Hookah

File:Syrian Chiller hookah.jpg

This article is about a traditional smoking pipe. For divers supplied with breathing gas from the surface, see surface supplied diving.

A hookah (Arabic: شيشة; Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा / حقّہ) is a multi-stemmed, often glass-based, water pipe device for smoking; originating in India, it gained fame under the Ottoman Turks. A hookah operates by water-filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking many substances, such as herbal fruits and tobacco. Depending on locality, hookahs are known as other names, such as a shisha/sheesha, water pipe, nargeela/nargile/narghile/nargileh/narguilé, argeela/arghileh/arguilé, okka, kalyan, gewat suckre, or ghelyoon/ghalyan. Many of these names are of Arab, Indian, Turkish, Uzbek, or Persian origin. Narghile (نارگيله) is from the Persian word nārgil (نارگیل) or "coconut", and in Sanskrit nārikela (नारीकेल) and it was made out of coconut shells. Shisha (شيشة) is from the Persian word shishe (شیشه, literally translated as glass and not bottle). Hashish (حشيش) is an Arabic word for grass, which may have been another way of saying tobacco. Another source states, "In early Arabic texts, the term hashish referred not only to cannabis resin but also to the dried leaves or flower heads and sweetmeats made with them". Hookah itself may stem from Arabic uqqa, meaning small box, pot, or jar. Both names refer to the original methods of constructing the smoke/water chamber part of the hookah.

Narghile is the name most commonly used in Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Israel, Bulgaria and Romania, though the initial "n" is often dropped in Arabic. Shisha is more commonly seen in Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. In Iran it is called ghalyoun or ghalyan (قليان) and in Pakistan and India it is referred to as huqqa. The archaic form of this latter name, hookah is most commonly used in English for historical reasons, as it was in India that large numbers of English-speakers first sampled the effects of the water pipe. William Hickey wrote in his Memoirs that shortly after his arrival in Calcutta in 1775:

The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, 'Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without'.....[I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.

Culture

Hookahs for sale in Jerusalem at the bazaar.

Sheesha dealership in Cairo marketplace

Persian woman, in Qajari dress seen here smoking the traditional Qalyan.

Middle East

Arab world

In the Arab world, social smoking is done with a single or double hose. When the smoker is finished, either the hose is placed back on the table signifying that it is free, or it is handed from one user to the next, folded back on itself so that the mouthpiece does not point at the person receiving it. Stories tell Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar thought of it as an insult but there are no official facts. Another tradition is that the receiver taps or slaps the giver on the back of the hand while taking it as a sign of respect or friendship.

However in cafés and restaurants it is rare for each smoker not to order an individual hookah (as they are very affordable in the region often ranging from $2 to $10).

Shisha cafés, normally called maqha (Arabic: مقهى, "coffeeshop"), are rather widespread, and are amongst the main social gathering places in the Arab world (similar to the status pubs have in the UK).

Iran

In Iran, the hookah is known as a ghalyan (Persian: قليان). It is similar in many ways to the Arabic hookah but has its own unique attributes. An example is the top part of the Hookah called 'sar' (Persian: سر=head) where the tobacco is placed and is bigger than the ones we see in Turkey. Also the major part of the hose is flexible and covered with soft silk or cloth while the Turkish make the wooden part as big as the flexible part.

There are mouthpieces called Amjid (امجید) that each person has his own personal one, usually made of wood or metal and decorated with valuable or other stones. Amjids are only used for their fancy look. However, all the Hookah Bars have plastic mouth-pieces.

Use of water pipes in Iran can be traced back to the Qajar period. In those days the hoses were made of sugar cane. Persians had a special tobacco called Khansar (خانسار, presumably name of the origin city). The charcoals would be put on the Khansar without foil. Khansar has less smoke than the normal tobacco.

The hookah was, until recently, served to all ages; Iranian officials have since passed a law forbidding its use by those under 14.

Turkey

In Turkey, narghile is done on a social basis, usually in one's home with guests or in a cafe with friends. Most cities have narghile cafes where narghile is offered with a non-alcoholic drink. This is mainly for health reasons rather than religious reasons. Often people will smoke nargile after dinner as a replacement for cigarettes. In bigger cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Adana, restaurants may have dinner & nargile specials which includes meal, beverage (alcoholic/non-alcoholic), Turkish coffee and nargile. In certain parts of the country people use nargile cafes to watch popular TV shows, national sports games, etc. and smoke nargile to socialize.

