Hookah Guy

CIGARETTE? Not for me, thanks. But a waterpipe - or shisha - is a different proposition. The deliciously smooth and exotic mix of tobacco and molasses filtered through water fills me with a longing to be, just for a second, on the sunlit streets of Damascus, Marrakesh, Cairo or Tunis. I love the shisha - its sturdy, curving base, thin stem, charcoal holder and the tongs that go with it. In Tunis last summer for an Arabic course, I was soon ordering wahad shisha tufair, an apple shisha, as naturally as I would a cup of coffee. Back in London, on the Edgware Road, the city's "Little Beirut", I had enjoyed the ritual of sharing a waterpipe with friends after work, savouring the delirious head rush at the end of a long day. . . . Back in Tunis, I could spend a lifetime touring the capital's cafés - indeed many local men do. Away from Avenue Bourguiba, the modern city centre, Tunisian women are rarely seen smoking, but tourists generally can puff away with impunity. The medina contains some lovely old cafés, many in states of considerable decay. I had a smoking session and lengthy discussion with a muezzin from the local mosque near Bab Jazira in Montfleury

In the most recent issue of the medical journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, a study led by Dr. Stephanie Smith-Simone and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond documents attitudes and behaviors of water pipe users — and makes some disturbing findings. Water pipe use, also known as hookah or hukka, is becoming increasingly popular among American youth, particularly college students. . . . There is no disagreement, however, that the worst cancer-causing chemicals — the so-called tobacco specific nitrosamines — are present in water pipe smoke. In addition, particles within the smoke irritate the lungs, causing inflammation that in turn can lead to bronchitis and emphysema. In fact, some evidence suggests that airflow rates among regular hookah smokers are reduced more frequently than among cigarette smokers. And that is not the end of the story. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the length of hookah smoking sessions combined with the depth of inhalation expose smokers to 100 to 200 times the volume of a single cigarette. Moreover, hookah smokers can develop the same diseases as cigarette smokers, including heart disease and cancers of the mouth, lung and bladder. Cancer development is not surprising because water pipe smoking causes DNA changes in the cells of these smokers compared to nonsmokers. Despite these scary risks, Smith-Simone and colleagues document relatively favorable attitudes toward water pipe smoking compared with cigarette smoking. . . . Not to mention the bad breath, smelly clothes, tooth staining and premature wrinkles that go along with any tobacco smoke exposure. Harmless hookah? Romantic smoking? Hardly.

Smoking hookah tobacco is a rising trend among many college students as a means of socializing, but according to Peggy Foyle, few are aware of the risks involved. Foyle, assistant director of the NT Student Health and Wellness Center and director of Meadows Center for Health Resources, said she would not recommend smoking hookah just as she wouldn't recommend smoking cigarettes, but she understands why it has become so popular. "I think it is a social and cultural thing for many people," she said. "It has an exotic atmosphere, which I think is appealing to many students."

A restaurant owner campaigning for the right to serve shisha pipes on his premises has appeared in court accused of ignoring the smoking ban. Shazeer Merali could face fines of more than ?5,000 if Bingley magistrates find him guilty of two charges of allowing people to smoke in his premises. Mr Merali owns the Markaz Restaurant and Shisha Lounge in Bradford. He told the court he allows customers to smoke shisha pipes, because he would go out of business if he did not.