Hookahs and hookah smoke contain tobacco specific nitroamines that are cancer causing.
5. MANY studies show that contrary to popular belief the levels of compounds coming through the hookah are AT LEAST as high IF NOT HIGHER than cigarette smoke.
6. Sharing the mouthpiece (commonly known to many hookah smokers as a "condom") has a risk of infection including HERPES
7. Chemicals found in the hookah that are at a HIGHER level than cigarettes include but are not limited to: Tar, PAH, Chrysene (tumor initiator), Phenanthrene (co-carcinogen).
8. Smoking hookah has been linked to cancer of the gums (much like chewing tobacco) and gum disease.
9. Coals create a health risk as well. Breathing in the combination of the coals compounds adds to and possibly increases health risk of hookah smokers.
10. Several types of cancer have been linked to hookah smoking.
11. Hookah can become addictive, and does produce nicotine as well as a number of other toxins such as carbon monoxide, tar, and myriad carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
12. Hookah smoke contains higher quantities of toxic metals like arsenic, nickel, cobalt, chromium, lead, and cadmium, as compared with cigarette smoke.
13. QUOTED:
In a carefully designed recent study, researchers Shihadeh and Saleh used a smoking machine that replicated the puffing mechanics derived from precise measurements of 52 hookah smokers in Lebanon.Shihadeh and Saleh carried out stringently controlled quantitative chemical analyses of hookah smoke. They found that hookah smoke produced nearly two orders of magnitude greater amount of "tar" from a
single smoking session than that produced from a single cigarette. Simply put, hookah smoke produces nearly 100 times more "tar" than cigarette smoke, for each gram of the respective tobaccos
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:QX9NqyQp3AQJ:www.wesleyan.edu/weswell/atoz_info/drugs/The%2520latest%2520on%2520Hookahs.pdf+Hookah+Facts&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=26&ie=UTF-8
14. QUOTED:
Hookah smoking is an efficient nicotine delivery system. After a 45- minute hookah smoking session, the concentrations of nicotine and its longer-lived metabolic product,cotinine, become significantly elevated in saliva, plasma, and urine. Comparison
urinary levels of cotinine between hookah smokers and cigarette smokers suggests that in a single hookah smoking session using 20 grams of hookah tobacco, the hookah smoker is exposed to several-fold greater quantities of the addictive stimulant nicotine for up to 45 to 60 minutes. That is equivalent to chain-smoking 15 cigarettes. A cross sectional study on hookah smokers from 112 restaurants and cafes in Aleppo, Syria, reported that 96% of weekly hookah smokers and 50% of daily hookah smokers did not smoke cigarettes. This survey found that 91% of weekly hookah smokers and 51% of daily hookah smokers did not have the will to quit, which highlights the addictive nature of hookah smoking among myriad factors.
Same place
That’s all the facts I’ll go over...but as you can see...there are a TON!
Now for those of you who don’t know what hookah is. Hookah is becoming much more widely known in the US but has been dated back to the 16th century to the middle eastern countries, ie India, Iran, etc. Hookah is tobacco with flavor and molasses or honey mixed together and put into a bowl. The bowl is set on top of a long hollow shaft which is put onto a clay or glass chamber of water. Coals are set on top of the bowl which is covered with tin foil and the smoke travels down the hollow shaft into the water-filled chamber, and out of a hose which the smoker is breathing the smoke in from. It is most commonly a social event. Usually a hookah is shared by two or three people. Hookah smokers smoke anywhere from one bowl or one-two hours to many bowls and all night. The increased time means increased toxins and increased *crap* entering your body. Because it is social and shared, the likelihood of getting sick or spreading disease or infection is highly increased. In the US there are more than 300 hookah bars, and over 50 in California alone. Bars are located mainly in college areas and areas with a high amount of people of Arabic descent. When asked if many common hookah smokers could stop, more often than not they reply yes, but when asked to do so for study reasons, many could not quit as easily as they thought they would and could.
