Hookah…a safer alternative to cigarettes?

Middle Eastern men have enjoyed hookah smoking for hundreds of years. Now, hookah bars are popping up throughout the United States. They are especially common in college towns, and even Iowa City has two of them. A hookah is a water pipe used to smoke flavored tobacco. The tobacco is placed in a bowl or on a plate in the water pipe, and it is heated with charcoal. When a smoker inhales, smoke bubbles through the water, down the tube, and into his/her mouth. Usually, hookah smoking is done as a social activity, and many people sit around and share the hookah.

Hookah enthusiasts say that the tobacco smoked from the water pipe is a healthy alternative to cigarette use. They say that the water in the pipe filters out the toxins of the tobacco. However, this claim is false, and health officials are definitely not giving hookah smoking their seal of approval. Hookah smoking has all of the risks associated with cigarette smoking, and possibly some additional ones.

A typical session of hookah smoking lasts 45 to 50 minutes, whereas smoking one cigarette only takes about five minutes. Because of the greater amount of time and the fact that the tobacco is usually flavored, a person tends to inhale anywhere from 100 to 200 times as much smoke than he/she would when smoking a cigarette. The amount of carbon monoxide in hookah smoke varies, but it generally ranges from the same amount found in a cigarette to almost four times as much. The tar is approximately the same as a person would get from smoking 20 cigarettes. Research has also shown that a person typically gets double to triple the amount of nicotine from hookah smoking compared to cigarette smoking , which would indicates a high potential for addiction. The fact that charcoal is used to heat the tobacco may result in the inhalation of significant amounts of heavy metals including arsenic, cobalt, lead, and chromium.

The high volume of these dangerous chemicals can lead to some serious health risks. As with cigarettes, hookah smoke causes many changes to the cardiovascular system. Hookah smokers experience elevations in heart rate and blood pressure, which puts them at an increased risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. They are at an increased risk of getting gum disease, eczema of the hand, and cancers of the lip, tongue, and bladder. Hookah smokers have also been shown to be at an even higher risk for lung cancer and other lung problems than cigarette smokers.

Not only are the chemicals in hookah smoke dangerous, but the method used in hookah smoking also creates some health risks. Because multiple people share the same hookah and oftentimes the same mouthpiece, there is potential for the spread of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, hepatitis C, herpes simplex, and a variety of respiratory viruses.

Since hookah smoking is such a new trend in the United States, much more research needs to be done on its use and effects. The claim that hookah is a “healthy alternative to smoking” is simply not true.

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