Is smoking hookah (non tabacco) as harmful as smoking ordinary cigarretes?

Question

I would like to know if smoking through a hookah (arabic smoke instrument) is safer or negligible health wise as compared to smoking cigarettes? Some people say that smoking hookah is safe as the smoke is filtered through water and as long as you are smoking non-tabacco it is safe. is this true?

Answer 1

To the last person that posted. you cant say hookah is "healthier" becasue it both messes your body up. i also quoted this on wikipedia and found it very interesting. here you go.

study which found that a session of hookah smoking which lasts about 45 minutes, delivers 36 times more tar, 15 times more carbon monoxide and 70% more nicotine than a single cigarette ( although it is important to note that a single cigarette will last no more than 5 minutes , which makes approximatively 9 cigarettes in order to compare to the 45 minutes hooka session

Answer 2

Shisha comes in many fiorms. It has a heavy molasses base with various herbs. It is important to remember that Hookah smoking probably traces to BC times, and the smoking mix may have been dried dirt, camel or goat dung, any of several cereal and herb mixes and some sort of sugar extract, long before the tobacco plant and American Indian smoking was iobserved by Westerners. Generally speaking, in terms of the relative harm of smoking products, the following would apply, harshest to mildest... cigarettes Cigars Various forms of pipes Hookah The water absorbs a great deal of the nicotine, so as long as the water is refreshed between uses, it is ikely to provide a less addictive smoke. Now with that said, there are products which will go right through the water. Cyanide (at mostly harmless levels) Carbon monoxide(also at mostly harmless levels) Benzo-alpha-pyrene airborne microparticles of polonium metal Those last two are the principal carcinogens in tobacco. With many shisha's there are only herbs and molasses with no tobacco and nicotine. Some include shaved wood which would provide a mild dose of aromatic olefines (smoked food as a regular dietary item tends to increase the risk of stomach cancer). But if the Shisha mix contains tobacco, then there is a real risk of dependence on nicotine. I was once a nicotine slave, and I do not recommend the experience.

Answer 3

No. Smoking hookah is actually healthier. The smoke is filtered through water and the tobacco doesn't have the additives as in cigarette tobacco. Most of a bowl of shisha is made up of the syrup instead of leaves so the smoker is, in effect, smoking about a tenth of one cigarette in each bowl.
http://www.thehookahguy.net

Answer 4

No not even close. Cigarettes are at least filtered. Smoking marijuana actually puts more tar into your lungs than cigarettes. Found that out on some show like Nightline or Primetime or something like that.

Answer 5

Hookah is tobacco. It may not be as bad as cigarettes for you, but anytime you are inhaling smoke it is bad for you no matter what it comes from.

Answer 6

Smoking is never safe. It is a foreign toxin in your lungs which will cause damage. Its no safer than smoking pot in a bong. So, no. Its not safe. Don't do it. Ever.

Answer 7

Yeah. Smoke is smoke

Answer 8

its safe cause as far as i know theres no smoke involved and ive smoked one before

Answer 9

hookah rock all the power too ya pot dude id be there with you if i could

Answer 10

i think filtering any smoke as efficiently as possible would be better than not.