Hookah

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A hookah (Arabic: حقة; Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा / حقّہ) is a multi-stemmed, often glass-based water pipe device for smoking, originating from India but gained fame and spread to the world under the Ottoman Empire which is now present day Turkey.^{[citation needed]} A hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits and tobacco. Depending on locality, hookahs are known as other names, such as a shisha/sheesha, water pipe, nargeela/nargile/narghile/nargileh, argeela/arghileh, okka, kalyan, or ghelyoon/ghalyan. Many of these names are of Arab, Somalian, Indian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Uzbek, or Persian origin. Narghile (نارگيله) is from the Persian word nārgil (نارگیل) or "coconut", and in Sanskrit nārikela (नारीकेल) and it was made out of coconut shells.^[1] Shisha (شيشة) is from the Persian word shishe (شیشه, literally translated as glass and not bottle). Hashish (حشيش) is an Arabic word for grass, which may have been another way of saying tobacco. Another source states, "In early Arabic texts, the term hashish referred not only to cannabis resin but also to the dried leaves or flower heads and sweetmeats made with them".^[2] Hookah itself may stem from Arabic uqqa, meaning small box, pot, or jar. Both names refer to the original methods of constructing the smoke/water chamber part of the hookah.

Narghile is the name most commonly used in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Bulgaria and Romania, though the initial "n" is often dropped in Arabic. Shisha is more commonly seen in Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. In Iran it is called ghalyoun or ghalyan (قليان) and in Pakistan and India it is referred to as huqqa. The archaic form of this latter name, hookah is most commonly used in English for historical reasons, as it was in India that large numbers of English-speakers first sampled the effects of the water pipe. William Hickey wrote in his Memoirs that shortly after his arrival in Calcutta in 1775:

The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, 'Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without'.....[I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.^[3]

Contents 1 Shisha 2 Culture 2.1 Middle East 2.2 United States and Canada 2.3 Europe 2.4 Asia 2.5 South Africa 3 Style and health 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Shisha

Main article: shisha

The history of Shisha goes back to the western parts of India (Now Pakistan) which was part of Persia (now known as Iran). The Indians used to smoke tobacco in Coconuts. Later, wealthy Persians made the hookah what it looks today. The hookah made its way from the Persian Empire to other parts of the Persian empire which also included Pakistan, Afghanistan, much of Middle Asia and Arab parts of Northern Africa.[1]

Today Hookah is a smoking pipe known to the world in countries such as Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Libya and... Different synonyms for hookah, water pipe, or narghile(Persian: نارگیل Coconut). The term “shisha” (Persian: شیشه Glass) is primarily used for water pipes in Egypt and the Arabic countries of the Persian Gulf (such as Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia).

The practice of adding strong flavors is a relatively recent one but has grown in popularity in the past 20 years.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Middle East

In Arab and Persian society, social smoking is done with a single hose (Sometimes two hoses). When the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is free, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece does not point at the person receiving it. Stories tell Nasser al-Din Shah thought of it as an insult but there are no official facts. Another tradition is that the receiver taps or slaps the giver on the back of the hand while taking it as a sign of respect or friendship.

However in cafés and restaurants it is rare for each smoker not to order an individual hookah (as they are very affordable in the region often ranging from $2 to $10 depending on the place).

Shisha cafés, normally called "gahwa" (Persian: قهوه)(standing for coffee shop), are rather widespread, and are amongst the main social gathering places in the Arab world (similar to the status pubs have in the UK).

Iran

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In Iran, the hookah is known as a ghalyan (Persian: قليان). It is similar in many ways to the Arabic hookah but has its own unique attributes. An example is the top part of the Hookah called 'sar' (Persian: سر=head) where the tobacco is placed and is bigger than the ones we see in Turkey. Also the major part of the hose is flexible and covered with soft silk or cloth while the Turkish make the wooden part as big as the flexible part.

There are mouthpieces called Amjid (امجید) that each person has his own personal one, usually made of wood or metal and decorated with valuable or other stones. Amjids are only used for their fancy look. However, all the Hookah Bars (Ghahve Khaane) have plastic mouth-pieces.

Use of water pipes in Iran can be traced back to the Qajar period. In those days the hoses were made of sugar cane. Persian had a special Tobacco called Khansar (خانسار, presumably name of the origin city). The charcoals would be put on the Khansar without foil. Khansar has less smoke than the normal tobacco.

