RALEIGH — Most bars and restaurants are obeying North Carolina’s new indoor smoking ban, but some hookah bars are ignoring the law, saying they are exempt.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that state officials say the state’s no-smoking law, which took effect Jan. 2, applies to all bars, even the state’s approximately 20 hookah bars.

But hookah bar owners and their proponents point to a section of the law that defines “smoking” as “the use or possession of a lighted cigarette, lighted cigar, lighted pipe, or any other lighted tobacco product.”

They say that while the tobacco used in hookah smoking is heated by charcoal, it’s never lit because a small metal screen or piece of foil provides a physical barrier between the coals and the tobacco.

Hookahs are long pipes used with flavored tobacco. Smokers heat tobacco and flavoring and use a tube to draw the smoke through a bowl of water to cool it.

An attorney for the Division of Public Health says hookahs fall under the “lighted pipe” definition.

“Your typical modern hookah tobacco is tobacco mixed with molasses or honey — depending on the brand — glycerin, flavoring and sometimes a little dye. So it’s very wet. If you tried to take a lighter to it, it just wouldn’t work because it’s too wet,” said Adam Bliss, the owner of Hookah Bliss, a hookah bar in Chapel Hill.

Hookah Bliss is doing business as usual, as are hookah bars in Wilmington and Asheville. In Burlington, Racco Hashem, owner of the county’s lone hookah bar, said he has added outdoor seating to accommodate customers who want to use the pipes at his restaurant, Racco’s Italian Restaurant and Café.

Hashem said that so far, the smoking ban has not affected business at the hookah bar, which he opened as part of the restaurant in September 2007.

State Rep. Hugh Holliman, the chief sponsor of the smoking ban, said the Legislature never intended to cripple hookah bars.

“It’s not our intent to penalize hookah bars. We just don’t want to start making exceptions that are adverse to healthy consequences,” said Holliman, D-Davidson and the majority leader in the N.C. House.

It’s possible the Legislature would revisit the issue later this year, he said. “I would be willing to take a look at that and see if we could work a compromise,” he said.

Under the law, bars and restaurants that allow customers to smoke inside get written warnings for the first two offenses. After that, they can be fined $200 for each offense.

Local health directors are responsible for enforcing the law, based mostly on public complaints.

AL AIN // There are a number of things Isam Tareef loves about living in the UAE, and spending his evenings enjoying a lemon-and-mint-flavoured shisha after a long day at work tops the list.

“It’s a newfound obsession for me. I just love it,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and opening his palms in a sign of resignation. “I’ve become a slave to the tobacco pipe.”

In New York, he said, he was always going out with colleagues after work. “Now, that’s been replaced with a relaxing evening of shisha.”

Ever since arriving in Abu Dhabi in 2008, Mr Tareef, 37, a Lebanese engineer with a petroleum company, has indulged in a tobacco water pipe daily – sometimes two or three times a day. Yesterday’s announcement of a federal smoking ban may make his habit a little more difficult to pursue, however.

“My shishas can’t be as bad for me as cigarettes, right?” he said. “I mean sure, it might be a bit unhealthy, but definitely not as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.” Mr Tareef is far off the mark.

Dr Rima Nakkash, research professor in the health management and policy department of the faculty of health sciences in the American University of Beirut, said the risks from shisha smoking were severe and long-term effects still unclear.

“In a typical one-hour session, water-pipe smoke delivers as much tar as an entire pack of cigarettes,” she said yesterday on the third day of the Global Health and the UAE: Asia-Middle East Connections conference at UAE University in Al Ain.

Dr Nakkash, who heads a tobacco control research group in Beirut, said smoking shisha was not a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes. “This is becoming a global health issue,” she said.

“People travel and cross borders, and any addictive behaviour they learn, they spread it wherever they go, so now you find what is known as hookah bars near universities in the UK, in the US, in Canada, all over.”

Research by the World Health Organisation’s study group on tobacco product regulation conducted in 2005 found that one session of smoking a water pipe could be as dangerous as smoking up to 100 cigarettes. This finding is disturbing, she said, because shisha is seen as fashionable and more acceptable than cigarettes among women.

In her research among smokers in four Middle Eastern countries, Dr Nakkash found a propensity for shisha smoking among women and youths in particular.

