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In a busy café in Lebanon, the air is thick with sweet-smelling smoke. Twenty-somethings sit at a small table playing cards and smoking hookah. Some of the young men show off their smoking skills and make Os in the air. Everyone is relaxed and content.
Smoking hookah is a social event. You smoke it with friends and family at parties, at home or at a park. It is meant to be slow and relaxing like cigars. Hookah is smoked for the smooth flavour, not for any effect. It is commonly misperceived to provide an intoxicating effect, much like marijuana. If there is any effect at all, it is simply light-headedness from taking the typical 50 to 150 puffs an hour. The tobacco is unlike the tobacco found in cigars and cigarettes. The tobacco is dried and soaked in molasses and fruit or artificial flavour to produce a distinctive taste. It comes in many flavours including apple, vanilla, rose, strawberry, mint, chocolate, grape, honey, mango and jasmine among many others.
Terminology
In English-speaking countries, the hookah is commonly referred to as hubble bubble, water pipe, flavoured tobacco or shisha. Shisha is the common word for the pipe and is used in Egypt, the Gulf region and parts of Africa. It is derived from the Persian word shishe meaning glass. Shisha is commonly known by the Turkish word nargila, or argila, in other parts of the Middle East. It is derived from the Persian word nargile, meaning coconut, which suggests that the early shishas were made from coconut shells. In Iran, the water pipe is known as ghalyoon.
History
The hookah was invented in India in the 16th century in the court of a Mughal emperor named Akhbar. Tobacco smoking became popular in India when it was brought over by the Europeans. A physician who worked at the court became concerned about the harmful effects of tobacco and so invented a smoking device that used water in order to “purify” the tobacco. Soon, the hookah became popular among noblemen and became a status symbol.
The hookah soon spread to the Middle East and became popular in the 18th century. The Arabs, Persians and Turks refined the device and transformed it to the hookah that is widely used today. There are hookah houses all around the world, from Mexico to Italy to Malaysia, though they may not be as socially accepted as in the Middle East and South Asia.
Hookah In The Middle East
Almost every café in the Middle East offers hookah. Since it is really cheap, it is smoked by both the rich and the poor. Hookah is smoked by men and women in cafes, on street corners, on balconies and even in cars while driving. Generally, hookah is smoked after dinner and into the late evening while playing cards or backgammon and drinking tea or bitter coffee. Some hookahs have up to four pipes so that four people can smoke at once, but the general practice is one hookah, one person.
In restaurants, men are hired to walk around the restaurant with a metal basket filled with red-hot coals and renew the smokers’ coals. These men are dressed in traditional garb with a fez on their heads. When you are done with the shisha, you call the server over and tip him for his services. If you want him to renew your coals very often, you tip him at the beginning of your visit.
Hookah In Europe
The hookah was smoked in Turkey for centuries, but has only recently gained popularity in the rest of Europe. Cafes in Europe began serving hookahs over the last decade and they generally target young people. Although it is still uncommon, hookah bars and cafes exist where there is a large Middle Eastern or Indian population, like the UK, where it is called hubbly bubbly. Hookah is also widely known in Germany, where there is a large Turkish immigrant population. It is generally called shisha or wasserpfeife.
Hookah In Canada And The U.S.
There are many hookah cafes in the major cities in Canada and the United States. Canada adopted an indoor smoking ban in 2006, so hookahs are mainly served on patios in the summertime. Some cafes have acquired herbal shisha, which is flavoured shisha without tobacco, and is therefore, not included in the smoking ban.
In both countries, there are hundreds of Middle Eastern and South Asian shops selling hookahs and tobacco for home use. The price for a hookah can range from $20 for a mini one to $200 for a large, extravagant one. Tobacco is sold in small cardboard boxes, usually for anywhere from $7 to $20.
Health Risks
It is an accepted myth that hookahs are safer than cigarettes. This is not true. According to the World Health Organization, one hour of smoking hookah exposes smokers to 100 to 200 times the amount of smoke one would get from cigarettes. Since smokers typically smoke hookah in a social gathering over coffee, their hookah can last for an hour or more.
When a person inhales via the pipe, air passes through the charcoal at the top. The heat from the charcoal heats up the tobacco underneath it, generating smoke. The smoke then passes into the water jar at the base, causing the water to bubble. The smoke then passes up through the pipe again and into the smoker. Water filtration does not occur at any stage during the inhaling process.
An Exotic Experience
Hookah smoking traditions are generally the same around the world. While smoking is not condoned, smoking a hookah in a foreign country can be a liberating and exciting experience for tourists. If you are lucky, you may live near a hookah café and you can experience an exotic tradition in the comfort of your own country.
Photo:
www.smoking-hookah.com
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