Israel

In Israel, the hookah is prevalent among Middle Eastern Jewish immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Yemen. Hookah use is also common in the Arab home where families will commonly smoke after a large meal or at a family gathering. Many Jewish families have also adopted this custom, although individual usage patterns vary according to culture heritage and custom. Hookahs are becoming increasingly popular within Israel particularly among tourists. Shops selling paraphernalia can be found on most high streets and markets. Most nightclubs also have hookahs and offer an option to hire them whilst inside. The IDF has recently forbidden the use of hookahs by soldiers on duty. Recently, due to an increase in use among youth, a campaign has been launched by The Israel Cancer Association warning against the hazards of hookah smoking.

United States and Canada

Main article: hookah lounge

In the United States and Canada, many cities, state/provincial and federal jurisdictions have in more recent years moved to ban smoking in public places. Though most jurisdictions, through the purchase of a special permit, allow hookah businesses to remain open to the public, others do not. This has caused many hookah lounges and bars to close their doors to the public. In many cases, hookah businesses have been able to remain in business by replacing their traditional, tobacco-based shisha with tobacco-free, herbal alternatives. In New York City, where there is a strong smoking ban, hookah bars have managed to remain open in Little Egypt, Astoria, Queens, despite complaints from local residents.

There remains an attachment to Shisha bars/coffee shops in cities with large Arab/Middle-eastern populations such as Montreal in Canada.

Hookah bars or cafés are showing up throughout the United States, especially near college campuses in cities with large Arab and Middle-Eastern populations. The use of hookahs is popular among college students in the United States and Canada, and has recently gained popularity among the high-school demographic, as well.

Europe

In Spain, the use of the hookah has been recently increasing in popularity, and they are usually readily available at tea-oriented coffeehouses, called teterías in Spanish, which often are run by Arab immigrants or have some other sort of affinity with the east. Hookahs are usually sold at prices between €10 and €70, and hookah tobacco and charcoal is easily found in those same coffee houses, or at stores run by eastern immigrants. Immigrants and native Spanish alike enjoy this custom, and it is usually seen as a lighter way of smoking than cigarettes. Buying one's own tobacco and hookah is usually noticeably less expensive than ordering hookahs at a coffee house.

Hookahs are also becoming increasingly popular in Moscow and other Russian cities. Many bars employ a "hookah man" (Rus. кальянщик tr. kal'yanshchik), often of middle-eastern appearance and wearing an approximation of Arab or Turkish costume, to bring the pipes to customers' tables and to prepare and light the tobacco. A single hookah and hose are normally used; interchangeable plastic mouthpieces in sealed wrappings may be provided to each person at the table for hygiene reasons.

Hookahs are popular as well in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. All the youth hookah fashion looks the same way it looks in Russia.

Indian restaurants but are most commonly found in Lebanese restaurants and Egyptian-run "hubbly-bubbly" bars. Concentrations of these hookah establishments are often found in close proximity to University campuses, as on Rusholme's Curry Mile in Manchester or in Oxford, and they cater to a mixture of British and Middle-Eastern clientel amongst students. A ban on public smoking was enacted in Scotland in 2006, and a similar ban will take effect in England in July 2007. The effect of these laws on hookah bars is not yet clear, although smoking anything in enclosed spaces is banned by law. The price for one session of hookah smoking ranges from £3.50 to £15 a session. In April 2007, a smoking ban took effect in Wales and hookah was banned immediately.

Hookah smoking has also risen in popularity in Germany, particularly in Berlin and Cologne, where many hookah bars exist due in part to a relatively large Turkish population. Hookahs are also very easy to acquire. During the 2006 World Cup, many booths in the area outside of the Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof specialized in selling the water-pipes and flavored tobacco. In addition, many people create homemade hookahs due to the relative ease of construction and the high cost of a quality pipe. Hooka (locally called Shisha) bars are even commonly found in towns with just 100,000 inhabitants.

In Italy, hookah bars are still not so common, but their number is increasing, as hookah smoking is not involved in laws about smoking in public places

In Sweden, hookah smoking is on the rise. Cheap hookahs and hookah-related products, like tobacco and charcoal, are now available in the many kiosk-like businesses run by immigrants, mostly of middle-eastern origin, found in the larger cities. Hookahs are mostly used by teenagers and immigrants, but the use is slowly becoming more widespread. Hookah bars and similar establishments are still very rare though, in part due to anti-smoking laws.

