What is it?
A hookah is a water pipe that is used to smoke tobacco. A particular type of tobacco is indirectly heated using coals or wood embers. Hookah is also known as shisha, sheesha, narghile, argileh, goza, and hubbly-bubbly.
What does it look like?
The tobacco used in a hookah is called shisha or maassel. Shisha is a sticky mixture of tobacco, honey or molasses, and other flavourings. Shisha has many flavourings, such as bubble gum, peanut butter, mango, grape, and mint.
How do people take it?
Hookahs are waterpipes that smoke specially-made tobacco mixtures that come in various flavours. They usually work by passing charcoal-heated air through the tobacco mixture and ultimately through a water-filled chamber. A user then inhales the smoke through a tube and mouthpiece.
How does it make you feel?
Hookah smoking won’t get you high. However, the tobacco in it can give you a buzz. You may feel lightheaded, relaxed, dizzy, or wobbly. Hookah smoking can also make you feel sick to your stomach.
What are the risks?
Hookah increases your risk of heart and circulatory diseases because it usually contains harmful chemicals. Sometimes, they are the same chemicals used in harmful cigarette tobacco. Hookah smoking carries the same or similar health effects as smoking cigarettes and exposure to second-hand smoke: cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease.
- Nicotine is an addictive drug that can have lasting damaging effects on adolescent brain development and has been linked to a variety of adverse health outcomes for the developing fetus.
- Hookah smoking is linked to many of the same adverse health effects as cigarette smoking, such as lung, bladder and oral cancers and heart disease.
- Long-term effects include impaired pulmonary function, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, oesophagal cancer, and gastric cancer.
- Short-term hookah use is associated with acute health effects, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, reduced pulmonary function, and carbon monoxide intoxication.
Addiction:
Yes, shisha is addictive. Shisha usually includes nicotine, which is addictive. Nicotine is the same chemical used in cigarettes, which makes cigarettes addictive, too.
Nicotine is a chemical that makes your brain produce feelings of pleasure, but the effects don’t last very long. When the pleasing effects wear off, you feel the need to smoke again to trigger the feelings of pleasure again. The more you smoke, the more nicotine you need to feel good, which is how a nicotine addiction can happen.