Smoking Tobacco with a Hookah

By John McCree


A hookah is a device for smoking flavorful tobacco, allowing for purification of the smoke through a water basin before inhalation. The source of hookahs is in the Middle East, where one can still get the best quality hookahs in the world. Hookahs are constructed in a straightforward way with basic parts.

Components

Essentially, smoke generated from the burning tobacco is passed down through the body, the end of which is submerged in the water jar. The smokes comes out of the base of the body and is purified by the water and kept in air chamber over the water. As the smoke goes through water, the temperature of the smoke decreases and becomes more appropriate for the lungs. The hose can be seen in the diagram on the top left of water jar. It is not shown in the picture, but the length of the hose is about one meter. As the smoker puffs on the hose, the purified smoke leaves the air chamber and is breathed in by the smoker through the hose. The smoke blown out by the smoker is clean, thick and aromatic. In general, people smoke hookah while sitting in groups with their friends on family enjoying their company.

What Do You Smoke Out of a Hookah?

Ordinarily hookahs are used to smoke shisha, which is flavored tobacco. Modern-day shisha consists of some or all of the following: tobacco, treacle (uncrystallized syrup produced in refining sugar), honey, sugar, molasses, glycerin, nicotine, dried fruit and distilled water.

Shisha is generally fruit flavor based. But, flavors that are offshoots of these fruity favors like Banana split are now rising in popularity.

Adding flavor to tobacco at the time of production has become quite simple and now there are a variety of different flavors. Unique flavors are made because basically every ingredient can be combined in dried, tobacco, glycerin and sweetener.

Where Did Hookahs Come From?

The very first hookah was designed by a Persian physician known as Abul-Fath Gilani in the 1500's. The term hookah originates from the indian name of this device "huqqa." After growing concerned with the health hazards of smoking, he produced a system whereby he passed the smoke with a water basin in order to 'purify' it. However, it is said that even before he invented it, hookah existed in other regions of Persia. After it gained popularity in Indian it spread all through Pakistan and Turkey. Once the hookah arrived at Turkey, its fame increased among the Turkish elite, and it swiftly spread through Lebanon and Syria to the rest of the Middle East and into northern Africa. Now, it has become quite popular around the globe.

As the hookah reached different countries, it gathered different names.

Nargile (also pronounced Argilee) - Generally used in Mediterranean countries

Narguile - used in Spain

Lula (or lulava) - used in Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina

Sheesha - used by countries in Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt, and the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf including Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia

Qalyan - used in Iran

Karim Khan - used in Russia, Belarus

Chillim - used in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan

Huqqa - used in India and Pakistan

Gudugudaa - used in Maldives

Marra Pipe - used in the UK

Where Can I Buy A Hookah?

You can visit a shop in-person to get a hookah or you can buy one on the net. Due to the popularity of hookah, hookah stores and hookah bars have grown in the U.S. It is simple to find a hookah shop close to you if you reside in a populated urban area in the U.S. In the Mediterranean nations and the Persian Gulf, hookahs have grown to be a part of everyday life of the people. But, this isn't the case in the U.S.

In case you are not able to find a hookah shop or you prefer to shop from the convenience of your home then you can buy a hookah on the Internet.

What You Should Know About Health Hazards Before Starting to Smoke Hookah?

Whether smoking hookah is less hazardous than smoking cigarettes is still not known. While inhaling any kind of smoke into your lungs poses a certain degree of threat, hookah enthusiasts point out that hookah smoking is safer since the smoke is cleaner and more purified than cigarette smoke. Critics point out that hookah contains more toxic compounds in comparison with cigarettes. It has compounds such as tar, carbonmonoxide and heavy metals. Another factor is that a hookah session may last as long as 1 hour and sometimes even longer whereas a cigarette goes for only 3-4 minutes. On the other hand hookah is not as addictive as cigarettes. People smoke hookah once in one week or bi weekly just for fun whereas a cigarette smoker smokes cigarettes everyday, several times.




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