“Youths start smoking water pipes because it is socially acceptable and much more permissible than cigarettes, and for women, it is a fashionable trend,” she said.

Dr Nakkash said the fear was that people were starting to smoke too early in life. “We know that shisha smoke contains carcinogens and toxicants like cigarettes, but there are no extensive studies on the long-term effects yet,” she said, “though we predict the same type of health problems that are associated with cigarette smoking.”

Additionally, the nicotine in shisha is not filtered through the water, as smokers mistakenly believe, making the habit addictive.

Shisha smoking is socially acceptable, affordable and accessible, and people just do not know the truth about it, Dr Nakkash said, adding that enforcing bans on smoking indoors and in closed spaces and ensuring that society complied by these bans was the first step to tackling the problem.

Indeed, the law signed by Sheikh Khalifa yesterday places major restrictions on not just indoor spaces but cafes in or near residential areas. Those younger than 18 also are prohibited from partaking.

“But you have to be aware that you can never ban any kind of tobacco use, whether cigarettes or shisha,” she said. “What you can do is regulate it in a way to protect the non-smoker and make sure that smokers are consciously aware of what they are getting into.”

The dangers of shisha smoking, the conference participants agreed, needed to be addressed urgently.

“We know it’s spreading,” Dr Nakkash said. “We don’t have to wait to see its long-term effects on health before speaking up about it, and loudly.”

A non-drinker, 21-year-old Samir Taleb doesn’t like hanging out at bars.

Instead he spends time at Friends Cafe and Lounge, a hookah bar in Worth where he takes puffs of sweet fruit-flavored tobacco from a large water pipe. After spending nearly every night there for three years, Taleb will have to find a new hangout.

“This is a good place to chill. Now we’ll have nowhere to go,” Taleb said before the place was forced to close Jan. 1 when the village tightened its no smoking ordinance, outlawing smoking in all public places.

That included tobacco stores where smoking previously was allowed, leading to the closure of two package tobacco stores as well as two hookah lounges — Friends and Havana Cafe.

Nearby Palos Hills also tightened its anti-smoking ordinance just weeks ago, affecting the Royale Lounge, a controversial hookah bar that had been operating since May.

Owner Sam Suhail said he closed the lounge a week before Christmas after several disputes with the city. The tighter no-smoking law was drafted even after he and his partners spent $120,000 on permits and a ventilation system, he said.

But Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett said the council’s intent in passing a more stringent anti-smoking law simply closes a loophole that exists in state law.

“There was a group of people who thought you could operate something else … like a lounge … out of a retail tobacco store and still comply with the law,” Bennett said. “We wanted to make it perfectly clear (that’s illegal).”

Bennett also said the Royale was never approved as a hookah lounge and that the business had been operating without a permit.

State law permits smoking in hookah lounges and retail tobacco stores as long as the businesses do not encompass a restaurant or liquor license and they get 80 percent of their revenue from the sale of tobacco or smoking-related products, said Kelly Jakubek, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Municipalities are free to draft more stringent rules.

Both of Worth’s hookah lounges stopped serving food two years ago when the state’s anti-smoking law was enacted. Both still served non-alcoholic drinks, but the owners said beverage sales accounted for a very small part of their businesses.

During its last week, Friends Cafe at 11015 S. Harlem Ave. was nearly packed with at least 50 customers –– most in their late teens or early 20s –– taking up the spots on the soft benches in the dark room.

Maysam Noubani, 18, of Tinley Park, has been going there once a week with her friends. She said the smoke doesn’t affect anybody who isn’t already smoking.

“We’re not coming here for anything else,” she said. “If people don’t want to smoke, they don’t come here.”

“There’s not a whole lot to do here for culture,” said Anthony Hennessy, 18, a resident of Chicago’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood. “This is just something a little different.”

At Havana Cafe, 7011 W. 111th St., teens played cards at long tables in the final days while a few dozen middle-age men smoked hookah and cigarettes and played pinochle in another room.

“I come here because I can’t smoke in the house,” said Frank Hamoudah, an Orland Hills resident and a sales representative for a juice company.

“I don’t see why (the village) is getting rid of this place unless they are rolling in money and don’t want the business.”

Mayor Randy Keller said the village discussed a clean air ordinance for six months before passing it in October.

