Shisha

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Shisha tobacco, as shown here, often has a damp and sticky appearance derived from the honey or other sweeteners added.

A Shisha pipe (Persian:شیشه, glass), also known as a hookah, water pipe, or argileh, is a smoking pipe. The term is often used to refer to the tobacco smoked in shisha pipes. Less frequently, this substance is called tobamel or maassel.

The history of shisha goes back to the northern parts of India which was part of Persia (now known as Iran). Tobacco used to be smoked in coconuts. Later, wealthy Persians gave hookah the appearance they have today; they were designed to smoke opium, and hashish. The hookah made its way from the Persian Kingdom to other parts of the Persian empire which also included India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, much of Middle Asia and Arab parts of Northern Africa.^[1]

Today the Hookah is a smoking pipe used worldwide. The term “shisha" is primarily used for water pipes in Egypt and the Arabic countries of the Persian Gulf (such as Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia). It is referred to as Argileh in Arab Mediterranean countries.

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

[edit] Shisha

The word "Shisha" comes from the persian word shisheh meaning glass. Alternate terms discussed here originate from terms for the smoking material itself but none of them are used among English-speakers with the same frequency as shisha due to its distinctive double voiceless postalveolar fricative.

Shisha is also known as Narghila in classical Arabic, and Argileh in spoken Arabic (Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian accents).

There are generally regarded to be two classifications of shisha tobacco: maassal and tumbak(ajami). Ajami shisha is made from pure tobacco leaves and is usually more expensive than maassal. Ajami shisha is soaked in water for 10 minutes and then shaped into an inverted cone and put on the bowl (or the head of the shisha, "rass"). The cone should be poked in the middle all the way down for allowing air in. A lit charcoal is placed on the top. Maassal is made of tobacco, honey, fruits(apple, strawberries, mint, mixed fruit, etc.) and molasses. A deeper bowl is used for maassal than for ajami, and the lit charcoal is placed on a small sheet of punctured foil surmounting the bowl and its contents, rather than directly on the shisha.

[edit] Tobamel

Tobamel is a portmanteau derived from Latin. The tob element is a shortening of tobacco and mel is a word for honey.

[edit] Maassel

Maassel (also rendered as mu'essel and various other ways) is Arabic for honeyed.

[edit] Tumbâk

Tumbâk is word of Turkish origin and refers simply to tobacco, not necessarily flavored or sweetened. The Farsi word tumbeki and the Urdu word Tumbako are similar.

[edit] Jurâk

Jurâk, mainly of Indian origin, might be considered as an intermediate substance between traditional sweetened tobaccos and the fruity shisha of modern times. The term applies both to a tobacco mixture that includes fruits or aromatic oils as well as tobacco that is just sweetened.

[edit] Merchandising

Some notable brands of flavored tobacco from include: Abajûra, El-bâshâ , El-'Esfahâny, En-nahla, Ibyâry, Shîh 'el-beled, Zeglûl. All of these are Egyptian except for Shîh 'el-beled which is Tunisian.

This is in addition to Bahraini molasses such as Bahraini Apple (done by local firms, and adopted by huge international Shisha molasses firms such as Al Nakhla as well), and Bahraini Zeglul, and UAE Based Al Fakher molasses, which is often softer in taste than the Egyptian molasses. Today there are also numerous varieties produced in the West with more coming to market each year.

Besides being sold in little packets as is rolling tobacco, shisha is also sold in cardboard boxes and plastic jars. Packaging is generally illustrated with bright floral motifs, fruit, lush gardens and romantic images of sultans or pashas.

The relative proportions of tobacco, treacle, fruits and spices, on average, 30%, 50% and 20% respectively. The substance is generally valid for two years; boxes usually indicate the production date. Health warnings about lung cancer risks and cardiovascular disease appear on these products as they do tobacco products elsewhere in the world.

Some manufacturers produce tobacco-free flavored herbal blends and market these as shisha as well.

[edit] Flavours

Shisha is sold in a proliferation of flavours. Some of the flavours in which it is available are derived from the addition of artificial flavourings'; other manufacturers shun these. A few of the flavours are based upon the odor of flowers. Flavours include vanilla, coconut, rose, honey, mango, etc.

Zaghloul is often served with a broken coal mixed into the shisha itself^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Effects of shisha on the human body

Research has shown that a session of shisha smoking which lasting 45 minutes delivers 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide and 70% more nicotine than a single cigarette.^[2] This study has, however, come under criticism for using unrealistically high temperatures for the tobacco (600-650 degrees C) and using arbitrary figures for tar filtration rates.^{[citation needed]} This could possibly have skewed results, as the carcinogenic and toxin levels of smoke increases dramatically with temperature (Wynder 1958). Common practice is to keep temperatures to degrees which do not "char" the Shisha; that is within a temperature range of 100-150 C. (Chaouachi K: Patologie associate all'uso del narghile). The effects of these lower temperatures on tar are inconclusive, though Chaouachi indicates the tar would be less harmful.

Other research has indicated that the use of the hookah may reduce comparative cancer risks, though such studies are certainly not conclusive (Hoffman, Rakower, Salem 1983 and 90, Gupta Dheeraj 2001, Tandon 1995, Lubin 1992, Hazelton 2001, Stirling 1979). The levels of carbon monoxide produced during a shisha session varies widely depending on the type of coal used. However there is a notable difference in areas of carbon monoxide absorption, in that while cigarettes have a notable effect on the small respiratory tracts rather, shisha smoking mostly affects the major airways (Bakir 1991, Kiter). This means a lessened FEV vs FEV1/FVC ratio compared to cigarettes, which is believed to be less harmful for the airways long-term. However, it should not be considered as a "safe" alternative to common cigarette smoking.

Muslims refrain from using anything that is potentially harmful to their health. Since Shisha is not specifically mentioned in the Qur'an Islamic scholars and scientists disagree on whether it should be included in this.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.hookahcompany.com/hookah_history.htm
2. ^ (December 28, 2005). "Hookah trend is puffing along". USA Today.