My parents just found out about my brother smokes hookah. They figured that since he was on his own and in college, it was his decision, but they don't agree with it. I felt bad because I had known about it for months and I didn't tell them. Was I a bad sister? Or was I being a good sister? Well after they found this out they did a lot of research because my brother tried to justify his smoking by saying that the tobacoo is filtered out, and that it's not as bad. AS BAD being the key words. AS BAD meaning that it is still bad for your health. They found out that even though the smoke you breath in from the tubes is not that bad, the smoke which comes out from the top is worse than second-hand smoke. There haven't been very many studies on the hookah, though, since it is just beginning to become popular. Why would you want to do something that is so ambiguous? My brother also tries to justify it by saying it's a way to unwind after a stressful day, but aren't there other, less harmful ways to unwind? My brother is really into the environment, and yet he smokes, which pretty much rapes the environment. It's hipocritical. I don't understand it. Basically, smoking tobacco is smoking tobacco, no matter what form it may be in. It doesn't make tobacco any less harmful or addictive. You're still facing possible lung damage or cancer. Why would you want to take that risk?