“Most of the (tobacco stores and hookah lounges) are adjacent to other buildings,” Keller said. “The argument can be made that the smoke gets in the ventilation systems and affects others.”

Havana Cafe owner Ray Salem said he’ll likely reopen as a sandwich shop, although he estimates he’ll lose 50 percent of his business. He is considering moving the hookah business to Indiana, where there is no statewide anti-smoking law.

As Illinois’ smoking ban wraps up its second year, officials say compliance is rising.

Still, some establishments have defied the ban, considering the fines for allowing smoking a cost of doing business.

At Crowbar Inc. tavern on Chicago’s Southeast Side, for example, the owner welcomes smokers and takes donations from customers to pay smoking fines.

CHAPEL HILL — Adam Bliss, owner of Hookah Bliss on Franklin Street, said this week that the business will stay open and possibly go to court over the smoking ban if it is fined.

“We’re going to stay open long enough to get a ticket,” he said. “We’re going to fight them in court.”

The business specializes in hookahs, which are water pipes used for smoking tobacco, and serves beer. It has been open for about two and half years at 418 W. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill.

Hookah bars were not included in the exemptions that were granted to cigar bars under the smoking ban law. Cigar bars were defined as businesses that generate at least 60 percent of their quarterly revenues from the sale of alcoholic beverages and at least 25 percent of revenues from the sale of cigars.

The law also exempts tobacco shops, which are defined as businesses that receive at least 75 percent of their annual revenues from the sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products and does not serve food or alcohol.

The “Act to Prohibit Smoking in Certain Public Places and Certain Places of Employment” was passed by the N.C. General Assembly and signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue in May.

Bliss said his business might have to stop selling beer and be defined as a tobacco shop as a result. “Which makes you wonder whether this law was really about tobacco or alcohol,” he bristled.

Bliss also raised issue with the stated intent of the law, which was to “protect the health of individuals in public places and places of employment … from the risks related to secondhand smoke,” as written in the legislation.

“The reason they wrote this bill, they claim, is that it protects the employees from secondhand smoke. This is an employee health issue, according to the legislature,” Bliss said. “But they automatically exempted four different types of places, and notice all those places are where the rich older males go, where the legislators are more likely to go.”

“They’re all places that the rich like to smoke and they’re saying that the employees that work in the places where they like to smoke do not deserve the protection that the average employee who works in an average bar deserves,” he added.

Businesses that allow smoking are given two written warnings. On the third infraction, a business can be fined up to $200.

Hookah Bliss plans on having a party as the ban goes into effect throughout the state.

“This is not so much about a lawsuit as about fighting a ticket on the grounds that the law is unfair,” Bliss said. “We are not going to stop serving and we are not closed.”
By Monica Chen

The cafes are filled with perfumed smoke, hip music and the chatter and laughter of the young people who enjoy them.

Hookah pipes use charcoal to burn flavored tobacco; the smoke passes through water and through a hose from which the user inhales. The lounges are filled with comfortable couches and decorated in a chic way that makes reference to the pipe’s traditions in the Middle East.

Now, a study has been released that shows how this ritual has really caught on among today’s young people.

According to the study by University of Florida researchers, 11 percent of high school students and 4 percent of middle school students have tried smoking hookah.

“This is something that’s become popular in the last couple years,” said Tracey Barnett, medical sociologist and lead researcher on the study.

Some users think the water acts as a filter and makes hookah safer than smoking cigarettes.

“There’s no reason to think it’s any less harmful,” Barnett said. “There’s no safe way to use tobacco.”

Michael Dowie has been working at Hookah Hutt on University Avenue since May 2009. He’s 19, studying History at Santa Fe.

“I know it’s bad, but I still do it,” Dowie said. “I’m aware that it’s not healthy for you.”

He said a lot of young college students and seniors in high school come in to smoke hookah.

Florida’s minimum smoking age is 18.

The owner of Hookah Hutt has been running his shop in Gainesville for three years. He preferred not to be named out of concern for his family. He said that he checks the ID of anyone who looks close to underage.

“If you’re not 18, we can’t serve you,” he said.

He said that his lounge is a good place to socialize. “What makes hookahs so enjoyable is that you connect with many people,” he said.

