HOW BAD IS A HOOKAH FOR YOU? ARE HOOKAH PIPES MORE DANGEROUS THAN CIGARETTES?

It’s rumored today that smoking hookah pipes is safer than smoking cigarettes. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you’re using a shisha or hookah pipe to smoke fruit-scented tobacco it’s not safe and actually dangerous to your health. How bad is hookah for you? Newest studies show that people who use hookah pipes are actually absorbing much more carbon monoxide than people who smoke cigarettes. There are even cafes and bars called hookah bars or shisa bars that have recently cropped up and many young people are flocking to them.

Medical experts are warning

But medical experts are warning about the dangers of smoking hookah pipes. The facts show there is less nicotine in the smoke vape from a waterpipe than there is in cigarette smoke however there is MORE nicotine in the smoke from using a waterpipe in just one use over 30-40 minutes than from puffing on a cigarette for 5-6 minutes.

And there is significantly more tar in smoking a hookah pipe than in cigarettes and tar is what causes heart disease and cancer, not nicotine.

Smoking hookah

It also appears that smoking hookah pipes is just as addictive as smoking cigarettes. It appears that physical dependence on nicotine and the psychological dependence that can occur are the same.

So it’s a myth that hookah smoke is not dangerous. It appears to be just as bad or dangerous if not more so than smoking cigarettes. It’s not known what effect inhaling arsenic, chromium, lead and cobalt will have over long term usage. Protect your lungs!

Waterpipe can increase infectious

There are also studies that show that using a waterpipe can increase infectious disease transmission and there can also be more dental problems. The metals in the pipe don’t appear to be a problem but it’s the metals in the smoke. There are much more metals than found in cigarettes.

Know what your risks are if you’re smoking a hookah pipe. You want to stop the addiction and risk to your health and possible death from cancer or other infectious diseases. What appears as a nice sweet flavor and an unfortunate myth about water filtration are really just bad for your health. Protect your lungs, heart and body from the effects of smoking hookah pipes. Do your research first if you’ve never smoked a hookah pipe. If you’re already smoking consider stopping before you become addicted and ruin your health. It may not be reversible. If you smoke, quit smoking now!

What’s the Hoopla About Hookah?

was recently contacted by a woman whose 16-year-old daughter and her friends have made their new “hang out spot” a hookah bar. Naturally, the mother was concerned. She wrote:

“I don’t know much about hookah bars, but a quick Google search informed me that they’re smoking something called Shisha which may even be more dangerous than cigarettes. I asked my daughter about it and she and her friends are all under the impression that it’s practically harmless because the smoke is filtered through water. Could you shed a little light on this for us?”

Hookah bars seem to be popping up everywhere and are something many parents are wondering about these days. In fact, I was one of those parents when a business client took our own daughter to a Hookah bar a few ago. She was already an adult and therefore able to make her own decisions about smoking, but I was still a concerned parent wondering what all the hoopla about Hookah was about.

For those who may not know about Hookah, here’s a “little light” on the subject:

  • First and foremost, Hookah is not any safer to inhale than cigarettes.
  • A hookah is a water pipe with a smoke chamber, a bowl, a pipe and a hose. Specially made tobacco is heated, and the smoke passes through water and is then drawn through a rubber hose to a mouthpiece.
  • The tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe, and the water in the hookah does not filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke.
  • Hookah smokers may actually inhale more tobacco smoke than cigarette smokers do because of the large volume of smoke they inhale in one smoking session, which can last as long as 60 minutes.
  • As with cigarette smoking, hookah smoking is linked to lung and oral cancers, heart disease, and other serious illnesses.
  • Hookah smoking delivers about the same amount of nicotine as cigarette smoking, possibly leading to tobacco dependence.
  • Hookah pipes used in hookah bars and cafes may not be cleaned properly, risking the spread of infectious diseases.

My suggestion to the vape mother was that she sit down with her daughter and explain these facts and then, if her daughter still thinks Hookah smoking is safe, take her on a web search together. Just type in, “Is hookah smoking dangerous?” or something similar and you will find a lot of good information that will shed a lot of light on the subject. You might start at the Mayo Clinic site where the information above came from.

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