Hookah, or shisha, has a wide group of supporters who believe that smoking is not only pleasant, but also has many advantages. However, experts argue that hookah is much more harmful than traditional cigarettes and it is not its only drawback. What should you know about hookah before using it for the first time?

Hookah-shisha(shisha) became popular in Poland only relatively recently, but its smoking has a centuries-old tradition.

Historical sources say that her homeland is the Far East, specifically the region of today's India and Pakistan, from where it spread to many closer and more distant lands: to Syria, Egypt, Turkey, where they were known and burned over five hundred years ago .

Its name - shisha - comes from Urdu, but the meaning is not entirely clear: it is commonly thought that the word means "pot" or "jar", but in modern dictionaries there is no exact translation of the name.

Hookah (shisha) - construction

Initially, shisha was made of coconut shells and wood. Over the centuries, its shape has taken various forms, and other materials have been used to create it, including metal and glass.

Shisha as we know it today has a complex structure.

Its base is a jug into which water is poured - most often glass, ceramic or copper, richly decorated with oriental ornaments.

The pitcher has a body: usually it is a metal pipe, also richly ornamented, through which air is supplied and excess smoke is removed.

It ends with a bowl, i.e. a small vessel in which fruit tobacco is placed, wrapped in aluminum foil, and a hot charcoal is placed on it.

The water pipe also has a two-piece flexible or metal tube with a mouthpiece through which the smoke that forms in the glass jar is inhaled.

Hookah (shisha) - action

The water pipe is equipped with a special container for fruit tobacco (molasses), which is heated with charcoal or coconut shell charcoal.

After lighting the coal, the tobacco smoke passes through the jug partially filled with water (it cools down there, as the water acts as a filter), and then inhalesit is carried out by the smoker using a tube attached to the pipe.

Hookah is characterized by the type of tobacco used, to which fruit flesh is added - most often it is the flesh of apples, grapes, cherries, bananas, watermelons or lemons. This addition means that the smoke from the burning tobacco does not leave an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth.

The way the pipe is constructed makes its smoke not only does not smell like the one from classic cigarettes, but it is even stunningly aromatic and is associated with the smell of Arab marketplaces.

It does not settle on hair, skin or clothes, and what is important, it does not irritate non-smokers.

Water pipe (shisha) - rather in company

In the Far and Middle East, for centuries, the hookah was an indispensable element of social gatherings, during which a vessel filled with water and tobacco passed from mouth to mouth.

Shisha does not burn alone in our country as well: hookah is an increasingly popular element of parties, it can also be an addition that can be ordered with a dish in restaurants serving Middle Eastern cuisine.

Nevertheless, there are also supporters of smoking it on a lazy, lonely evening with a book or in front of the TV.

Hookah (shisha) - effects of smoking

For many years smoking was believed to have only advantages: it relaxes, smells good, is much he althier than puffing on classic cigarettes or pipes. Passionate smokers explained this by the construction of the hookah and the fact that all harmful substances from tobacco dissolve in water.

Experts from the World He alth Organization, however, refuted this myth. Here are the facts:

  • Flavored tobacco smoke contains the same toxins as ordinary cigarette smoke and does not dissolve in water
  • a person who smokes a hookah consumes up to 1 liter of smoke with each inhalation (for comparison, the average cigarette smoker inhales half as much). A water pipe is smoked for much longer than a cigarette (one session is an hour or two on average), and during one session, on average, up to 200 liters of toxic smoke are released into the lungs.

The hour of smoking a hookah is just as harmful as smoking a hundred cigarettes.

  • someone who smokes the same hookah in partnership with one or more friends runs the risk of contracting a variety of infections, including herpes, tuberculosis, and droplet infections (e.g. meningococcal infections). WHO research shows that in the eastern Mediterranean alone, hookah is responsible for nearly 20percentage of tuberculosis cases.
  • smoking shisha is also one of the risk factors for esophageal cancer - it has been proven, among others, by Research conducted in northern Iran, where the incidence of this type of cancer is particularly high.

Is shisha addictive?

Shisha smoking advocates argue that occasional hookah smoking is not as addictive as cigarette smoking.

This is not entirely true.

The water filter in the shisha, although it does not dissolve toxins or tar, it absorbs a certain amount of nicotine - but the remaining amount is so large that it is easy to become addicted.

The aromatic substances contained in the flavored tobacco can make even small amounts of nicotine have a stronger effect on the body.

Important!

Some companies that make shisha tobacco say on their packaging that it is tar-free. Such substances are not contained in any type of tobacco, because they are a "side effect" "of its combustion.

When smoking a hookah, the tobacco is toasted, not burned, so the amount of tar is emitted more than in conventional cigarettes.

Category:

Psychology