He said he doesn’t try to hide the fact that smoking is unhealthy. “It’s just as bad as cigarettes … it’s not good for you,” he said.
By Andrew Ford, Gainesville

As it is known cigarettes smoking were banned in public places but hookahs were not affected by this new legislation. Andy Brunette, the Dreas Hookah Lounge manager explained that a hookah is a tobacco-smoking machine with a glass base filled with water or juice, with an attached metal stem, a hose and a ceramic bowl.

A burning charcoal rests on foil covering the bowl, which is filled with strip-leaf tobacco combined with molasses. This acts as a heating element to vaporize, not burn, the tobacco known as shisha, remitting the natural nicotine and the sugar from molasses.
Brunette added that it isn’t the same tobacco found in cigarettes or cigars. The tobacco used for hookahs has a lower nicotine concentration, and contains no chemical additives and usually comes in fruit flavors such as strawberry or papaya.
Even the vapor emitted by hookahs is first filtered through the base’s water before going through an inhaling hose. Thanks to water filtration the hookahs smoke become very smooth.
However it still has health risks, because it is a tobacco product also which can harm the people’s health. According to a lot of studies, hookahs could lead to increased risks of gum disease and other health problems.
In general, the use of hookahs dates to the 16th century for the first time in India. It has then gained fame in the Middle East and is gaining admirers in North America.
The Hookah label tends to relate to Middle Eastern culture. For example, the hookah itself should not be higher than eye level.
Another rule is to only use the right hand to hold the hose because the left hand is considered unclean, Mr. Brunette explained. Another rule of smoking hookahs is the following: when finished with one’s turn, it is recommended to set the hose down on the table and allow the next smoker to pick it up rather than directly passing it off.
Smokers won’t have to worry about loading the hookah either, a somewhat complicated process for a beginner.
Brunette confessed that he first tried hookah years ago at a friend’s lounge in Sheboygan, Wis. “I just fell in love with it basically. It was a very sweet taste,” he said.
In this way he has became an expert of sorts, smoking a hookah one or two times each day. But the decision to open his lounge has been a two-year process.

It’s been a growing trend here in the valley and across the state. But although many believe it’s a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes, there are very real dangers to smoking hookah.

The growing popularity of hookah cafes and bars is re igniting the centuries-old tradition. Venues such as these are becoming popular social scenes where many young people pick up the water pipe and smoke flavored tobacco.

But that’s not the way many hookah users see it.

“It’s way different than tobacco,” says hookah smoker Travis Bogard. “It’s like five percent tobacco and it’s not really like smoking a cigarette. I don’t like cigarettes or other tobacco products like that. It’s just mellow.”

Many medical professionals say misconceptions such as these among young smokers are frightening. Doctors say hookah is just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes and that it carries the same risks of lung cancer and other serious health problems.

“The fact is, there is no such thing as tobacco with no tar, with no nicotine, and no cancer-causing agents,” explains Victoria Frensdorff, smoking cessation specialist. “They all have it and you’re consuming that by even trying hookah. Hookah and things like cigars that kids say ‘I don’t really inhale, I just let it sit in my mouth’ (is a) huge risk for oral cancer.”

A common myth parents hear from their kids is that hookah is safe because the water filters the tobacco. But while it may feel less harsh on your lungs, experts say the water does not remove any cancer-causing chemicals.

Research shows smoking hookah for one hour exposes you to 100 to 200 times the amount of smoke inhaled by a single cigarette.

“The increased danger of this is because of the amount of time,” continues Frensdorff. “If you ask any kid that goes to a hookah bar are you there five minutes and then you leave? No. They are in there for at least half an hour to an hour or maybe even two or three.”

Many hookah bars post the Surgeon General’s warnings in their menus so customers are aware of the risks. But there is also growing concern about sharing a mouthpiece and spreading diseases.

Some places offer a mouth cover for individual use.

“We’ll give you as many tips as there are people at the table and we recommend each person uses their own tip,” says hookah bar employee Steve Kinion.

Although it’s a habit that’s been around for years, hookah is now re-emerging as one with a list of consequences.

Many teens believe hookah does not contain nicotine but experts explain that’s a myth; they say the nicotine in hookah can make you addicted and even lead to other forms of tobacco use.

By Callie Fisher

Health minister investigating ban on addictive water pipe tobacco as study shows greater risk to young people

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study. Most had tried smoking cigarettes, but were not regular smokers, while about half had tried smoking using a water pipe.