In the Czech republic, hookah is relatively common in many tearooms (usually cost between 100 and 150 CZK). Hookash are usually sold in specialided orient-shops and tearooms at prices mostly between 500 and 2500 CZK. Local names for hookah are "šíša", "vodnice", "voďár", "vodní dýmka", etc …

Asia

Indian man holding a water pipe (hookah)

Restaurant 'Hucka' which offers non-tobacco hookahs

In South Asia the hookah is becoming better known, and cafés and restaurants that offer it as a consumable are popular.

The use of hookahs from ancient times in India was not only a custom, but a matter of prestige. Rich and landed classes would smoke hookahs. Tobacco is smoked in hookahs in many villages as per traditional customs. Smoking molasses in a hookah is now becoming popular amongst the youth in India.

India has more Hookah users than any other country in the world. It a growing trend amongst youngsters and adolescents. There are several chain clubs and Bars in India offering a variety of hookah. The average cost of hookah in clubs vary from $5 (Rs. 200) to $200 (Rs. 8000).

The new trends emerging are that of non-tobacco hookahs with herbal flavours. Several modern restaurants are famous for this. The hookah even without tobacco has become a matter of status.

In Pakistan, hookahs have become very popular in the cosmopolitan cities. Many clubs and cafes are offering them and it has become quite popular amongst the youth and students in Pakistan. This form of smoking has become very popular for social gatherings, functions and events. There are a large number of cafes, restuarants and chill out places offering a variety of sheesha and hookahs.

Malaysia too has seen an increase in sheesha use and cafes offering sheesha pipes. In the Philippines, the popularity is vastly growing, in the capital's most cosmopolitan city, Makati, various high-end bars and clubs offer hookahs to patrons. In Afganistan, hookah has been popular especially in Kabul for some time.

Although hookah use has been common for hundreds of years and enjoyed by people of all ages, it has just begun to become a youth-oriented pastime in Asia in recent times. Hookahs are most popular with college students and teenagers, who may be underage and thus unable to purchase cigarettes.

South Africa

In South Africa, hookah, colloquially known as a hubbly bubbly, is popular amongst the Cape Malay, Indian population, where it is smoked as a social pastime. But is increasing in popularity with whites, especially the youth. Hookah bars are relatively uncommon, and smoking is normally done at home or in public spaces such as beaches and picnic sites.

Structure and operation

Components

A look-through of the hookah's components

Excluding grommets, a hookah is usually made of five components, four of which are essential for its operation

1.The bowl

Also known as the head of the hookah, the bowl is a container, usually made out of clay or marble, that holds the tobacco during the smoking session.

2.Hose

Hoses are connected to the openings in the gasket, and are used to inhale the smoke.

3.Body, 4.Gasket, 5.Valve

The body of the hookah is a hollow tube with a gasket at its bottom. The gasket itself has at least one more opening for the hose. The gasket itself seals the connection of the body of the hookah with the water jar. The gasket may have one more opening with a valve in it for clearing the smoke from the water jar not via the hose.

6.Water jar

Placed at the bottom of the hookah, the water jar is a container which the smoke from the tobacco passes through before it reaches the hose. By passing through water, the smoke gains moisture. This makes inhaling the smoke of the hookah easier than a cigarette's. Also the water jar allegedly functions as a filter for the smoke. The level of the water has to be higher than the lowest point of the body's tube in order for the smoke to pass through it. Liquids other than water maybe added, such as a strong mixture of alcohol and/or fruit juice.

7.The plate

The plate is usually just below the bowl and is used for "dead" coals from previous smoking sessions. It is not vital for the operation of the hookah.

Grommets

Grommets in a hookah are usually placed between the bowl and the body, the body's gasket and the water jar and between the body and the hose.

Operation

The jar at the bottom of the hookah is filled with water just enough to cover a few centimeters of the body's tube. Tobacco is placed inside the bowl at the top of the hookah and a burning charcoal is placed on top of the tobacco. Some cultures cover the bowl with tin foil, punctured with many little holes, in order to separate the coal from the tobacco. This usually prevents inhaling coal ash along with the smoke of the tobacco. Once a person inhales smoke via the hose, air passes through the coal and into the bowl. The air, hot from the charcoal, burns the tobacco, producing smoke. The smoke passes down the body's tube and into the jar, through the water in it. Afterwards the smoke passes through the hose and gets to the smoker. The hookah's components are required to be sealed tight to each other using grommets, as air which did not flow through the coal would dilute the smoke.

Style and health

The Caterpillar using a hookah, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Health benefits and risks

Health effects of tobacco smoking are widely known.

External links

• The Sacred Narghile
• Hookah news page - Alcohol and Drugs History Society
• Hookah trend is puffing along - USA Today
• Hookah and shisha