Today in many regions of the country, especially Tehran, men and women of all ages visit tea houses and traditional restaurants for the sake of smoking. Hookah is highly popular in Iran even today, and can be seen commonly in many teahouses, restaurants, and similar public spaces. The hookah is frequently served along with tea, palm dates, and other sweets to alleviate the change in blood pressure that may be caused by smoking it. Ordering hookah in the tea houses costs usually between 1000 and 2000 tomans (US$1-2) while in fancy restaurants it could be up to 8000 (US$8). The hookah pipe itself has a price range from 3,500 toman (US$4) to 4,000,000-5,000,000 Toman (US$4000-5000).^{[citation needed]}

The hookah was, until recently, served to all ages; Iranian officials have since passed a law forbidding its use by those under 14.^{[citation needed]}

Turkey

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In Turkey, narghile is done on a social basis, usually in one's home with guests or in a cafe with friends. Most cities have narghile cafes where narghile is offered with a non-alcoholic drink. This is mainly for health reasons rather than religious reasons. Often people will smoke nargile after dinner as a replacement for cigarettes. In bigger cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Adana, restaurants may have dinner & nargile specials which includes meal, beverage (alcoholic/non-alcoholic), Turkish coffee and nargile. In certain parts of the country people use nargile cafes to watch popular TV shows, national sports games, etc. and smoke nargile to socialize.

In Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon the hookah is prevalent among Palestinian Arabs and Middle-Eastern Jewish immigrants from places like Yemen, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Hookah use is also common in the Palestinian Arab home where families will commonly smoke after a large meal or at a family gathering. Many Israeli families have also adopted this custom, although individual usage patterns vary according to culture heritage and custom.

[edit] United States and Canada

Main article: hookah lounge

In the United States and Canada, many city, state/provincial and federal jurisdictions have in more recent years moved to ban smoking in public places. Though most jurisdictions, through the purchase of a special permit, allow hookah businesses to remain open to the public, others do not. This has caused many hookah lounges and bars to close their doors to the public. In many cases, hookah businesses have been able to remain in business by replacing their traditional, tobacco-based shisha with tobacco-free, herbal alternatives. In New York City, where there is a strong smoking ban, hookah bars have managed to remain open in Little Egypt, Astoria, Queens, despite complaints from local residents.^[4]

There remains an attachment to Shisha bars/coffee shops in cities with large Arab/Middle-eastern populations such as Montreal in Canada.

Hookah bars or cafés are showing up throughout the United States, especially near college campuses in cities with large Arab and Middle-Eastern populations. The use of hookahs is very popular among college students in America as well.

[edit] Europe

In Spain, the use of the hookah has been recently increasing in popularity, and they are usually readily available at tea-oriented coffee houses, called teterías in Spanish, which often are run by Muslim immigrants or have some other sort of affinity with the east. Hookahs are usually sold at prices between €10 and €70, and hookah tobacco and charcoal is easily found in those same coffee houses, or at stores run by eastern immigrants. Immigrants and native Spanish alike enjoy this custom, and it is usually seen as a lighter way of smoking than cigarettes. Buying one's own tobacco and hookah is usually noticeably less expensive than ordering hookahs at a coffee house.

Hookahs are also becoming increasingly popular in Moscow and other Russian cities. Many bars employ a "hookah man" (Rus. кальянщик tr. kal'janschik), often of middle-eastern appearance and wearing an approximation of Arab or Turkish costume, to bring the pipes to customers' tables and to prepare and light the tobacco. A single hookah and hose are normally used; interchangeable plastic mouthpieces in sealed wrappings may be provided to each person at the table for hygiene reasons, but these are often ignored.

In Britain, hookahs are sometimes seen in Indian restaurants but are most commonly found in Lebanese restaurants and Egyptian-run "hubbly-bubbly" bars. Concentrations of these hookah establishments are often found in close proximity to University campuses, as on Rusholme's Curry mile in Manchester or in Oxford, and they cater to a mixture of British and Middle-Eastern clientèle amongst students. A ban on public smoking was enacted in Scotland in 2006, and a similar ban will take effect in England in April 2007. The effect of these laws on hookah bars is not yet clear. There are many of these hookah cafe's, run by Arabians, Egyptians or Pakistanis/Indians and the price for one session of hookah smoking ranges from £4.00 a session to £15.00 a session.

Hookah smoking has also risen in popularity in Germany, particularly in Berlin and Cologne, where many hookah bars exist due in part to a relatively large Turkish population. Hookahs are also very easy to acquire. During the 2006 World Cup, many booths in the area outside of the Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof specialized in selling the water-pipes and flavored tobacco. In addition, many people create homemade hookahs due to the relative ease of construction and the high cost of a quality pipe. Hooka (locally called Shisha) bars are even commonly found in towns with just 100,000 inhabitants.

