Social, But Not Safer
This trend could be “the second global tobacco epidemic since the cigarette”1
Originally a religious practice in Asia and the Middle East, hookah smoking has become a popular social activity for U.S. youth and adults.2
Hookah is a water pipe that is used to burn specially made tobacco that has been mixed with flavors.3
Here are the hookah basics:
- Hookahs vary in size and style, but a typical modern hookah has a head, metal body, water bowl and flexible hose with mouthpiece.3
- The flavored smoke is inhaled through the hose, usually shared in groups and passed from person to person.
- The tobacco mixture in hookah, called shisha (pronounced SHE-shuh), is heated using charcoal.
- Hookah is also known as narghile, argileh, hubble-bubble, and goza.3
- Newer forms of hookah include steam stones and battery powered hookah pens. Both of these create a vapor that’s inhaled.