Some people say they are willing to try anything once. And for me, toking on a hookah will be a one time thing. I came, I tried, I won’t be going back. I just don’t get it. Is there a benefit to be gained that balances off the harmful carcinogens in the hookah? Not as far as I am concerned.

If you have never wasted your time (or your lungs) smoking hookah, consider yourself lucky. Hookah is a water pipe used to smoke flavored tobacco. It is heated with charcoal and its smoke passes through water in the hookah before users inhale it using an attached mouthpiece.

Smokers who think that trying hookah as a healthier alternative to cigarettes are way off base. Hookah smokers inhale a greater volume of smoke, worsening the effects of the chemicals in the tobacco.

‘Data from several different countries reveals thata single hookah-use episode lasts for about 45 minutes and can easily involve over 100 puffs,’ said Thomas Eissenberg, professorofpsychology at VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity, whose research is funded by a grant for the National Cancer Institute.

‘Each puff is about 500 ml in volume, while a single cigarette-use episode lasts about 5 minutes and can involve about 10-12 puffs of about 30-50 ml each. We are talking 100 times the smoke inhalation for a hookah-use episode, 50,000 ml total volume relative to asingle cigarette-use episode, 500 ml total volume.’

To put things in perspective, 50,000 ml is 25 two-liter soda bottles worth of smoke, which Eissenberg notes is way too much smoke for the human lungs to deal with.

While it is widely known that cigarette smoking is bad for your health, hookah is possibly even worse. Hookah smoking is becoming popular across the country with hookah cafes opening up in many cities. Last semester, a hookah bar opened on Marshall Street but closed after just a few months. I guess the cost to expose one’s self to cancer must have not worked well in this economy.

At hookah bars, the cost of a hookah session typically runs $20 per hookah. A cheaper option that many avid hookah smoking students employ is buying their own hookahs and smoking them right outside their dorms or in their off-campus homes. Last year during the few warm days that Syracuse offered, I would see students sitting on the benches outside of my dorm smoking hookah. There was even a point during the year when people on my floor discussed purchasing a communal floor hookah. I took a pass, not a toke.

‘We know that hookah use exposes users to carbon monoxide, which is a smoke constituent that is thought to cause cardiovascular disease,’ Eissenberg said. ‘Hookah use also exposes users to nicotine, which is a smoke constituent that can lead to dependence. Hookah smoke also contains chemicals that are known or suspected to cause cancer, as well as others that cause lung disease.’

Hookahforum.com is a Web site where hookah lovers can come together to discuss anything hookah related. The idea of addiction to hookah is discussed on the forum, but there seems to be a general consensus that most people who comment don’t believe they are addicted, though some do.

‘I’m an addict…I smoke at least three times a day now that I’m back at school…just finished session number three and might have a fourth later,’ one person commented on the forum.

If you’re smoking hookah because you like the flavor, go eat the object the flavor comes from. If you’re smoking hookah because you’re bored, find something better to do with your time.

‘Without exception, every objective study that has examined hookah smoke toxicant content, or hookah user toxicant exposure, points to the same conclusion,’ Eissenberg said. ‘There is no reason to believe that hookah use is benign, and every reason to believe that it is harmful.’

Hookah contains more tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide than cigarette smoke, according to the University of Texas Health Services Web site. The nicotine can also cause yellow teeth, wrinkles and erectile dysfunction.

There are no proven beneficial effects of hookah smoke. They say don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. So I have, and I still don’t get it. There are enough carcinogens we already expose ourselves to every day, why add another pointless one into our bodies?

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on November 18, 2009 at 12:00 pm