It seems to have become a common saying, among my college cohorts, that smoking out of a hookah is somehow better for you. The belief among some waterpipe/hookah users is that this method of smoking tobacco delivers less tar and nicotine than regular cigarette smoking and has fewer adverse health effects. However, scientific evidence contradicts this oft-repeated myth.
In the past eight to 10 years, smoking tobacco with a hookah has grown in popularity in the United States, especially among adults 18 to 24.
People who use these devices don’t realize that they could be inhaling what is believed to be the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes in one typical 30-60 minute session with a waterpipe, because such a large quantity of pure, shredded tobacco is used
said Christopher Loffredo, Ph.D., Director of the Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology program at Georgetown University Medical Center.
How do we know the dangers of hookah you ask? Professors at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, for example, compared the toxicant exposure associated with waterpipe smoking and cigarette smoking among 31 participants between the ages of 18 and 50. Each participant completed two 45-minute sessions, one in which they smoked tobacco using a waterpipe and the other in which they smoked a single cigarette. The level of nicotine and carbon monoxide in the participants’ blood was measured, as was heart rate, puff number and puff volume.
They found that on average, the levels of carbon monoxide to which participants were exposed were higher when they were smoking a waterpipe than when they were smoking a cigarette. Specifically, the peak waterpipe COHb level — amount of carbon monoxide found bound to red blood cells — was three times that observed for cigarette. However, they observed that the peak nicotine levels did not differ — but there was exposure to nicotine through both methods of tobacco smoke. Examining the number and volume of each puff showed that compared with smoking a cigarette, waterpipe tobacco smoking involved inhalation of about 48 times more smoke.
Does it still sound OK?
Because the tobacco is burning at a lower temperature, it is more tolerable to inhale deeply, and in fact you need more force to pull air through the high resistance of the water pathway. That means the tobacco smoke can be penetrating deeper in a person’s respiratory tract than cigarette smoke does. Also, because the cooling water reduces the “harshness” of the smoke, compared to cigarette smoke, the smokers often hold in the smoke for longer.
Couple this with the pleasant aromas and “smooth” nature of the smoking, and you have got a recipe for cardiovascular disaster my friends.
We believe that, compared to the typical cigarette smoker, waterpipe smokers are exposed to larger total amounts of nicotine, carbon monoxide and certain other toxins
said Christopher Loffredo, Ph.D.
It may seem trendy, but remember that you are still smoking tobacco. You are still inviting the increased risk of cancer and all other detriments that come along with smoking. Just because the smoke “feels” better or is “smoother”, does not make it clean.
Another component of the misconception is that people think that the pollutants in the tobacco smoke are somehow “captured” or “filtered” by the passage through the cooling water. While some pollutants are water soluble, the most harmful ones, like tar, are not, and still make it into your lungs just like cigarettes. Even for water soluble pollutants, the contact time between them and the water is not long enough to provide significant removal. Besides, the really bad stuff, i.e. carcinogens still make it into your lungs through the insolubles like tar.
Actually think about it for a moment…You are still smoking tobacco, for longer periods, with more smoke entering your lungs, inhaling more deeply, and holding it in for longer. Would you do all that with a cigarette?
A 5 minute buzz in exchange for increased health risks? Pass.
Here is a CDC Fact Sheet on Hookah versus cigarette smoking with more sources and evidence.
Science-Based Life 
So what if you add a mild grain alcohol to the solution? Does that dissolve more tar?
It may help to clean out the waterpipe itself (after continuous use), but that it only changing the tar into a form you can remove easily. Even if the tar were to be removed in the water as the smoke passed through it, (which I don’t think would be likely, as you would need a high concentration of alcohol and a long contact time) the tar would still be present in the smoke in a slightly different form. Constituents of the tar would still be present in the smoke.
They compared smoking hookah to smoking one, I repeat one cigarette. That doesn’t really seem fair does it? How many smokers do you know who only smoke one cigarette in a day? Probably few if any. But how many times does someone smoke hookah in a day? Rarely more than once… a week or month. Yes it may be harmful to think of hookah as ‘safe’, but in reality it’s much less addictive, and you do it far less. People smoke hookah in moderation, people smoke cigarettes in excess. Remember to look at these sorts of studies with a skeptical eye.
I’ve never heard of people smoking hookah once a month, most people I know smoke it more than once a week, and almost every weekend. Remember to look at comments with a skeptical eye as well.
There are two problems with this.
1) Carbon Monoxide has no long term dangerous effect on the body and only causes temporary light headedness.
2) Nicotine is not a cancer causing agent. Nobody dies of nicotine, people die of the other chemicals contained in cigarette smoke.
Did you not read the article? Those carcinogens in the cigarette smoke are also in the hookah tobacco.
One need not smoke tobacco to get cancer from it.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/smokeless
people are gonna do what they want. Why don’t you hope off and let them? is it harming you? no. So stop judging others and let them live their life.
….and no I don’t smoke either so you can’t sit there in your little computer chair and say that “oh well she is obviously a fan of someone either hookah or cigarettes.” I just simply believe if people want to do something that makes them happy, then let them.
In mind mind there is a difference between judging people and thinking that people could enjoy their lives more if it wasn’t prematurely shortened by harmful activities that they believe to be benign.
Nichole wrote: “I just simply believe if people want to do something that makes them happy, then let them.”
Case 1: Some people want to exterminate infidels. They are happy when they exterminate infidels.