The study showed that boys in general used water pipes more. But it confirmed that the more any student smoked from a pipe, the higher the risk of them becoming regular cigarette smokers.

About two thirds of common tobacco used in water pipes consists of additives, and the Cancer Society would like to see a ban on sweet tobacco similar to that introduced in Germany.

‘Children and young people don’t experience it as real smoking because it tastes and smells sweet. But the smoke is dangerous – partly in and of itself and partly because water pipes provide an easier way for young people to get into heavier cigarettes,’ said Poul Dengsøe Jensen, project leader in the Cancer Society.

‘I think the tobacco should be banned like in Germany, where tobacco containing more than 25 percent sugar and other additives is illegal,’ he said.

12 November 2009 Cphpost

NEWARK— Two local men hoping to build a hookah lounge in Newark received approval from the Newark Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday to continue the project.

The American Red Cross

The board ruled that the lounge, which will be at 143 S. 30th St., could be considered a place of assembly in a medium intensity business district and is permitted under the city’s zoning code.

The lounge, which will be called Braison’s Hookah Lounge, will have the atmosphere of a coffee shop, but instead of coming for food and drinks, patrons will come to smoke hookah, said co-owner Adam Gregg.

A hookah is a long stemmed water pipe that is used to smoke flavored tobacco.

“It’s been a tradition in the Middle East for hundreds of years but it’s just come to America in the last 10 years,” Gregg said.

Hookah tobacco is only 20 to 30 percent tobacco, and the rest is fruit juices and molasses.

The tobacco is only .05 percent nicotine and is not addictive, Gregg said.

“It’s very relaxing,” said co-owner Brandon Bowman. “It will be a place where people can congregate and do homework; it’s a real chill atmosphere to escape the daily grind.”

The lounge will not fall under the Ohio smoking ban because 80 percent of its profits will come from selling tobacco, Gregg said.

Cigarette and cigar smoking won’t be allowed in the lounge.

The lounge will charge $12 to smoke a hookah and $6 for refills. They will also offer tobaccoless hookahs.

Hookah lounges have been very popular on college campuses, and Gregg and Bowman hope to attract the 18-to-25 age group.

“We’re expecting students from COTC, OSU-Newark, Zanesville and Mount Vernon,” Gregg said. “Kids drive all the way to Columbus to do this, but now they won’t have to.”

If everything goes well with the Newark Building Code Department, the lounge should open on Oct. 30, Gregg said

The owners have been passing out fliers on campuses and using Facebook and MySpace to get the word out.

“I’m scared for the opening. I’ve got a feeling we are going to be slammed with customers,” Gregg said.

For more information call (740) 348-0111 or visit myspace.com/braisonshookahlounge
BY ANNA SUDAR, October 22, 2009
Kent Mallett contributed to this story.

For the college age population, smoking hookah has become a cultural trend. The large pipes, many having multiple hoses, are set up and lit filling the room with the fresh sweet aroma of their flavored tobacco.

According to the National Health Foundation, more hookah bars have been established in recent years around college campuses than around Arab-American communities (the communities in which hookah plays a historic and traditional role).

Hookah originated in ancient north India and Pakistan. It quickly spread throughout the Persian Kingdom and found its place amongst almost all the middle-eastern cultures. Hookah, also commonly known as shisha, made its way west during the Victorian era; however, it didn’t break into mainstream western culture until the 1960’s.

Today, it once again has made a come back as more youth are turning to the retro trends of the bohemian ‘peace and love’ days. Yet most who lift a hosepipe have fallen under the common misconception that hookah is less harmful.

“I don’t smoke cigarettes,” said COS student Sarah Anderson, “but I do, do hookah.”

Smoking hookah usually is used in a social context; friends gather to relax and spend anywhere from 30min to several hours smoking. During these prolonged sessions one can inhale 50 to 200 times, resulting in breathing up to 100 times more smoke then a regular cigarette.

“The smoke is filtered through the water, making it safer to smoke,” Said another student, Samantha Cloer. This is another colloquially misconception concerning hookah.

The water at the base of the large hookah pipe is actually less efficient then the tiny filters of a cigarette. However, the moisture included in the smoke, due to the simple water filter, makes it less irritating to inhale, giving it a safer illusion.

