Hookah Urban Myth

Hookah, an Arab-derived water pipe used to smoke flavored tobacco through cooled water, is legal in the United States.  Urban myth says that this kind of relaxed smoking is healthier than cigarette smoking.  Urban myth is wrong.

Hookahs are used by heating tobacco in a bowl at the top of the hookah, and then filtering the smoke through the water in the base of the hookah.

This flavored tobacco, called shisha, is soaked in honey, fruit, or molasses making it sticky and sweet.  Just like regular tobacco, however, shisha contains a high amount of unhealthy chemicals.

According to a World Health Organization advisory, a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking exposes the user to 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette. Even after passing through water, tobacco smoke still contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens).

“I’m not a smoker, but when I go out I smoke hookah because it’s relaxing and I heard it wasn’t addictive,” said Arizona State University senior Tom McLaughlin.

A Columbia University study testing hookah smoke found high levels of nicotine present, the addictive compound in cigarette smoke.

Tobaccofreeu.org compared hookah smoke to the smoke of a single cigarette in a 2007 report.  The hookah smoke was found to contain higher levels of arsenic, lead, and nickel, 36 times more tar, and 15 times more carbon monoxide.

Another major health concern regarding the smoking process itself is the spreading of sickness, infection and bacteria through smoking.  Hookah is promoted to be a social activity, and smokers commonly share the same hose to inhale the tobacco smoke.  This causes widespread germ distribution.

This 500-year-old Middle Eastern tradition has been banned for those under the age of 18, but the phenomenon has led to the sprouting of over 300 hookah establishments in the United States alone.

Guest article contributed by Sara Fogel
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

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