Smoking Tobacco Through Water Pipes

Did you know that while cigarette smoking is on the decline, smoking flavored tobacco through water pipes (hookah) is growing in popularity?

Warning: Hipsters! Water pipes and smokeless tobacco very popular in India, Scandinavia and the United States, are highly addictive, and have been linked to cancers of the head, neck, throat and esophagus, heart disease as well as serious dental conditions. So quit now.

A single session smoking Egypt's popular shisha waterpipes yields a nicotine intake equivalent to more than one pack of cigarettes or up to 100 time more smoke than a single cigarette, the World Health Organization said.

"One hour with a shisha (hookah) is equivalent to something between 100 and 200 cigarettes," Dr Fatima el-Awa, from the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional office said.

Those smoking flavored tobacco through water pipes, once predominant in the Middle East and now found in trendy cafes across Europe and North America, inhale dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar, according to The World Health Organization and a WHO report entitled "Tobacco: Deadly in Any Form or Disguise."

Shisha (waterpipes) was intoduced to Egypt in the 17th century by the Ottomans and can now found in Cairo's many coffee shops as well as the countryside.

Hookah: what is it? A bowl attached to a vase of water. The bowl contains tobacco that has a layer of foil with a hot coal on top. When lit, users say it generates a vapor different from smoke. There is a long tube and mouthpiece that the smoker uses to inhale the vapor.

What is shisha? A tobacco, molasses and fruit flavor mixture, according to WHO.

A thrid of Egypt's 34,000 annual tobacco-related deaths are from from shisha smoking, according to Mostafa Kamal from the Egyptian Smoking Prevention Research Institute.

44 percent of male medical students interviewed in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, smoked sheesha. 32.3 percent smoked cigarettes. The study found thant many of the students (18 to 26 years old) were from rich families.

In early 2008, public places suspected of shisha pipe smoking were raided by environmental health officers from Birmingham, England.

Smoking waterpipes is "not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking," according to WHO.

Are you addicted to nicotine? Take the Nicotine Addiction Test.

Phone, email and in person smoking cessation support is available to help you quit. And don't forget about Smoke-Free, the book.

7 questions to quit smoking.

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