I’ve been reading all about the clamp down on shisha cafés in the city, and was wondering just how dangerous smoking hookah is? I always thought it was relatively harmless, but I’m starting to think otherwise…
Shisha might taste of fruit, but it’s about as far from being one of your five a day as humanly possible. You have good reason to question the health effects of smoking a water pipe. Most of us have been more than happy to while away many a carefree hour with a hookah by our sides, without thinking twice about what it’s doing to our bodies. The sweet-smelling haze that hangs around terraces across the city like sad, single 40 year-olds at a U2 concert is nothing but smoke and mirrors, tricking us into thinking we’re just indulging in a guilt-free pleasure when, in fact, statistics show that shisha can actually be more dangerous than smoking cigarettes.
The substance used in shisha smoking is a mixture of fruit-scented tobacco and molasses that gives the smoke its sweet taste and the distinct smell that filters out from Lebanese and Arabic cafés. Flavours range from your standard double apple (always double – apple never seems to visit any shisha establishment without a date) to exotic rose and even licorice. This all sounds very appetising, but large quantities of harmful tobacco are still masquerading under all that syrup.
Results from academic studies into the harmful effects of shisha differ in their exact findings, however all are in agreement that what you’re inhaling is just as toxic, if not more so, than what can be expected from a regular cigarette addiction. Just 45 minutes of smoking from a water pipe is equivalent to working your way through around 50 cigarettes, which means that a couple of hours a week spent practising your smoke rings could, in fact, have the harmful effects associated with a 20-a-day habit.
Although shisha packaging is usually adorned with nature’s finest offerings, it still contains the list of scary chemicals that we find on cigarette packets. The amount of tar inhaled equates to what can be found in a whole packet of cigarettes and levels of lethal carbon monoxide and addictive nicotine are double and triple respectively. Long-term effects can include lung and gum cancers, and the prevalence of gum disease in regular shisha smokers is almost four times higher than among those who abstain.
Having said all of this, most of us don’t indulge in a shisha session quite as often as the office addict reaches for their Dunhills (if you do, step away from the water pipe) and so as long as you reserve shisha’s relaxing aroma for a seldom-enjoyed treat, then the long-term prognosis should be less damning. We’re not saying don’t do it, but it may be worth sparing a thought for your lungs before you next spend
a balmy Thursday evening honking on a hookah.
