Hookah Smoking Concerns Doctors

It is known that hookah was first used in India. Then hookah smoking became widely-spread in Arab countries and Europe, and currently it is becoming more and more popular in the United States, as exotic things are a major trend now.

Some people smoke hookah in specialized venues, named hookah lounges, others prefer puffing at home with friends. The majority believes that hookah smoking is harmless, however, in reality, it did affect health.

We asked Charles Mayflower, chairman of the Department of Public Health at the University of Rochester, his opinion over the issues related to hookah smoking.

“Hookah Smoking is harmful for health. Studies by the National Oncology Institute confirm the risks related to usage of water pipes, as well as many other similar studies performed by various scientists. In some cases hookah smoking can lead to malignant tumors development, and severe health complications in lungs, cardiovascular diseases and other diseases,” said Prof. Mayflower.

According to Prof. Mayflower, people have been misled by the allegation that smoke, which came through water filter, is harmless.

“However in reality this is not true. The thing is that, during hookah smoking, the tobacco smoke gets blended and is inhaled as a very harmful substance,” he added.

Public health organizations and officials who carried out studies in that field, confirmed the health damage resulted from smoking water pipe, when people inhale much more tobacco smoke than during cigarette smoking.

Speaking about the dangers of cigarette and hookah smoking and whether hookah is less harmful than cigarettes, Prof. Mayflower said that both products are very harmful, but they have different impact on human health. For example, when smoking a water pipe, such substances as carbon dioxide are produced and consequently affect human health. It can affect nervous system and lead to the health worsening.

Cigarette smoking, according to the data provided by National Institute of Oncology, can lead to lung cancer, respiratory system diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and other severe health complications.

In addition, Professor Charles Mayflower mentioned that in case of regular hookah smoking, one can lose consciousness or can have a cardiac arrest.

“The fatal outcome is not excluded as well. Therefore, we should protect our health from the dangerous tobacco smoke, which has dramatic negative impact on the health,” said Prof. Mayflower.

In the meantime, Spanish Public Health Ministry declared its intention to ban hookah smoking across the country, three months after cigarette smoking was prohibited in all public places.

In a statement, the Health Ministry spokesman said they would seek corresponding regulations in to be added to the recently approved tobacco control legislation.

“We plan introducing the amendment to ban hookah smoking in public places, because the tobacco smoke emitted during hookah smoking is dangerous and affects public health,” said the spokesman.

Facts and myths about smoking hookah

The tradition of smoking water pipe or hookah existed in the Middle East for centuries; however it turned to become a dramatically popular tendency in the United States and other countries during the last couple of years. The water pipes gained an enormous popularity among the youth. Yet, health activists state the hookah pipes become so popular due to several myths about the safety and reduced health risks of those devises as compared to other tobacco products.

Therefore, we decided to find out everything about hookah in order to confirm or dethrone the myths related to smoking hookah. Upon the arrival to the Smoke & Grill Lounge, we understood that despite rather difficult economic times, the lounge has been packed with people, with the majority of them being young adults, all dragging on their pipes and delivering a lot of nice smelling smoke. “It feels great, and helps get a relaxation after a hard-working day with my friends, while chatting and joking,” confessed Chris Morrison, an inveterate hookah lover.

The Smoke & Grill Lounge owner Howard Young admitted that his business is facing a terrific boom, thanks the introduction of hookah to the menu. He said the lounge is flooded with people almost every day, and they prefer hookah with tea, instead of beer or sodas. He added that hookah changed lifestyle of many people, after its first appearance just several years ago.

Smoking this Arabic water pipe is rather easy. The flavored tobacco is put at the end of the pipe in a special small tube that is heated by coals. The pipe is connected with a bowl filled with water and a hose. The smoker breathes in through the hose, thus, having a puff of tobacco.

According Howard Young, they have up to 60 flavors of tobacco and try to invent a new one by mixing different flavors each month. Exactly those flavors, which leave a pleasant aftertaste, allured many teenagers to smoking hookah, although the Smoke & Grill Lounge owner stated that teenagers under 18 are not permitted to enter his lounge. The fashionable of smoking hookah keeps growing among teens.

Chris Morrison, a student of the local university admitted that all of his friends smoke hookah. He said that it is not about smoking, it is all about communication, because he has not seen people smoking hookah alone. He named smoking hookah a social habit since it gathers people together, makes them happy and keeps away from unhealthy habits.

Morrison’s friend Richard Sykes said that he used to smoke cigarettes when he was 16 but gave up switching to hookah, which he has been smoking up to four times a week with his friends while chatting, watching baseball or basketball or playing video games.

Sykes named hookah as the “cigarette of the young generation.” He mentioned that his parents and relatives have been smoking for many years and all of them started puffing when they were teenagers since it was fashionable and everybody was smoking. But currently, when cigarettes have lost their popularity because of enormous prices, bans and health concerns, it has been a high time to find something new. Thus, hookah appeared and it becomes more and more popular each day.

The booming popularity of hookah became a major headache for health advocates. Elizabeth Caldwell, director of Nevada Tobacco-Free Kids office said that anti-smoking groups are partly responsible for the growing popularity of hookah among teenagers since they have been doing their best to persuade people and especially minors that cigarettes are hazardous for health, therefore, people simply switched to hookah, thinking that it would be a safer and healthier alternative of smoking. And the latter is absolutely not true.

Indeed, the recently published researches have showed that hookah tobacco contains a lot of the same additives as in regular cigarettes that have been related to health complications and addiction. Prof. Robert Bain of Georgia Institute of Technology’ School of Chemistry said that the studies demonstrated that one session of hookah smoking could be equaled to almost 100 regular cigarettes, because usual cigarette needs an average of 9 puffs to be smoked and one hookah can be smoked for up to an hour with almost 20 puffs. Therefore, it means that hookah is even more dangerous for health than conventional cigarettes.

However, teenagers like Chris Morrison and his friends believe that hookah was not as hazardous as cigarettes, and in addition it leaves a pleasant fruit taste. Meantime, scientists state that fruit flavor is used to mask the hazardous truths of hookah tobacco. Robert Bain says that tobacco used for smoking hookah is just another type of tobacco, regardless of the flavor. It is smoked and that is the major issue.

Although the majority of hookah fans believe that the water contained in the bowl is used to filter the tobacco, making it free of hazardous components, experts stated that is a terrible lie since the water does not clean the smoke that is still going to the lungs.