Now...am I bashing hookah smoking? No, that would make me a HUGE hypocrite. I have smoked hookah in the past and for reasons of my own decided to quit. Though I said I could quit it no problem, I did find myself thinking about it or taking "one more hit for old times sake with the friends" a couple of times. (Keep in mind, I was not a heavy hookah smoker, I do not and have not used other forms of tobacco, and do not easily get substance addiction) I am simply presenting the facts. It is up for you to decide...Hookah smoking. Good, bad, neither? Information is information, and as someone on here quoted underdog..."knowing is half the battle"
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I had wondered about a lot of this stuff myself, but wasn't really sure where to look. My general idea was to cut risk by not smoking hookah very often. Anyway thanks for the facts.
Res ipsa loquitur.
Memento mori, mahalo.
Not a problem. I have a ton of friends that still hookah (and many of them do it QUITE a lot...)At first I thought I knew a lot about the subject, but then I started researching. Boy was I wrong. And I suspect most hookah smokers are. Like many habitual things, the people doing it dont like to see the bad, but facts presented...it's obviously not something good to do on a regular basis. Any questions let me know..otherwise I'll keep posting about whatever comes to mind.
Hookah is definitely popular at my college. I've never done it myself, but these are itneresting facts I never knew.
Yeah....hookah is all around me. It's slightly annoying because i have decided to quit but people still hella pressure me to do it or will sit there and smoke into my face..i dont care that they do it, but into my face? how rude...
Are you kidding me? Tobacco is all around nasty, still has nicotine and produces carbon monoxide and other carcinogens, not to mention burning molasses probably gives a higher carbon dioxide level. Kids, don't try this at home.... or campus. your doing more harm to yourself than if you just sit down and smoke some good old Mary Jane. Studies prove.... well read more of my blogs. You'll see
-Your Bud and mine
from personal experience, i have noticed that hookah actually isnt that bad for you, its actualy quite better for you than other tobacco products. maybe you guys should actually try it before you comment on it and look like complete idiots.
Hookah smoke is much less harsh than cigarettes, and certainly not as disgusting as chewing tobacco, however, simple scientific observation marks hookah smoke as containing both nicotine and carcinogens.
Your singular, personal and likely relatively short experience, and ignorant grasp at superior experience holds little weight.
What knowledge do you bring the table of this discussion besides limited, subjective observation skewed so that you may enjoy your chosen recreation without guilt? You have brought no facts, no figures, and only the barest hint at personal experience, excuse if I don't immediately fawn over your vast intellectual nugget here.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memento mori, mahalo.
"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real-estate above principals."
"Though still a very popular drug, Marijuana is not a commonly used now as it was in the times of let just say The Beatles."
This just isn't true.
Marijuana is by far the most commonly used illicit drug in this country today. By comparison, in 1979 a total of 27.9% of the population had tried the drug, but in 2004 a total of 40.2% of the population had given it a try.
Trends in Marijuana Use (1979 - 2004)
http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/nsduh/marijuana.htm
"It is well established from national survey data that marijuana initiation generally occurs among youth in their mid-to-late teens and that regular use persists into the early twenties, and then steadily declines through the mid-to-late twenties and into the thirties."
"Even though only a small proportion of marijuana users adopt patterns of use that pose health risks, the growing prevalence of regular marijuana users suggests that the actual number of problem users is on the rise. Evidence showing trends in dependence rates confirm this suspicion. And, the cost of treating the dependent population is not nearly as low as is frequently presumed."
http://www.nber.org/reporter/winter05/pacula.html
Just keeping things accurate.
percivale
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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny..." ~ Isaac Asimov
people really blow this out of proportion. it's like cigarettes at all, because people don't smoke these all day everyday. i consider myself a regular user at once or twice a week for about 30 minute sessions each. it may have a lot of stuff in it, but it's not cigarettes because unless you're really addicted to it, you probably won't smoke it any more than a few times a week, where as in one day you can smoke any number of cigarettes. plus the hookah is an ancient middle eastern tradition it's been around for a real long time so don't just rip on it. in fact, i just bought a new hookah today and plan on smoking it this weekend. the main point is , hookah is popular but it's really not intended for everyday use.