(So should we let them exterminate infidels?)
Case 2: Some infidels do not want to be exterminated. They are happy not being exterminated.
So let them not be exterminated, if they can manage it.
Case 3: Some people want to smoke tobacco. They are happy when they smoke tobacco.
So let them smoke tobacco even if it kills them.
Case 4: Some people want to convince tobacco addicts to quit. They are happy when they convince tobacco addicts to quit.
So let them run anti-smoking campaigns.
Case 5: Some people want to promote perception of happiness as the ultimate guide to rational and ethical behavior. They are happy when they are promoting this idea.
So let everyone do whatever makes them happy.
Nichole wrote: “people are gonna do what they want. Why don’t you hope off and let them? is it harming you? no. So stop judging others and let them live their life.”
I think your philosophy is shallow and meaningless in this particular instance.
No one is attacking hookah smokers and you are not protecting them.
So long as they are not leaving the smoke and residue in places I want to be, fine.
I would prefer they not self-destruct. I might even ask them to treat themselves a bit better, and give them reasons why they would want to avoid emphysema and other adverse effects of smoking.
I do not perceive that as making unwarranted judgement of other people.
In fact, I see it as compassion and reason.
I don’t have a choice in whether people smoke or not, and usually do not have a stake in the outcome of their behaviors, so long as I do not have to endure the toxic products they produce.
So what motivates your comment? You are not getting hurt by an essay concerning the harm incurred by tobacco smoking. Your motivation to complain about it is not clear, nor is your reasoning.
hop*
Not that it makes any difference.
I have heard similar comments in the past.
Typically they came from smokers.
Rationalizing via the happiness factor, as you can see above, can be irrational.
I think that it is definitely irrational when people get upset just because someone points out that smoking leads to adverse health outcomes.
It used to be where I live that someone could light up in a restaurant and thereby make everyone else partake in their drug habit. Even after they left, the toxins and offensive odor their habit produced remained for other patrons.
Smokers sometimes would get defensive when asked to stop, as if they were being victimized. So I stopped going to restaurants.
That situation was changed by law. Patronage probably increased due to that change. Still, supporters of the tobacco industry are ever willing to present rather paranoid, short-sighted analyses to pseudo-justify smoking anywhere at any time, making it out to be some philosophical and ethical imperative that they or others be respected for their alleged right to emit tobacco smoke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debi_Austin
http://bigstory.ap.org/photo/debi-austin-0
Nicotine is always the bad part of cigarette smoking aside from the cancerous compounds that you can find on the smoke itself.`
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Hello colleagues, how is everything, and what you
would like to say regarding this paragraph, in my view its really awesome designed for me.
If smoking hookah for one session REALLY is equivalent to a whole pack of cigs I would have died each time I smoked hookah from nicotine OD. MYTH
Obviously not, since even people who smoke 2-3 packs a day do not OD.
who said he only smoked for three 45 minute sessions? maybe he blasted his hookah all day. So you can’t really say “obviously not” because you obviously don’t know.
This study is completely incorrect! They definitely used dry tobacco for this study. I suggest anyone who thinks hookah is harmful do this quick test: Take a paper towel and blow your hookah “smoke” into it the whole session. All it will do is build up water vapor. Now take a standard cigarette. Take a drag or two and blow your smoke into the paper towel. What you will find is it turns orange-y brown.
As for the nicotine, if you smoke brands like “Social Smoke”, “Al Fakher”, or “Starbuzz”, they contain 0.05% nicotine. That’s barely any nicotine!
Thank you.
I would trust the toxicology of a medical study over an anecdotal “blow in a paper towel test.”
Also, the harm isn’t just in hookah tobacco, it’s that you are smoking for longer, with more smoke, and holding that smoke in for longer.
Thanks !
I wish i had the study they did in india/pakistan where theyve been smoking since the dinosaurs died. it said that excessive hooka smoking amounted to moderate cig smoke and that light hooka was bearly light cig smoking. anyways, ive smoked in one month several hours a day for about 30-40 days straight. after that i went ‘cold turkey’ (i didnt have any post addictive affect) and was fine, granted i worked out a lot, etc. i just feel that both sides blow out of proportion, if hooka was so terrible then all of india/afghanistan/pakistan would ahve massive lung cancer, ive been over there and all they do is smoke that stuff.
also smoke is smoke, just because its x100 smoke, what does that actually mean? x100 carcinogens?
What if i just purchased a vapor pen? Is that still bad ?
This was great, clearly written article. Thank you for articulating another reason why I try to respect my body and not to pump a bunch of toxins into it! I’d definitely pass on a 5 minute buzz for increased health benefits.
The bottom line is that people who CHOOSE to smoke hookah make an INFORMED choice… Many believe that it is not toxic, harmful , or addictive. If people are conscious about the effects and still do it.. then, they can’t say no one told them so!
Smoking hookah shisha is less perilous than smoking smoke, this is the fundamental excuse for why, why you can see more individuals are attempting it. Not just that you can revel in distinctive essences incorporating few delicious pineapple and different products of the soil, which is the essential excuse for why they are turning more in vogue than different choices.
What about the fact that cigarette smoke is actual smoke and hooka is vaporized molasses mixed with tobacco…..Smoke VS Vapor ….not smoke VS smoke… this study is invalid till a study on Smoke vs Vapor is done
I really think that smoking a hookah is not at all bad as cigarettes and m also a fan of hookah and i do feel that its not that dangerous foe health.