Hookah Health Risk

Many young adults are misled by the sweet, aromatic, and fruity quality of hookah smoke - an aromatic blend of tobacco, molasses, and fruit.  A typical 1-hour-long hookah smoking session involves inhaling 100–200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette, with many of the same harmful health risks as cigarettes.

Mayo Clinic: “Hookah smoking is not safer than cigarette smoking.  Also known as narghile, shisha and goza, a hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose.  Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece.  The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke.  Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.  While research about hookah smoking is still emerging, evidence shows that it poses many dangers:

v       Hookah smoke contains high levels of toxic compounds, including tar, carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens). In fact, hookah smokers are exposed to more carbon monoxide and smoke than are cigarette smokers.

v       As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease and other serious illnesses.

v   Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoking does, possibly leading to tobacco dependence.

v       Hookah smoke poses dangers associated with secondhand smoke.

v       Hookah smoking by pregnant women can result in low birth weight babies.

v     Hookah pipes used in hookah bars and cafes may not be cleaned properly, risking the spread of infectious diseases." (..including tuberculosis and herpes)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:  “While many hookah smokers may consider this practice less harmful than smoking cigarettes, hookah smoking carries many of the same health risks as cigarettes.

v       Water pipe smoking delivers the addictive drug nicotine and is at least as toxic as cigarette smoke.

v      Due to the mode of smoking—including frequency of puffing, depth of inhalation, and length of the smoking session—hookah smokers may absorb higher concentrations of the toxins found in cigarette smoke.

v       A typical 1-hour-long hookah smoking session involves inhaling 100–200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette.

v       Hookah smokers are at risk for the same kinds of diseases as are caused by cigarette smoking, including oral cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus, reduced lung function, and decreased fertility.”