Though softer on the throat, the watered filtered tobacco still contains high levels carbon monoxide and toxic metal components. The National Health Foundation also discovered that the nicotine from the hookah tobacco can be just as addicting due to the large amounts of smoke inhaled in one sitting.

In hookahs defense, many students find it to be soothing and relaxing. Just as cigarettes it can provide monetary comfort. However, it is not practical to carry around a hookah pipe and smoke it throughout the day, as someone could with a pack a cigarettes kept in their pocket. Hookah is more of a social activity, carried out by most only on special occasions, making the addictive concerns less.

Picking up the pipe can be a great social and soothing experience for college students. Though it is important for one to acknowledge their health and rid their minds of the myths and misconceptions.

By Drew Reagan
October 20, 2009 Coscampusonline

Smoking tobacco out of a hookah is becoming an increasingly popular activity for college students across America.
A hookah is a single or multi-stemmed water pipe used for smoking tobacco. Hookahs originated in the Middle East, nearly 3,500 years ago, and have recently grown in popularity in other countries including the U.S.A, the U.K., and elsewhere.

As a result of the hookah growing in popularity, hookah lounges have been established all over the country, most of which are near college towns and in urban areas.
According to an article by Lindsay Lyon titled “the Hazard of Hookah Smoke”, from the year 2000 to 2004, over 200 new hookah cafes have opened for business. They usually target the young-adult crowd; as the cafes are usually like the typical coffee shops that offer couches, dim lighting, coffee, and musical acts. It is also usually a very cultural atmosphere. The hookahs and tobacco appeal to a younger crowd largely because the flavors of tobacco that are offered are fruity, unusual flavors. Some popular flavors include the typical fruity flavors like apple and grape, but also other curious concoctions such as Rose, Mint Chocolate Chill, French Vanilla, Blueberry Muffin, and Tutti Fruitti.
The nearest hookah lounges can be found in State College. Grass Hopper Gifts, and Jamaica Junction are the two most popular lounges. Chronic Town was another very popular hookah lounge at PSU but recently closed down to due a flood in the building.
All lounges are usually filled with students hanging out on the sofas, doing homework, socializing, listening to music and of course enjoying a nicely prepared hookah by the café workers.
“I go to Jamaica Junction whenever I’m in State College,” said Kristin Shade, a LHU sophomore. “I really enjoy it. The workers are nice and it’s just a great place to chill before you go off and do something else, like see a movie. It would be really cool if Lock Haven had one.”
Hookahs themselves can be purchased right in the town of Lock Haven at Ashworx, a popular emporium for students and non-students alike.
Before Caffeine Nation closed down, the previous owners considered offering hookahs to smoke but decided against it because of the process needed to attain a permit to allow smoking inside of a public facility. Also deterring the consideration was the small size of the coffee shop. Offering hookahs would more than likely draw a big crowd, especially on weekends and for under age students who can’t go to bars, but of course, are at least 18. If a hookah lounge opened in Lock Haven it would need to be able to hold a decent amount of people.

“I have my own hookah that I got from Ashworx,” said sophomore, Matt Miller. “It’s cool to have. I usually just invite a few friends over, turn on some tunes, and make a nice hookah. It’s something to do, and a great way to just hang out and talk. It’s really relaxing.”
Smoking hookah should be enjoyed occasionally, for there are health risks if it is done too often. Many young people have the misconception that it is healthier than smoking cigarettes because it is water-based. They believe that the water filters all the “bad stuff” out, but according to many professional sources, these myths are severely wrong.
According to mayoclinic.com, a health guidance website, Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D. states that “It’s a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes. The tobacco is no less toxic. Hookah smokers actually inhale more tobacco smoke than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale.”
The World Health Organization also put out an advisory stating that in a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking, the smoker is exposed from 100 to 200 times the volume of smoked inhaled in a single cigarette.
Because the smoker inhales much more smoke in a single sitting than a cigarette, it also means that the hookah smoker is consuming higher levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide.
Despite these dangers and advisories, college students still continue to smoke out of hookahs whether it’s at home or at a hookah lounge.
“As a casual hookah smoker I can happily tell anyone that it’s quite fun,” said Jared Day, a LHU sophomore. “It has the allure the cigarettes do with the nicotine buzz along with the social aspects of exchanging conversation in a group of new or old friends. I guess you can take from the dangers what you will, but my personal opinion is who cares? Smoking hookah has existed in Asia for thousands of years. It’s like anything else in this country we live in; it’s not really bad for you unless it’s done in excess. So I say light the coals and hit the hoses but all in good moderation.”