In Sweden, hookah smoking is on the rise. Cheap hookahs and hookah-related products, like tobacco and charcoal, is now available in the many kiosk-like businesses run by immigrants, mostly of middle-eastern origin, found in the larger cities. Hookahs are mostly used by teenagers and immigrants, but the use is slowly becoming more widespread. Hookah bars and similar establishments are still very rare though, in part due to anti-smoking laws.

[edit] Asia

In Asia, particularly South and South East Asia the hookah is becoming better known, and cafés and restaurants that offer it as a consumable are popular.

In Pakistan, hookah smoking has become a trendy social activity in which youth can legally partake. Numerous hookah bars exist in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, and Faisalabad. Normally the ambiance is dominated by Punjabi bhangra, Turkish music or arabic music and deliberately oriental interior decoration. Younger tourists or expatriates in Pakistan can often be found "chill-marring" in such establishments.

In India, for example, hookah smoking was popularized by a small cafe in central India called Mr. Beans in the city of Indore. Because of its success, cafés began to spring up all over metropolitan India. http://www.mrbeans.org

Malaysia too has seen an increase in sheesha use and cafes offering sheesha pipes.^[5] In the Philippines, the popularity is vastly growing, in the capital's most cosmopolitan city, Makati, various high-end bars and clubs offer hookahs to patrons. In Afganistan, hookah has also started to become popular especially in Kabul.

Although hookah use has been common for hundreds of years and enjoyed by people of all ages, it has just begun to become a youth-oriented pastime in Asia in recent times. Hookahs are most popular with college students and teenagers, who may be underage and thus unable to purchase cigarettes.^[6]

[edit] South Africa

In South Africa, hookah, colloquially known as a hubbly bubbly, is popular amongst the Cape Malay, Indian and black population, where it is smoked as a social past-time.^[7] But is increasing in popularity with whites, especially the youth. Hookah bars are relatively uncommon, and smoking is normally done at home or in public spaces such as beaches and picnic sites.

[edit] Style and health

A review published in the medical journal Pediatrics found that the concentration of cancer-causing and addictive substances in water-pipes may be equal to those found in cigarettes, with the heat involved being sufficient to generate carcinogenic nitrosamines, and the smoldering charcoal adding some carcinogenic hydrocarbons as well as heavy metals to the smoke.^[8] Similarly, a study in the November 2005 issue of the Journal of Periodontology found that the impact of water pipe smoking is equivalent in magnitude to that of cigarette smoking.^[9] Allegedly, use of the hookah may increase the smoker's toxic exposure, in that studies have shown that the typical hookah smoker spends more time per smoking session exposed to the smoke than do other smokers, presumably because the smoke is less immediately harsh or irritating. Thomas Eissenberg, a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University co-authored a review on hookah smoking[1] which found that a session of hookah smoking which lasts about 45 minutes, delivers 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide and 70% more nicotine than a single cigarette.^[10] Generally, a cigarette will last no more than 5 minutes, which makes approximately 9 cigarettes in order to compare to the 45 minutes hookah session. The effects of the higher temperature at the tip of the cigarette as opposed to while smoking Shisha are unresearched. A study in the Journal of Periodontology found that hookah smokers were five times more likely than non-smokers to have signs of gum disease.^{[citation needed]} This is of concern to doctors in North America, as 86% of colleges and universities have at least one hookah lounge within close proximity^{[citation needed]}.

Other researchers have raised objections to the methods used in these studies, most notably Kamal Chaouachi, author of early comprehensive writings on the subject [2]. Oliver Clarke also said he is ready to participate in a debate[3]. The quick-lighting charcoal used by many hookah smokers may be an additional hazard, because it is assumed that it produces greater levels of carbon monoxide and other dangerous substances than standard charcoal (though this has not been demonstrated and needs further research). The quick-lighting charcoal is produced by mixing powdered charcoal with various chemicals such as potassium nitrate, that allow it to be quickly and easily ignited.

The hookah can be also used to smoke marijuana. The top is taken off entirley ( where you would put the shisha) and the tuner ( the ball and cap ) are removed. People place the bud in the smaller whole while covering the bigger one ( the top.) User's find a greater experience due to the fact the smoke is being cooled before inhaled.

[edit] See also

• Health effects of tobacco smoking

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Sacred Narghile
• U.S. Hookah Bars Directory
• Hookah news page - Alcohol and Drugs History Society
• Hookah trend is puffing along - USA Today

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