Lyndsey Hewitt, October 15, 2009 lhueagleye

Relatively new, legal and easily accessible, hookah has become a popular pastime for college students around the United States, Texas Tech being no exception.

From fuzzy navel to citrus mint, hookah is available in several flavors of shisha, which is the mixture of tobacco cured in flavored molasses.

“My favorite flavor is social smoker,” said Mike Hayford, a junior psychology major from Flower Mound, “which is a mix of blueberry and blue mist. It has a citrus taste.”

And a social smoker he is. Hayford said he is attracted to hookah because it is a great opportunity to sit around and socialize with friends.

It is largely perceived to be harmless because warnings against the practice are not as prevalent as they are with other tobacco products and hookah is legal. However, new studies have produced statistics that counter this nonchalant view.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, hookah smokers may absorb higher concentrations of the toxins found in cigarette smoke because of factors such as length of the smoking session and depth of inhalation.

Hookah affects the body negatively just like anything else a person can smoke, Hayford said. He continues to smoke it because of the relaxed atmosphere it creates.

“I notice it when I go running,” he said. “It decreases lung capacity, but I don’t go hookah crazy. I do it because it makes me feel good, we call it the pleasure principle in psychology.”

Hayford said he never craves a chance to smoke hookah, and only has urges if he has had a tough day.

“I do not feel addicted at all,” he said.

George Camiskey, associate director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, said because the substance is fairly new, not many long-term studies have been conducted on its effects.

“Anything that someone ingests in his or her system can become physically addictive,” he said. “(Hookah) creates a similar experience to hallucinogen like LSD, a minor form of LSD, so there is a psychoactive response in the system.

“They can have flashbacks, there is some depression, especially if people have a history of mental health issues, and some of those can be triggered by the use of hookah or salvia.”
A few factors play a part in hookah’s popularity particularly among college students, Camiskey said. It is new, and that alone draws people in.

“I think it’s been in the Lubbock market for about five years or so,” he said, “people are always looking for something new.”

The lack of research also contributes, he said, because it is not controlled by the FDA, making it available to anyone of age and at public places like hookah lounges. Its availability “increases the acceptance level of it because the FDA hasn’t come out on a stance on it one way or another.”

“People are really excited about it,” Camiskey said. “They can get it easily, have fun, and it changes how they feel.”

Hayford’s roommate, Jack Delaney, a senior economics major from Flower Mound, bought a hookah that he and his roommates share.

“It was about $100, which is a little expensive,” he said. “They are really expensive in Texas, especially college towns because everyone wants one.”

A hookah is comprised of several parts, the central ones being its vase that contains the water, which connects to the pipe, the tray containing the shisha and the bowl supporting the coal. Finally, multiple hoses branch out allowing hookah users to smoke.

“The taller the pipe, the better the draws,” Delaney said. “It makes the buzz better. Also, the more hoses the better because it makes it so everyone can enjoy it without having to wait.”

Several stores in Lubbock sell hookah-related products, including SmokeHead Hookah and Coffee Shop on University.

Alyssa Warren, an employee of the shop for nine months, said the majority of the store’s customers are students who come in groups or bring their parents.

“A lot of students come in here in study groups to work,” she said. “Coffee places are sometimes overdone and loud, here its quiet and they can relax.”

Warren’s suspicions about hookah’s popularity are similar to other responses: It is new, legal and seemingly healthier than cigarettes.

Weeknights bring in large crowds of students who want to smoke before they go out to parties, she said. Hookah cultivates a relaxed, social atmosphere that students enjoy.
Recently, hookah sales have risen, she said, most likely because students find it cheaper to purchase one of their own instead of spending $10 a week at the shop.

“Prices range, the ones I recommend cost around $60,” Warren said. “It depends on the size of the base, which determines how much smoke you get, and the quality of he hoses.”
Students’ fascination will not disappear anytime soon, she said.

“Our parents smoked weed when they were younger,” Warren said. “Our generation seems to not be as crazy as our parents’. People can post pictures of them smoking hookah on Facebook because it is legal. Plus, it tastes really good.”

Dailytoreador